![]() ![]() ![]() Once again, such an attitude is often seen in little boys,who feel the need to be as emotionally tough as their father.īut above all, Peter’s innocence shines throughout the story,and it doesn’t leave us indifferent.He always fight his enemies in a fair manner and will never seize any iniquitous opportunity to kill them. He tells Wendy he wasn’t crying over the ‘loss’ of his shadow (although he was) and in a latter part of the story, he tries his best to remain indifferent upon seeing all children about to leave him,though we know he is totally heartbroken. Barrie himself cannot help but paraphrase this peculiar trait of his: ” It is humiliating to have to confess that this conceit of Peter was one of his most fascinating qualities.To put it with brutal frankness, there never was a cockier boy.” Moreover,Peter’s conceit doesn’t allow him to be weak,leading him to always try to stifle his feelings. Indeed,as shown in the beginning, he loves being credited with the ideas of others: after Wendy successfully sews his shadow onto his body, Peter forgets that it is her who actually did the work, believes that it is him who did it and boasts gleefully about his cleverness. In fact,given that he is the embodiment of pure childhood, Peter’s cockiness,like any of his other traits, is particularly heightened. For instance, the lost boys are forbidden to look the least like him,to grow taller than him and to know anything which he doesn’t know. Like any other child,Peter thinks highly of himself and is often patronizing. It also highlights the fact that Peter is an innocent and pure child,whose mind has not been corrupted by the maxims of adults.In fact, this trait alone evokes pathos,for it makes us realize that in our world, our mind is bound to be corrupted we are not as free as Peter, that is,if we break a promise, remorse will soon gnaw us.In this regard, we may extrapolate about Peter’s freedom: Peter is as free to do whatever he wants as he is free from the chains of feelings.īarrie also spotlights Peter’s innocence through his faith in make-believe.This is best shown shortly after Wendy collapses.Peter asks Slightly to fetch a doctor,and the latter quickly vanishes in the forest,only to return with a big hat and a serious air.Much to our surprise, Peter sees Slightly-who is not even disguised- as a doctor and pays an especial attention to his words.Similarly,there are days when none of the children eats anything,for Peter has decided-this depends on his moods-that dinner will be make-believe.In fact, this credulity of his, not only highlights his innocence, but also gives us an insight as to why he is ”the boy who never grows up.” It is worth noting that the others can differentiate between reality and make-believe,but when they try to bring Peter back to reality,he scolds them.This disparity of thought between Peter and the children suggests that Peter is ‘the only child who never grows up’ because he is the only child who holds an unmitigated faith in make-believe.Īnother typically-childish trait of Peter is his cockiness, the trait which Captain Hook dreads the most in the boy. This trait in Peter is peculiarly childish,for children tend to renege on their promises. But Peter is a child he doesn’t know what responsibility is, has never had any parent to infuse a sense of responsibility in him and cannot differentiate between responsibility and irresponsibility.This is why,when he comes to Wendy’s house years later,Wendy doesn’t argue with him upon seeing that he has forgotten his vow. Before reading ‘ Peter Pan’,I was already aware that it was an exquisite piece of art,particularly because it consummately mirrors J.M.Barrie’s fear of growing up.However,after my journey with Peter and the other kids, I figured out that,let alone the story, Peter himself is a masterpiece into which Barrie must have put much work and much of himself.Indeed,as a result of his having no misfortune occurring in his life and no restriction on his behaviour(he has no parent), Peter ,as we can see in a myriad of ways,is childhood at its purest.Īs you must have seen in Barrie’s book, Peter is utterly carefree-sometimes a bit too much,according to Wendy and the others.Whilst flying with the children to Neverland, he doesn’t mind leaving them for new adventures and even forgets their names when he comes back.In like manner, he is not able to hold his promise to Wendy: he forgets that he should take her to Neverland each spring.
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