When people talk about Peter Pan, what have you got to say? How much do you know about Peter Pan beside the flying boy who wore a green hat? Wanting to find out more about the flying Pan, I picked up the book by J. M. Barrie last week at Borders. By the first three chapters, I was already shocked at how different the book I thought it to be - a children's storybook.
Peter Pan was more than a boy who refused to grow up. He was also a sly boy who knew how to convince the innocent's hearts to have his way. He lived at Neverland with the Lost Boys, and they need a mother. So he sneaked into the Darling's family and smooth-talked his way into their little girl, Wendy's heart. He lured her and her brothers, Michael and John to Neverland (inset above). The fairy, Tinkerbell (inset above) did not welcome Peter Pan's idea because she was jealous of Wendy and she would never want Wendy to be close to Peter Pan. And Tinkerbell's help was needed for the children to get to Neverland; without the fairy's golden dust, they couldn't fly. Tinkerbell obliged out of her feeling for Peter Pan.
When I read the sentence where it explained why there weren't any girls on Neverland, I laughed. The author wrote that Lost Boys were boys who fell out of their perambulators and girls were too smart for that folly. In modern context, can this be considered as a sexist remark? Hmm...Anyway, Mr Darling's conduct was also inappropriate for kids. He fed the medicine that he hated to eat to their dog, Nana. The SPCA* would probably condemn such act as abuse to animals.
Honestly, I enjoy the book very much. Fairy tales are beyond imagination and some of the silliness in Peter Pan's story do make me laugh. As an adult, I can take whatever theme in fairy tales with a pinch of salt. But I am concerned for the kids' consumption. Tinkerbell was a damsel that kids should be discerning (which they can't at their tender age) to understand her misguided emotion beyond her cuteness. As I read further, there was a weirdness between Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell. Somehow, it conjured up an image of a love triangle. As the tension unfolded along with their adventures, Tinkerbell decieved the Lost Boys that Wendy was a white bird and urged them to shoot her down while she was flying over Neverland. Wendy was shot but not dead. She was protected by the chain given to her by Peter Pan. Does this sound like a gift of love?
Maybe, Peter Pan was not written for children but written by an adult about children for adult readers. Its theme aside, the English in this book is not easy to understand. Am I making a fool of myself by kicking such a fuss a over a children story with a sinister's theme? Haven't we all read it in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rapunzel and Cinderalla? Moreover, the copy of the Peter Pan that I bought was an original version used for study guide. The children's version is unlikely to be the same in depth, I guess?
The classic is an eye-opening children story for me. The last chapter can keep me pondering for ages. Peter Pan is still as young as he was in 1904; but I will grow older and older till I fade away from the earth.
* SPCA - Society to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - a Singapore's organization
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Listen to Peter Pan's song 'I can fly! I can fly! I can fly!"
2 comments:
I liked your story on Peter Pan. It was a very popular story in the early days of the century. Infact the first Peter Pan on stage was Maude Adams. She was the first to give a human form to Peter.
IT was a Charles Frohman production and it was very successful. It advanced Adams career greatly.
Funny thing in 1915 when Charles Frohman was standing on the slanting decks of the Lusitania. He was quoted as saying "Why fear death, it is the greatest adventure of life" Which is very much like a line from Pater Pan ...of which he loved.
Nice story, I too love the tale.
That's the magic in children's books, I think.
When you're a little kid, you live and laugh through the story, as an adult(seeming, at least) - you outlive it, not via the characters, just by yourself.
/Bla-bla... English, apparently, isn't my mother tongue:D/
So, I love "Peter Pan", actually, I've been living in this fairy-tale for a short time now. And I wonder, what if one more child never grew up?
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