Peter Pan

Peter Pan represents eternal youth. Not only does he never want to grow up, but he does everything in his power to remain young. However, his youth does not come with the innocence one might expect. He is cynical about mothers and does not shy away from heinous acts such as killing. He is, by all accounts, youthful and carefree, but he is also callous and ignorant. Throughout the novel, he insists that mothers are bad people, but he also takes Wendy in as a “mother” figure that he, at times, respects. After Wendy is gone, he continues to bring new “mother” figures to the Neverland, as if searching for something he never had.

The end of the novel asserts that Peter will continue taking in new mothers “so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless” (159). Peter is heartless, certainly. He is gay in that he thrives on adventure, but he is also sinister, dark, and cynical. His innocence is washed away when he kills and witnesses tragedy. However, the narrator notes on several occasions that Peter forgets the acts that he commits. Perhaps, his memory loss restores Peter’s innocence. Regardless, the statement may apply more to the children Peter chooses than to him.

Captain Hook is the novel’s antagonist, but even the narrator admits that Hook is “not wholly unheroic” (137). Hook is, in many ways, Peter Pan as an adult. He is cynical, but honorable. His obsession with “good form” mirrors Peter’s obsession with honorable fighting. In the end, it is Peter’s bad form that brings about Hook’s demise. Before then, we witness a man afraid of a crocodile (fear contrasts with Peter’s carefree attitude), and a man who respects Wendy (something Peter does not at the beginning of the novel). Hook is at once the mirror of Peter and his opposite. If nothing else, his presence in the novel confirms the idea that no one is wholly good or wholly evil.

Wendy, by far the most innocent person in the novel, embodies childlike innocence when she plays make-believe house with the boys. She does not participate in their adventures, or help to kill the pirates. Instead, her contribution to Neverland takes the form of a home for the boys to rest in. In fact, her make-believe house begins to feel real to her, and she wonders if she really remembers her parents. She teases Peter, but also fears speaking out against him because of his role as “father.” At the end of the novel, she waits expectantly for Peter to ask her to marry him. Her make-believe world is not what Peter envisioned. Wendy is supposed to represent the “motherly” influence, which is also torn down and disrespected by Peter throughout the novel. In the end, Wendy can be seen as weakened by her experience with Peter. Having learned nothing, she lets her daughter fly away with him. It is a fantasy that she can’t let go of.