Lisa's Reviews > Peter Pan

"You need not be sorry for her. She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than the other girls."

I loved Wendy when I was little - I was a bit over two when I got to know her, so I probably knew I was going to grow up at some point too. And knowing what she chose, it was a deliberate choice in my case as well. Peter Pan is one of those many childhood classics I devoured, loved and cherished, only to put it aside and - seemingly - forget it.

But as I was reading poetry this weekend and enjoying it so much I was laughing tears, I all of a sudden thought of fairies, and that they are made of children's laughter. Laughing like a child made me think of that hidden identity somewhere underneath the grown-up self I have become, and that in turn made me think of the difference between Peter and Wendy.

Peter refuses to grow, and prefers to stay a child and play and fight and live an irresponsible, crazy adventure. His world is a male paradise, and he is its king. As fascinating as it is to follow his story, I would never have wanted to stay in Neverland with him. Telling the story of the adventure to my own children as a grown-up - a mother - would have been much more tempting. Wendy and Peter are symbols of the storyteller and the story.

What would you like to be?

Why are so many people still idealising an immature phase in life, glorifying young adult behaviour, living off the stories of their youth? Telling the story of Captain Hook is so much more satisfying than chasing him around while listening for the crocodile ticking away in all eternity.

I bow to the wisdom and wit of Barrie, who must have had plenty of Peters and Wendys to draw from to create those two concepts of life - so true and yet so much in need of pixie dust.