Just off the Nightstand: Peter Pan

Well I finished up Peter Pan. The funny thing is, I went into it thinking I had seen all of the Disney version and left it very uncertain. That is, there were a few scenes in the book that I am not sure were in the movie, but can't be confident without renting the movie, but that would involve requesting it from the library and going back there to wrestle Caleb off the winding staircase - with the way my back's been feeling lately, the answer is: no.

The thing is, about 50% of the time, I felt like Peter Pan was just a kid's fantasy tale and the other half felt like it was trying to express something deeper. The story is really about mothers: Wendy's mother, Peter's forgotten mother, the lost boys' lost mothers, Wendy's behaving like a mother, the pirates wanting her to be their mother, and finally Wendy's becoming a real mother. One thing I'm pretty certain is not in the movie is the reference to Peter's nightmares - which to me seem to really contrast with how Mrs. Darling naturally desires to comfort her children at bedtime. Peter has such violently mixed feelings about his mother. He is proud of her - embellishing her unknown qualities to Tinker Bell, yet he resents her - claiming all mothers eventually forget or abandon their lost children. But ultimately, it's all make believe, Peter can't remember things from year to year and can't grasp the reality of Wendy growing up. He's a hero, but at the same time he's so bizarre.

Also, I was surprised at how violent the book is. It seems like Neverland is all eat or be eaten. It's the strange reality laced dreamland. What is it that the reader is supposed to think that Neverland is? - it's a dream (Peter speaks directly to the children dreaming about it), but it's real time that Wendy, Michael and John have been away from their parents.

OK, Captain Hook - all villian. But I was surprised at this quote:

Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze; but as those who read between the lines must already have guessed,

I was really puzzled by this, it didn't even hint at "who he really was" and how could I "read between the lines", but then it hit me - it must be Guy Fawkes. For one thing, it's a British novel and Guy Fawkes is definately player in British history. "Even at this date" - Peter Pan was written in the early 1900s, Fawkes dates to around 1600. Look at their pictures:



Even though it's the Disney version, all the Captain Hooks look basically like Fawkes. In my opinion...kind of spooky!

It's an interesting book - full of fantasy, violent - but not gore-y, asking the reader, what if you could decide not to grow up - which was Mrs. Darling's desire for Wendy on the first page. Interesting that all the children but Peter desired a mother's love so much that they chose to grow up, leaving Peter to look rather strange, or so it seemed to me.