My Work

Currently, I’m working with J. M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” and applying feminist and queer theory to the characters. In doing so, I intend to be able to argue that Barrie creates an ideal woman for London at the time with the Darling women but also challenges this idea with the women in Neverland. This project also works in conjunction with a visual presentation which I have made and uploaded to YouTube and linked below.

Establish, Challenge, Blend:

Queer Analysis of Women in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan

Michael Cotter

Dr. Nancy Workman

December 18, 2015

Lewis University

 

Introduction

            J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is considered to be one of the first children’s novels, published in 1911. With high-flying adventures, pirates, fairies, and the ideals of never growing up, Barrie captivates readers of all-ages in the classic story that harkens to more than young readers but also to the young at heart. The narrative creates a world that allows for women to challenge the typical gender normative roles that had been established in the early 1900s. Through the fictitious world of Neverland, Barrie is able to portray women in a more progressive and assertive manner that is untypical of the women of London at the time. The focus on women as more than helpers of the home is established through Peter Pan’s first conversation with Wendy in the nursery. Wendy asks Peter why he is only friends with lost boys and inquires “Are none of the others girls?” to which Peter replies that the lost boys are formed by falling from their prams, or a baby’s carriage, and that “girls, you know, are much too clever to fall out of their prams” (Barrie 44). When analyzing the text through a queer theorist lens, one may note the dynamic relationships and interactions of women and female characters both in London and in Neverland. Peter Pan establishes the expectations of women in society through female characters; but by introducing women characters from the fictitious Neverland, Barrie is able to speak to the full spectrum of what women can be.

 

Queering Peter Pan

            Though the text has been opened to queer theorists, many focus their study of the narrative on Peter as a queer character both in the text and it’s adaptations. Peter’s immaturity, innocence, and naivety have all cumulated to allow for him to be both assertive and passive in the narrative. A key example of Peter’s child-like demure is when Wendy wants to thank him and offers him a kiss, “but Peter did not know what she meant, and he held out his hand expectantly. "Surely you know what a kiss is?" she asked, aghast. "I shall know when you give it to me," he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feeling she gave him a thimble” (Barrie 41). Much of the queer theory focus, however, has come from the fact that Peter has been typically portrayed by female actresses on stage and in films. “Since its first representation on stage (on 27 December 1904), J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, most frequently has featured an actress in the title role” (Cernăuţi-Gorodeţchi 123).  Articles suggest that this could be, in part, because Barrie was a “highly professional dramatist” that respected the tradition of cross-dressing on stage for the sake of the show, much like how men portraying women in theater during the Elizabethan era (123). Others argue that this is simply done for theatrical purposes and that by casting adult women, they sound and are able to portray prepubescent young boys – if cast and costumed properly. Patrick Braybrooke, author of J. M. Barrie: A Study in Fairies and Mortals, says that  “there is no character of Barrie’s so essentially masculine as ‘Peter Pan,’ yet the part is played by actresses who are in every sense horribly and inevitably grown up” (5). This focus on Peter’s portrayal has opened many scholarly analyzes on the story and it’s adaptations; however, I found no research that focused solely on the female characters strictly in the novel.

Feminist and Queer Theory

            By applying queer theory to Peter Pan, feminist theory must also be applied being that the focus of this paper will be on the female characters in the narrative. Feminist theory, according to the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, is “an attempt to describe and interpret women’s experience as depicted in literary works […]. In addition it challenges traditional and accepted male ideas about the nature of women and about how women feel, act and think, or are supposed to feel, act and think, and how in general they respond to life and living” (315). Feminist theory lends itself for a reading of Peter Pan that permits the analysis of the women in the narrative and how the women in London seem vastly more demure and dependent on male counterparts than the women of Neverland. 

           It is pivotal to understand that queer theory is not just a theoretical framework that is applied to gay or lesbian characters from a text but rather any character that does not conform to the stereotypical socially constructed ideas of femininity or masculinity. According to Robert Dale Parker, author of How to Interpret Literature, feminist theory and queer theory are similar in structure, stating that: “again, as in feminism, the motive for queer studies comes not so much from a method per se, […] as from thinking about an identity category. It comes also from thinking about the way that, across history, cultures have understood or suppressed queer acts, enacted queer identities, or abused or denied the existence of queer people.” (Parker 185). Parker also stresses that queer theory is not the same as gay or lesbian theory. He emphasizes that LGBTQIA[1] characters in literary works can indeed be queer characters in the narrative but not all queer characters are necessarily part of the LGBTQIA community. “Lesbian and gay studies address sexual orientation and people who identify as lesbian or gay and compare them to people who identify as straight. […] Just as deconstruction [2]tries to go beyond the binary oppositions that structuralists believe organize our thinking, so queer studies – drawing on and contributing to deconstruction – tries to go beyond the binary oppositions and essentialism that is sometimes sees a s characterizing gay and lesbian studies […] the term queer suggest instability and continuous process. We might say that queer studies is a deconstructive version of gay and lesbian studies, a version that contemplates a wider variety of sexualities and orientations that can fit under the labels of gay and lesbian” (185-186).

           Lois Tyson, author of Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write about Literature, emphasizes queer theory and gay/lesbian theories differ stating that “queer theory rejects definitions of sexuality that depend upon the sex of one’s partner” (Tyson 173). Gay and lesbian theories are about identifying specific ideas about a characters’ sexuality, queer theory is about transgressing socially constructed boundaries or ideas of sexual identity and allowing for characters to embody both masculine and feminine traits while identifying which of their qualities are more masculine or feminine. “For queer theory, our sexuality is wholly determined neither by genetics nor environment, neither by nature nor nurture, because the sources of each individuals sexuality can be many and varied” (177-178).

Gender Normative Characters

            In the very beginning of the story, Mr. and Mrs. Darling establish themselves and their gender roles. Mr. Darling establishes himself as the man of the house. One of his main focuses is finance. Mr. Darling is focused on money and making wages in order to support the family and their needs. This is typical of the men being that their job was to work to support the family. Men and women worked and acted often in separate spheres which overlapped a bit – like a Venn diagram. This concept means that in a relationship or a marriage, a man took care of one world – the world of business and labor – and a woman took the other sphere – the house and home – and they would share some aspects in the middle such as finances of the home and bringing in produce and appliances.

           With his focus on supporting the life of Mrs. Darling and baby Wendy, Mr. Darling becomes nervous when Mrs. Darling is pregnant with her second and third children. Instead of being excited with her for the new lives they will be bringing into the home, he begins to factor the wages in which he will need to provide in order to support the new child. He even goes on to factor in costs of treating possible future illnesses saying: “"Remember mumps," he warned her almost threateningly, and off he went again. "Mumps one pound, that is what I have put down, but I daresay it will be more like thirty shillings—don't speak—measles one five, German measles half a guinea, makes two fifteen six—don't waggle your finger—whooping-cough, say fifteen shillings"—and so on it went, and it added up differently each time; but at last Wendy just got through, with mumps reduced to twelve six, and the two kinds of measles treated as one” (Barrie 15). Though this financial obsession can be seen in an unsavory manner, Mr. Darling establishes himself as a decent father figure – one who is actively involved in fulfilling his social role to support the lives of his family members.

           One of the gender normative “women of London” characters in the narrative is Mrs. Darling. Mrs. Darling’s sphere is focused on the home. She works around the house tending to cleaning, cooking, and so on. It’s even stated that she goes into the nursery at night and cleans the children’s minds the same way she cleans their room:

“It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day […] It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on” (17-18).

Through this passage, the reader gets an insight into some of the roles and tasks Mrs. Darling takes on. One of which appears to be laundry being that there is emphasis on the fact that she folds and tidies before placing the thoughts back into drawers much like one may do with clothing. Further, this establishes her interaction with the children. Conversely to Mr. Darling, Mrs. Darling appears to be more mentally connected to the children because she is interested in learning what they know and how they think. She even “lingers humorously” over some of the thoughts and wonders “where on earth you picked this thing up.” This scene also gives Mrs. Darling the opportunity to make sure her children conform to ideas she agrees with. By placing thoughts that she deems evil or naughty in the bottom of the children’s mind and bringing forward ideas that she agrees with and find “prettier.” Interestingly, it is through the minds of the children that Mrs. Darling first learns of Peter Pan.

            Mrs. Darling also teaches young Wendy social expectations of London women. Wendy learns about sewing, caring for the family, and teaching her young brothers through stories all because of the socially understood role she has been placed in. Young Wendy is influenced by her mother being that she aspires to be like her some day. Much like a young child playing dress-up, Wendy emulates her mother’s actions and jobs.  One way this is shown in the narrative is that Mrs. Darling “had dressed early because Wendy so loved to see her in her evening-gown, with the necklace [Mr. Darling] had given her” (Barrie 28). Mrs. Darling wears her “white evening gown” around the home because of Wendy’s captivation with the dress. By doing this Mrs. Darling not only feels beautiful but is demonstrating for her daughter what a proper adult woman wears to an evening party. This scene acts as a makeshift fashion show of what Wendy is expected to wear around some day. Further, Mrs. Darling also displays the necklace that Mr. Darling has given her. By wearing this necklace to the party, Mrs. Darling is not only able to look beautiful and established but she also makes Mr. Darling look more masculine being that he was able to provide his wife with a lovely decoration of dress which presumably was costly. This not only fulfills Mrs. Darling’s feminine quality but also supports the masculinity of Mr. Darling being that he, as the man of the home, is able to provide for his family as well as give them gifts.

           It’s also very interesting that the Darling family has a staff. As made evident by Mr. Darling obsession with wages, the family tries to save money whenever possible; however, they still employ a nanny for the children. This is presumably done because by having an employ, a family begins to establish themselves as a bit above the rest into a middle class. At this time in London, only the lowest of the low class had no staff on hard. Thus, by employing a nanny, the Darling family could establish themselves as better off as perhaps they were. Strangely, the nanny that is used by the Darling family is in fact a dog that the children lovingly call Nana. Nana tends to the children and makes sure they don’t run a fever and that they eat properly. Nana seems to have some extraordinary sense of the children’s health, presumably through her superior hearing perhaps hearing the difference in coughs “knowing when a cough is a thing to have no patience with and when it needs stocking around your throat” (16). She checks on them as they sleep and alerts Mr. and Mrs. Darling to anything out of the ordinary through barking. Mr. Darling thinks that “No nursery could possibly have been conducted more correctly;” however, he does wonder what people must think being that they treat a dog as an employee stating, “he had his position in the city to consider” (16). Nana’s anthropomorphic actions establish her as a developed character of the Darling family and one who contributes to the upbringing of the children while following expected norms of women.

Queer Women of Neverland

           Though the Neverland women are just as beautiful and externally feminine as the women in London, the personas of the Neverland women are far more assertive and active than the passivity seen in the London women. This idea of a queer woman character is discussed in Parker’s chapter on queer theory stating that “the power of the female presence [can] provide both the feminine and masculine presence in the story” (Parker 187). Barrie’s mystic realm allows for him to create female characters in this Neverland and allow for them to be portrayed in a new light. Two main Neverland women who challenge the concept of traditional femininity are Tiger Lily and Tinker Bell.

           Tiger Lily is the daughter of a Neverland Indian tribe, the Piccaninnies. The narrator of the story emphasizes Tiger Lily’s femininity through her great physical beauty calling her “a princess in her own right. She is the most beautiful of dusky Dianas and the belle of the Piccaninnies” (Barrie 69). This description allows for a definitive femininity to be shown in Tiger Lily; however, her character is also described as a brutal warrior and a brave fighter. “Bringing up the rear, the place of greatest danger comes Tiger Lily, proudly erect” (69). The imagery of Tiger Lily’s pride in conjunction with her external beauty is notable being that it emphasizes her character in both masculine and feminine traits. Maria Tatar, editor of The Annotated Peter Pan, also notes that Tiger Lily’s name reflects her character duality being that her name “combines a ferocious animal with a beautiful flower” (69).

           When compared to a London character, like Mrs. Darling, Tiger Lily is distinctively more independent. While Mrs. Darling is supported by her husband, Tiger Lily is far less conceived by the notion of needing a husband. The narrator notes that “there is not a brave who would not have the wayward thing to wife, but she staves off the altar with a hatchet” (69). This imagery again displays Tiger Lily’s queer nature being that she seems to combine both masculine and feminine traits in one body. It’s also notable that the men of the tribe are interested in her but she is not interested in them further displaying her independence being that she is not reliant on a male figure. Additionally, Tiger Lily is different from Mrs. Darling being that Tiger Lily is defined on her own whereas Mrs. Darling is adopting the name of her husband into her title suggestion that she cannot support herself.

             Another pivotal woman in Neverland is Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell is the fairy companion of Peter Pan who, like Tiger Lily, is externally the ideal feminine depiction but her persona is rather masculine. Externally, Tinker Bell is “exquisitely gowned in a skeleton leaf, cut low and square, through which her figure could be seen to the best advantage. She was slightly inclined to embonpoint[3]” (36). The emphasis on her skeleton leaf dress and its low cut suggests that Tinker Bell is exposing a lot of skin. Further, the emphasis that her body embonpoints displays that her figure is a curvy figure – one that is considered appealing by males through time[4]. This ownership that she displays of her sexuality is something that can be perceived in a masculine manner being that women at this time are far more demure and clad especially when out in public. This ownership over her sexuality and body is depicted in the Walt Disney film adaptation, which features the fairy in a small leaf dress and an hourglass figure. When conceptualizing her character, animators developed her character depiction from the late 1930 to 1950 (Kurtti).

           Tinker Bell’s masculine assertive nature is first displayed in the narrative when she arrives at the Darling children’s bedroom. When Tinker Bell first enters the Darling’s bedroom, she begins to explore the unfamiliar area. She gets too caught up in her adventures that Peter seems to lose her in the room. “‘Tinker Bell,’[Peter] called softly, after making sure that the children were asleep, ‘Tink, where are you?’ She was in a jug for the moment, and liking it extremely; she had never been in a jug before” (Barrie 38). Tinker Bell’s wanderlust speaks to her character demonstrating that she is bold and adventurous, which is not something that women were expected to be. Rummaging through someone else’s belongings or exploring an unknown room is not something readers would expect to see out of normative women like Mrs. Darling.

           In this same scene, Tinker Bell locates Peter’s lost shadow inside a dresser drawer. Excited to find his shadow, Peter beings rummaging the draws and accidently closes Tinker Bell inside of one. After Peter ceases his crying fit, he and Wendy hear the tinkling of bells from behind the draws. This displays the fit of rage that Tinker Bell must have been throwing in order to be heard through the dresser by Peter and Wendy in the room. “He let poor Tink out of the drawer, and she flew about the nursery screaming with fury. ‘You shouldn't say such things,’ Peter retorted. ‘Of course I'm very sorry, but how could I know you were in the drawer?’” (43). Tinker Bell’s fit of fury shows her assertive nature. This scene also shows that she is not dependent on Peter but rather likes to be around him. Had she been dependent on him, she would likely not scream at him being that she would ultimately need something from him; however, in the case of the narrative it is Peter who relies on Tinker Bell.

            Once Wendy is able to catch a glimpse of Tinker Bell, she exclaims how lovely the fairy is and wishes that she had one of her own. “Tink's face was still distorted with passion. "Tink," said Peter amiably, "this lady says she wishes you were her fairy." Tinker Bell answered insolently. "What does she say, Peter?" He had to translate. "She is not very polite. She says you are a great ugly girl, and that she is my fairy." (43) This is possibly the most obvious and most concise moment that exposes Tinker Bell’s character. Though she is lovely and complimented by Wendy, she feels no need to reciprocate the compliment; instead, she repudiates Wendy’s remarks and insults her character. Not only does Tinker Bell directly call Wendy ugly but also she calls her great, as in huge, which in comparison to Tinker Bell’s beautiful shape is a major insult. Further, Tinker Bell seems to be demeaning Wendy by calling her a “girl” in this scene. After having witnessed Wendy trying to give Peter a kiss, it is assumed that Tinker Bell is implying that Wendy is still too childish to be alluring to boys even if she wants to be. 

           When Wendy does ultimately give Peter a thimble, which is what Wendy tells Peter a kiss is, Tinker Bell asserts her dominance and takes ownership of Peter. “Peter thimbled [Wendy], and almost immediately she screeched. ‘What is it, Wendy?’ ‘It was exactly as if someone were pulling my hair.’ ‘That must have been Tink. I never knew her so naughty before.’ And indeed Tink was darting about again, using offensive language” (45). Tinker Bell’s assertive nature and attack of Wendy is something that is representative of a fight. Though Wendy is much larger than Tinker Bell, she still is able to attack and inflict pain on Wendy, which creates an interesting parallel to the biblical story of David and Goliath – both of whom are male characters. Following her attack, Tinker Bell threatens Wendy. Peter says “‘she says she will do that to you, Wendy, every time I give you a thimble” (45). Perhaps shocked by this aggression Wendy asks why. Peter asks Tinker Bell, who has to translate for Tinker Bell being that she speaks in the sound of bells, ‘”Why, Tink?’ Again Tink replied, ‘You silly ass.’ Peter could not understand why, but Wendy understood” (45). Peter seems to be confused as to why the two females are fighting over him, and this is mostly because of Peter’s immaturity. Peter is often described in the narrative as forgetful or confused by people’s feeling. This speaks to his youthful character. Wendy and Tinker Bell’s fight for Peter’s attention shows them in a more mature light when juxtaposed to Peter This shows women in a more dominant position than some of the male characters in the novel being that the women like Wendy and Tinker Bell are consulted by men for their thoughts in Neverland.

            The principal scene that shows the assertive nature of Tinker Bell is when she tries to have Wendy killed. Before the Darling children can begin their flight to Neverland, Peter has to teach them to fly and “no one can fly unless the fairy dust has been blown on them” (50).  Peter uses Tinker Bell’s magic dust in this moment to allow for the children to take flight; emphasizing Tinker Bell’s importance being that without her the children would never make it to Neverland. Once in flight and nearing arrival, Tinker Bell begins to attack Wendy – “darting at her victim from every direction, pinching savagely each time she touched” – and calls out to the lost boys that Peter wants them to shoot the Wendy from the sky (77). Following Tinker Bell’s deceptive direction  one of the lost boys “excitedly fitted his arrow to his bow […] and then her fired, and Wendy fluttered to the ground with an arrow in her breast” (77). This scene captures the malice that Tinker Bell has towards Wendy. By “savagely” attacking her when she touches her she acts like a combater. Further, when Tinker Bell tells the lost boys to shoot the Wendy, she is acting similarly to a commander in a war – employing directions for the troops in time of battle. Though externally Tinker Bell is beautiful, this scene emphasizes her masculine characteristics and her assertiveness.

Wendy’s Fluidity in Character Traits

           The oldest of the Darling children is young Wendy. Wendy’s exact age is not included in the novel, but it is implied that she is around eleven or twelve and on the cusp of becoming a young woman. The narrator even notes that she is indeed a young woman stating, “Wendy was every inch a woman, though there were not very many inches” (41). She learns a lot of what is expected of her as a young woman from adults like her mother; interestingly, she is also influenced by the women in Neverland being that she is still a young and impressionable girl. The cross between the two different views blend together in young Wendy. This is represented in Tyson’s chapter on queer theory when he states that “our sexuality […] may be different at different times in our lives or even at different times during the week” (Tyson 178). This framework allows for a reader to understand the blending influences of the passive women of London and the dominant women of Neverland.

           Wendy’s femininity is shown greatly in the London scenes before her adventures to Neverland. When Peter first arrives through the window, Wendy tries to help him re-attach his shadow. Peter, the naïve boy, tries to do so using a bar of soap and when this is fruitless he begins to sob. Wendy wakes up from her sleep, sees Peter’s struggle and gets her sewing kit with which she re-attaches his shadow. She even goes on to say “Perhaps I should have ironed it” as she is re-attaching Peter’s shadow (40). This scene not only shows a great maternal instinct in Wendy, waking up to the sound of a crying child and tending to his needs, but it also displays that she is more mature than Peter even though they are presumably the same age. Wendy even notes this when she talks about Peter to her mother saying “‘Oh no, he isn't grown up,’ Wendy assured her confidently, ‘and he is just my size.’ She meant that he was her size in both mind and body; she didn't know how she knew, she just knew it” (22). Both her sewing skills and maternal instincts are traits she must’ve adopted from watching Mrs. Darling and possibly Nana. Wendy goes on to introduce herself to Peter as “‘Wendy Moira Angela Darling,’ she [said] with some satisfaction;” thus demonstrating her manners and formal etiquette that she has learned from being a growing woman in the London society (38).

           Further, when Peter arrives Wendy tries to attach herself to him romantically. “She also said she would give him a kiss if he liked, but Peter did not know what she meant, and he held out his hand expectantly. ‘Surely you know what a kiss is?’ she asked, aghast. ‘I shall know when you give it to me,’ he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feeling she gave him a thimble” (41). It is notable that Wendy is “aghast” when Peter does not know what a kiss is. Her shock could be due to the fact that she is now in an uncomfortable and un-lady-like position where she will have to explain or show what a kiss is. Her shock also shows that Wendy is not the “same size” as Peter mentally being that Wendy learned socially constructed expectations in London and Peter only knows the ways of Neverland. This scene captures the femininity in Wendy, being that she is already in pursuit of a man of her own; however, it also demonstrates a boldness in her character through her blunt approach to the subject suggesting that she is not nearly as demure as the other women in London. Peter says he visits the nursery a lot he does so to hear Wendy’s stories and following this the narrator notes that “[Wendy] was just slightly disappointed when he admitted that he came to the nursery window not to see her but to listen to stories” (45). This observation from the narrator demonstrates the budding romantic relationship Wendy is yearning for being that she connects having a male counterpart as being an adult.

           When Peter brings the Darling children to Neverland, Wendy is shot from the sky by the lost boys via Tinker Bell’s instructions. When Wendy falls with an arrow in her breast, she is miraculously saved by Peter’s “kiss.” In the nursery, Peter believes that kisses are small tokens of gratitude being that Wendy becomes bashful after offering him a kiss and gives him a thimble instead. When Peter kisses Wendy he gives her a button which she puts on a necklace and wears around her neck. This button is referred to as Peter’s kiss. When Tootles shoots at Wendy with the arrow, he hits her in the chest but directly upon the kiss button that Peter gave Wendy. “Then Peter knelt beside her and found his button. You remember she had put it on a chain that she wore round her neck. ‘See,’ he said, ‘the arrow struck against this. It is the kiss I gave her. It has saved her life’” (80). This scene harkens back to fairy tales like “Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, which was published in 1812 – nearly one hundred years before Barrie wrote Peter Pan. By framing Peter’s kiss as the thing that saves Wendy’s life, her femininity is demonstrated and she becomes entirely passive.

           Once in Neverland, Wendy brings to impart her cultural influences on the lost boys. In one scene, Wendy begins to teach them things that they would learn in school. She also gives Michael and John quizzes about their lives back in London being that she was afraid they were becoming too influenced by the Neverland culture. “What did disturb her at times was that John remembered his parents vaguely only, as people he had once known, while Michael was quite willing to believe that she was really his mother. These things scared her a little, and nobly anxious to do her duty, she tried to fix the old life in their minds by setting them examination papers on it, as like as possible to the ones she used to do at school. The other boys thought this awfully interesting, and insisted on joining, and they made slates for themselves, and sat round the table, writing and thinking hard about the questions she had written on another slate and passed round” (91). Being that Michael and John are much younger than Wendy, they are starting to forget what it was like to have a mother and father. Wendy in this scene becomes a maternal figure being that she is teaching the young boys what she knows – just like how Mrs. Darling taught young Wendy everything thing she knew. This scene also shows Wendy in a mature light, being that she is being paralleled with a schoolteacher and her mother. By doing this, she has become the “adult” figure in the lives of the Neverland boys.

           Once Wendy returns home from Neverland with the lost boys and Peter, perhaps her most striking moment of assertion is when she expresses her sexuality and lust for Peter in front of her mother. When the lost boys and Peter come to London to bring the Darling children home, the lost boys become attached to the idea of wanting to stay with the Darling family and become members of the London society. They know that they will ultimately have to grow up but they feel ready for this. Peter, however, seems very uneasy towards this notion being that Neverland is all he really knows and that he, unlike the lost boys, is able to fly between the two worlds and gain from both. Peter asks Mrs. Darling he does not want to go to school and “learn solemn things […] I don't want to be a man. O Wendy's mother, if I was to wake up and feel there was a beard!" Peter becomes disturbed by the thoughts of becoming a man in society. In hopes of relieving his fears and making Peter her own, “‘Peter,’ said Wendy the comforter, ‘I should love you in a beard;’ and Mrs. Darling stretched out her arms to him, but he repulsed her” (177). This moment blatantly shows Wendy’s newfound independence. When contrasted from the moment when she was too embarrassed to explain what a kiss is, she is now able to defy her passive expectations of a London woman and exude the confidence that she found by learning from Neverland women.

New Adventures of Neverland

            By writing women characters that are vastly passive or strikingly dominant, J. M. Barrie is able to portray women in a way that is more realistic than a static character. Through the analysis of the women and their roles, traits, and interactions, it is notable that they are vastly different characters and Wendy acts as the median who embodies the cross between the formal femininity of a London woman or the vibrant displays of a Neverland female. Barrie’s Peter Pan is a captivating story of personal development, society, and the magic of youth. Barrie’s classic story captivates the reader in a way that can only be described as magical. Further scholarship might be done through analyzing the narrator of the novel. The narrator who acts as a guide for the entirety of the story has a remarkable omniscient view that mirrors an almost god-like figure being that, in parts, it appears that the narrator choses the adventure that Peter is about to go into. “The extraordinary upshot of this adventure was—but we have not decided yet that this is the adventure we are to narrate. Perhaps a better one would be the night attack by the redskins on the house under the ground, when several of them stuck in the hollow trees and had to be pulled out like corks. Or we might tell how Peter saved Tiger Lily's life in the Mermaids' Lagoon, and so made her his ally. […] Which of these adventures shall we choose? The best way will be to toss for it. I have tossed, and the lagoon has won. This almost makes one wish that the gulch or the cake or Tink's leaf had won. Of course I could do it again, and make it best out of three; however, perhaps fairest to stick to the lagoon” (94). Through this viewpoint, the story is told and the adventures have a mystical overview and insight that perfectly mirrors the tone of a expert story-teller. 

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