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A review by april_does_feral_sometimes
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
5.0
I think that 'Peter Pan' can be judged by adults as either a wild and fun imaginative entertaining children's story (and since I am on this side of the divide, I am giving it five stars), or we can see it as a horrible terrible tale which will 'teach' children all the wrong lessons. From a very prim upright adult moral viewpoint, I would need to assign it one star for the horrendous antihero characters of Peter Pan and the notorious pirate Captain James Hook (an alias) - both of whom are kidnappers, enslavers, murderers, etc. Peter Pan is a careless self-centered gang leader whose actions sometimes end in results as murderous as the vengeful pirate Captain Hook of the ship Jolly Roger! But if we judge these two antagonists by their friends, Peter Pan is the better boy.
Peter selects Wendy as his new companion, which shows him to be someone who wants good friends. Wendy is asked to be the 'mother' of the gang of boys living underground on Neverland Island, Peter's home. She agrees, happily, and she sews and cooks and cleans. When the boys are scared, tired or needy, she encourages them.
Peter also likes the diminutive fairy Tinker Bell, a point in his favor as far as I am concerned even if she is bitchy. Tink is very jealous of Wendy because Peter likes Wendy very much. Tink tried to lead Wendy astray when Wendy, and her brothers Michael and John, were given the power of flight after Peter sprinkled them with fairy dust for their journey from their bedroom to Neverland. Tink hoped Wendy would get lost, but to no avail. Despite this lapse in her behavior, she can be very heroic and loyal at other times.
But Pan forgets all about the kidnapped children after they fall victim to the various deadly traps and sword fights beween the Pan gang, the Indians, the pirates and the wild animals on the island of Neverland (he kidnaps more children to replace them). He does not keep his promises, mostly because he lives in the moment outside of clocks and social mores. He is thoughtless, narcissistic, careless, self-centered. He is also dashing, heroic, handsome and brave - although, he is these things mostly to satisfy himself only - a true ancient Greek hero. He does not acknowledge he needs a mother and companions, but he keeps taking boy children and a motherly girl to enjoy his adventures with him. He refuses to grow up, and works at staying a child forever.
There is a nasty crocodile which ate the arm of Captain Hook after Peter cut it off and tossed it to the crocodile. The croc loved the taste, so he keeps hunting for Hook to eat the rest of him. Hook has a hook for a right arm and he is quite ruthless in using it as a weapon.
There is another charming, if somewhat ill-used, character. Tiger Lily leads an Indian gang, who sometimes do battle with the pirates.
I decided to go along with the book as being an entertaining children's story, because that actually is the spirit of the book, in my opinion. Moral stories for children are soul-killing in my opinion.
I'd like to be Tinkerbell. She is my chosen fun alter-ego role model - she is such a cute bitch, but she comes through in the end.
I suppose some will disagree with me, but I think children can be really very innocently vicious when in bad moods before they are socialized (and adorably sweet and giving in good or empathic moods). I think they have to be taught how to safely channel their darker impulses.
When I was young, stories like this were thought to help children vicariously experience their own bloodthirsty impulses. Reading safely directed them into harmless entertainments of the imagination while at the same time they were actually being tamed to behave morally in the real world by their parents and teachers and other stories. However, I've noticed most of us prefer the bloodthirsty stories to the moral ones, gentle reader.
People's brains don't stop growing until about age 25, and then, in my opinion, we start trimming away unused neurons and we begin to think in the habitual ruts we are digging deep, literately, in our thoughts. Perhaps that is why older adults often forget to what purposes 'play' served children. We think mostly in moral consequences and less in the playful amorality of children. Stories allow us to run free again with the fabled lack of good and evil of Eden's children.
The only morals I can see in the book: 1. there is a time to play and a time to stop playing.; 2. growing up is the end of pure anything-you-want-imagined playing adventures; 3. enjoy being a kid as long as you can.
Peter selects Wendy as his new companion, which shows him to be someone who wants good friends. Wendy is asked to be the 'mother' of the gang of boys living underground on Neverland Island, Peter's home. She agrees, happily, and she sews and cooks and cleans. When the boys are scared, tired or needy, she encourages them.
Peter also likes the diminutive fairy Tinker Bell, a point in his favor as far as I am concerned even if she is bitchy. Tink is very jealous of Wendy because Peter likes Wendy very much. Tink tried to lead Wendy astray when Wendy, and her brothers Michael and John, were given the power of flight after Peter sprinkled them with fairy dust for their journey from their bedroom to Neverland. Tink hoped Wendy would get lost, but to no avail. Despite this lapse in her behavior, she can be very heroic and loyal at other times.
Spoiler
The mercurial Tink saves Peter's life by drinking down his cup of medicine to stop him from drinking it because she saw Captain Hook poison it. Peter saves her by asking readers to clap and to believe in fairies. I did as Peter asked because I adore Tink - and so I saved her, gentle reader!But Pan forgets all about the kidnapped children after they fall victim to the various deadly traps and sword fights beween the Pan gang, the Indians, the pirates and the wild animals on the island of Neverland (he kidnaps more children to replace them). He does not keep his promises, mostly because he lives in the moment outside of clocks and social mores. He is thoughtless, narcissistic, careless, self-centered. He is also dashing, heroic, handsome and brave - although, he is these things mostly to satisfy himself only - a true ancient Greek hero. He does not acknowledge he needs a mother and companions, but he keeps taking boy children and a motherly girl to enjoy his adventures with him. He refuses to grow up, and works at staying a child forever.
There is a nasty crocodile which ate the arm of Captain Hook after Peter cut it off and tossed it to the crocodile. The croc loved the taste, so he keeps hunting for Hook to eat the rest of him. Hook has a hook for a right arm and he is quite ruthless in using it as a weapon.
There is another charming, if somewhat ill-used, character. Tiger Lily leads an Indian gang, who sometimes do battle with the pirates.
Spoiler
The Indians are slaughtered in an unfair battle, true to history!I decided to go along with the book as being an entertaining children's story, because that actually is the spirit of the book, in my opinion. Moral stories for children are soul-killing in my opinion.
I'd like to be Tinkerbell. She is my chosen fun alter-ego role model - she is such a cute bitch, but she comes through in the end.
I suppose some will disagree with me, but I think children can be really very innocently vicious when in bad moods before they are socialized (and adorably sweet and giving in good or empathic moods). I think they have to be taught how to safely channel their darker impulses.
When I was young, stories like this were thought to help children vicariously experience their own bloodthirsty impulses. Reading safely directed them into harmless entertainments of the imagination while at the same time they were actually being tamed to behave morally in the real world by their parents and teachers and other stories. However, I've noticed most of us prefer the bloodthirsty stories to the moral ones, gentle reader.
People's brains don't stop growing until about age 25, and then, in my opinion, we start trimming away unused neurons and we begin to think in the habitual ruts we are digging deep, literately, in our thoughts. Perhaps that is why older adults often forget to what purposes 'play' served children. We think mostly in moral consequences and less in the playful amorality of children. Stories allow us to run free again with the fabled lack of good and evil of Eden's children.
The only morals I can see in the book: 1. there is a time to play and a time to stop playing.; 2. growing up is the end of pure anything-you-want-imagined playing adventures; 3. enjoy being a kid as long as you can.