The Psycology of peter pan: Fear of growing up
J. M. Barrie the author of Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up led a life almost as magical and interesting as his famous creation, Peter.
Barrie never had children with his wife, however he became extremely close to the five young boys of the Llewelyn Davies family, of which he finally became guardian and father when they were orphaned.
J.M Barrie wrote Peter Pan, for the boys to help them get through the deaths of their parents, he didn’t want them to enter the grown up world and loose their childhood too soon, something which was already an issue with some of them. Barrie’s conscious also played a role as he himself found that he would need to mature and take on responsibilities to help these children, and had to face his fears of doing so.
Peter has a nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude, and is fearlessly cocky when it comes to putting himself in danger. He lives day to day with his blissful unawareness of the tragedy of death, "To die will be an awfully big adventure".
But Peter really isn’t so light-hearted, is he? Pan has issues; Barrie’s story explores Peter’s co-dependent relationship with his archenemy, Captain Hook and Peter’s overwhelming desire to shut out grown-up thoughts, feelings and responsibilities.
To be Peter Pan would be fun for a day or a year, but would it be fun forever? Peter is trapped, repeating the same adventures, forever faced with the tiresome Captain Hook, and always tied to Tinker Bell, who means well but would get on my nerves if I spent more than a few days with her.
In the story Wendy asks Peter, "What are your real feelings?" There is a latent sexuality between the two characters, and Peter is a little scared of that and is unable to face his real feeling thus chooses to run away from them.
However when confronted by Hook about Wendy growing up, marrying and eventually "shutting the window" on Peter, he becomes very depressed and finally loses the will to fight, this is when we truly start to see the conflict Peter has with his fear of growing up.
At the end of Barrie’s story Peter flies back to Neverland, he make this sound like a victory, though this can also be viewed as a defeat as Peter gives in to his fears, and looses his chance of love and happiness.
Things I find symbolic to peter are:
Wendy: Young Wendy is on the verge of becoming a “young lady,” though all she wants to do is re-enact courageous adventures with her brothers, when Peter visits her, he presents the her with the deal of a lifetime: “Follow me to Neverland, and you will never have to worry about grown up things ever again”
Wendy accepts though she is conflicted when she states “Never is an awfully long time”
Throughout Wendy’s stay in Neverland she finds herself looking after all the lost boys and her younger brothers and also feasting on her first tastes of romance and exploration, however when she is faced with Peters fear of exploring his own feelings, she realizes some things are so much more clear and adventurous when you grow up.
Wendy represents Peter’s temptation to grow up; she contrasts with him, magnifying the magical life he beholds but also his issues.
Wendy desires and tries more than anything to free Peter Pan from eternal boyhood, and thus take the next step in their lives together.
Hook: Hook represents everything Peter is afraid of; he is a lonely depressed older man, who lives out of envy, malice and disappointment
For peter Hook represents what growing up would mean.
In their continuous duel Peter always winds, this can be viewed as a representation of Peter’s inner conflict, and how the young boy and his fear to growing up always conquers the fight.
Neverland: Neverland represents the unrealistic world of fantasy in which Peter lives, to afraid to ever leave.
However he is lonely enough here to look for people from the outer world to join him.
I see neverland as his safe haven, in which to hide when things get tough, or when he is tempted to fight his fears. I believe a big part of Peters inability to leave Neverland is his status, Neverland is a place where Peter has always been the Hero people look up to, and he has become more than used to always winning his battles with not a worry or too much trouble, Peter realizes that the grown up world would be very different to this, thus always remaining in Neverland.
Hi Donna,
This piece of Academic writing was very interesting to read. In the first paragraph you wrote about why the author decided to write the book. This was a very strong opening paragraph and was most insightful.
Next you wrote about Peter Pan’s personality and how the other main characters in the story affect him. Be aware that when writing in an academic style it is important that you quote from reliable sources of information to form an argument or highlight a point. I was advised that in academic writing it is not always acceptable to just write your own opinions - you must reference the materials which helped to form those opinions. The Handbook suggests using the Harvard Technique to record the materials used.
In the second half of the piece you listed the various factors that have influenced why Peter Pan never wants to grow up. These factors all seem relevant but perhaps need more referencing as it is an academic piece. Again, I would suggest that you cite where you got your information from. I think that showing you have used a variety of research would add weight to the reliability of the facts and opinions you have written.
I hope this is of some help.
Laura-Beth