Whitney's recreational reading |
Peter Pan
When James Barrie was a child, his brother, David, died in an ice-skating accident. David had been their mother’s favorite, and she was absolutely distraught and inconsolable after his death. James, yearning for her affection, would sometimes dress in his older brother’s clothes to get his mother to pay attention to him. It is generally thought that the character of Peter is based somewhat on David Barrie. Simply put, Peter never grows up, because he is already dead. The other Lost Boys, though they may have been misplaced by their nannies or dropped out of their perambulators, have the option of returning to the real world at the end of the story. But Peter never considers it. He remains behind, in Neverland, as his companions grow older and fit themselves back into reality. He stays the same. Thoughtless, selfish, beautiful, and forgetful. After promising to return for Wendy and to bring her back to Neverland for spring cleaning, he comes to her decades too late, having not kept track of time. Wendy is a mother now, and when she inquires as to where Tinkerbell is, Peter has no idea what she’s talking about. Tinkerbell had died many years ago, and he had quite forgotten her. Peter takes away Wendy’s daughter, Jane, and the cycle begins again, as it will continue to do so, as "long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.“ but Peter remains. A sad figure, untouched by time, not really being able to feel much of anything at all.
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Hook and Peter Pan is one of the more famous foils since God and the Devil. Captain James Hook's worst fear is death, so it is only fitting that his longtime nemesis be the literal embodiment of eternal youth. This is why the crocodile that swallows his hand (at Peter's urging) also swallows a clock and ticks. That's why, when Peter decides, "It's Hook or me this time," the crocodile is no longer ticking, but Peter is (he's using it as a trick to scare Hook senseless). At that moment, Peter is time, and time has finally caught up with Hook. Where Peter is dishonorable and values tricks and cheating (he switches sides during battles for fun), Hook prides himself on "good form". In fact, his emphasis on good form versus bad form further illustrates Peter's amorality. I mean, he cut off Hook's hand because he thought it was a game. Peter has no concept of morality, as opposed to the strict rules Hook sets up for himself (he's still twisted and tried to murder multiple children, but he still has rules). For well over a century, Peter Pan has remained an iconic image of youthfulness and imagination. These are traits which extend to author J.M. Barrie, whose similarities to "the boy who refuses to grow up" continue to be of interest to understanding the story's value and deeper meaning.
A way that Barrie's refusal to grow up plays out is in his marriage and divorce from Mary Ansell in the 1890s. They married in 1894, in spite of Barrie's writings at the time indicating decided resistance to the very idea. In his notes from his novel The Sentimentalist, Barrie sketches his main character as one who "wants to make the girl love him, bullies and orders her...yet doesn't want to marry." He divorced Mary on the grounds of her infidelity in 1909, but many scholars believe it was Barrie's struggle with maturation, largely illustrated through his close relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family, that drove Mary into the arms of Gilbert Canaan. In Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family, his relationship with the parents was far more strained than with the children; however, his close (but entirely platonic) attachment to the mother Sylvia could depict Barrie's desire for a mother figure, as his mother died in 1895. In this context it mirrors Peter's continuous search for a mother, which he finds in Wendy. Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn Davies boys and his self-identified personal difficulties with the process of "growing up" haunt Peter Pan with remarkable clarity. Barrie and his wife had no children, and many scholars have speculated about his sexuality, believing the marriage may have been unconsummated. Like Lewis Carroll (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Barrie most often felt at home in the company of children. Unlike Lewis Carroll, and rumors of a sexual relationship with "Uncle Jim" was denied by the Llewelyn Davies boys. Rather, it is common to paint Barrie with the same brush as Peter Pan--as sexless, permanently trapped in a prepubescent stage by an unwillingness or incapacity to mature into adulthood. (AN: I make no attempt to dismiss asexuality as an inherent refusal to mature. Barrie's sexuality, when placed into the context of his inability to mature, simply reflects that of a young child's sexuality). Also, Barrie's games with the boys in Kensington Gardens inspired the adventures of Peter and his lost boys. As children will, the Llewelyn Davies boys grew up and sought independence, leaving "Uncle Jim" feeling lost and abandoned in his later years. He foresaw this in his depiction of the Lost Boys joining the Darling family in the real world, with Peter stuck outside the window, being forced to watch the joys he would never experience in solitude. In 1867, James Barrie's older brother David died at the age of fourteen as a result of injuries suffered in a fall while ice skating. His mother, Maggie, took to her bed, and young James, only six years old at the time of his brother's death, tried to comfort her. The scene where Peter wears Hook's clothing and mimics his mannerisms mirrors Barrie's childhood efforts to ease his mother's grief. Barrie would often wear David's clothes and whistle the way David used to do.
In 1896, Barrie met the five Llewelyn Davies boys at Kensington Gardens, and became friendly with their parents, Sylvia and Arthur. The family became the inspiration for Peter Pan. On December 27, 1904, the play made its debut at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. In 1907, Arthur Llewelyn Davies, the patriach of the family, died from cancer of the jaw. In 1910, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies also dies from cancer. Barrie became the legal guardian and primary caretaker of the five Llewelyn Davies children. In 1915, George Llewelyn Davies, the eldest of the boys, is killed in action in World War 1. In 1921, Michael Llewelyn Davies, Barrie's favorite of the Llewelyn Davies boys, drowned in a possible suicide pact with a friend at Oxford University. Barrie wrote a year later that Michael's death was "in a way, the end of me." In 1959, Jack Llewelyn Davies, the second oldest of the brothers and namesake for the character of John Darling in Peter Pan, died. In 1960, Peter Llewelyn Davies, Peter Pan's namesake, commits suicide by throwing himself in front of a moving train at Sloane Square station in London. Newspaper reports of his death referred to him in their headlines as "Peter Pan." In 1980, Nico, the youngest and last of the Llewelyn Davies brothers, died peacefully in his home in Eythorne, Kent. An Awfully BIg Adventure: A peter Pan MIx// i. All at once the airborne toxic event "We grow old all at once and it comes like a punch in the gut, in the back, in the face" ii. city with no children arcade fire "I wish that I could've loved you then, before our age was through, and before a world war does with us whatever it will do" iii. nests keaton henson "On the way to my hotel, I found myself wishing I lived there, but on the way to my own home, I still felt alone, but i knew that you'd be there" iv. all the wine the national "A wingspan Unbelievable--I'm a festival, I'm A parade" v. no hope the vaccines "It's hard to come of age" iv. the great escape woodkid "All your dreams are about to happen now, we are racing to the break of dawn" vii. not that you'd even notice keaton henson "I won't see the light til you come back to me" viii. the geese of beverly road the national "We're the heirs to the glimmering world" ix. strawberry fields forever the beatles "Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about" x. rococo arcade fire "They want to own you but they don't know what game they're playing" xi. afraid of everyone the national "With my shiny new star-spangled tennis shoes on I'm afraid of everyone" xii. lonely world the vaccines "Young in the night when we stare like the rest of them" xiii. oliver Dalston Browning keaton Henson "Iron waves crashed on his face, made him feel less alone" xiv. Runaway the national "Throw your shirts in the fire tonight" xv. run boy run woodkid "YOu'll be a man, boy, but for now it's time to run" xvi. nights become days frank turner "Come down kid, the roof's not safe now" xvii. the golden age woodkid "In the distance bombs can fall" Xviii. across the universe the beatles "Nothing's gonna change my world"//Years after Peter Pan and the Lost Boys have overthrown the pirates, Peter visits London to return Wendy to Neverland and is kidnapped by a mysterious Stranger residing in the decaying remains of the Darling House. Peter is forced to confront a harsh reality that challenges his innocence.
Alternative link for full (20:00) film on Vimeo: (x) |
J. M. BarrieJames M. Barrie was born in Kirreiemuir, Angus, Scotland, in 1860 and studied at the University of Edinburgh. After several years as a freelance journalist, he published his first volume of fiction in 1888. The success of his play The Professor's Love Story in 1895 led him to focus on writing for the stage, where he had great success. He died in London in 1937. Archives
May 2015
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