Why do you think Peter Pan couldn;t grow up?

[haggardbat]

Somehow I feel that it's simply because he didn't want to. Just like that.

Although if you read Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens it alludes to his being originally human, then thinking himself to be half-bird. I don't know if that has any bearing.

As an additional note, people of Barrie's time would have known Lost Boy as a euphemism for dead. So perhaps he did, as has been suggested, die. It was also said that Mrs. Darling remembers stories that went around when she was a girl, of him taking children who died part of the way to heaven so they wouldn't be frightened. In that sense, I like to think of the Neverland as being a child's heaven, and the boys there simply being in a better place, although Peter himself seems much too alive to really be dead!

Another thing that I've heard is that there is no explanation because Peter is a reflection of Barrie's own feeling of never having properly grown up and his own sense of a bad self-confidence; but I don't like that idea at all (although there seems to have been some good arguments made for it) so I tend to ignore it.

[tiraspy]

Neverland is a land of will and belief (faith trust and pixie dust). If you want to fly and you truely believe you can you will fly.
Peter truly believes that he isn't going to grow up and be a man. So he doesn't. He also doesn't spend alot of time in London, because he fears that he will age there, and thus he will age there.
Hook on the other hand still believes himself as a man in his prime, therefore he is.

[Dis Order Lee]

Tenko72

I thought no one in Neverland aged?

[cookie monster1199]

peter pan cant grow up because he didnt want to. so he went to neverland so that he wouldnt have to grow up. and so he didnt. so its not that he couldnt, because he could have if he stayed in the real world, he simply didnt want to.

[TeddybearC]

Mainly, one of the points of Neverland is that there is no sense of time. That is why all the clocks do not work and why Hook is so scared when he hears the croc with thr ticking noise. Since there is no time, therefore people cannot age. That is why no one ages in Neverland.

[Kikien]

As I see it, he didn't want to grow up.

Growing up means to mature, both physically and mentally: he'd need to accept adult responsibilities and lose his youthful carelessness. He forever wanted to have teh impsih youthfulness and zeal of a young boy. Because he so blatantly refused to age mentally, he stopped growing older. Peter loves Wendy as a faithful son because he is incapable of the more mature love that Wendy was searching for.

Maybe, in his search for a mother, he wanted someone to care for him. He never wanted to care for anyone else.

[KiddtheAssassin]

In short: because he simply didn't want to.

Longer explanation:

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he lived in Neverland. Neverland is a world made entirely of children's dreams and adventures. It is the place where children remain eternal. Lots of children come and go from Neverland, some visiting longer than others. But eventually all children leave, save one.

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he was the Only Child. Like all Lost Boys he fell out of his pram and found himself in Neverland where he could have all the adventures he wanted for as long as he dreamed. But when he returned to visit his parents the window had been locked and another baby was in his place. His heart broken, he vowed never to trust grown ups or to become one himself.

And so he will not. Peter resides in Neverland as a symbol of childhood. He is selfish and cruel, but fun-loving and filled with adventure. He has all of his baby teeth and is quite absent-minded. He is the boy who will never grow up.

[Mysterioux-Jade]

Kinny Fear

Because he suffered from psychogenic dwarfism?

Huh, but Peter was not malnutritioned. in the book you can distinguish that he was just fine for his age.
According to your link source, it was Barry who had PSS, not him.

[Revinita]

Tenko72

I thought no one in Neverland aged?

Neverland is a fisher kingdom of Peter Pan, meaning he controls it over it controls him.
I'm pretty sure it says in the original book that you can grow up in Neverland, but Peter will throw you out if you do. It's been a long time since I read it though.

[Revinita]

KiddtheAssassin

In short: because he simply didn't want to.

Longer explanation:

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he lived in Neverland. Neverland is a world made entirely of children's dreams and adventures. It is the place where children remain eternal. Lots of children come and go from Neverland, some visiting longer than others. But eventually all children leave, save one.

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he was the Only Child. Like all Lost Boys he fell out of his pram and found himself in Neverland where he could have all the adventures he wanted for as long as he dreamed. But when he returned to visit his parents the window had been locked and another baby was in his place. His heart broken, he vowed never to trust grown ups or to become one himself.

And so he will not. Peter resides in Neverland as a symbol of childhood. He is selfish and cruel, but fun-loving and filled with adventure. He has all of his baby teeth and is quite absent-minded. He is the boy who will never grow up.

I don't think Peter fell out of a pram, I'm pretty sure he flew away to Neverland on his own. I remember there being a line about all babies being part bird that explained it.

[Binku_Muja-]

Celest Wolfsbane

I believe that deep in the heart of the character Peter Pan, he wanted to remain a child because of his mother. When he left it was because he was so afraid of being an adult and having so many responsibilities. Being so young, the thoughts overwhelmed him. So he left home but one day realized that as all children do he missed his mother very much. However upon the return to his home, he found his mother had yet another child. This sparked pain that maybe he'd be unwanted and caused him to leave once more. Deep in his heart he longed to be the child that his mother rocked to sleep at night and protected from all the bad things in the world. He wanted to be free of responsibility so strongly that perhaps some where in all the magic, this wish too was granted and so a child he remained. When a child is robbed of their childhood they can never truly grow up and even as adults remain in a childish state of mind.

emo

gaia_angelleft gaia_kittenstar gaia_angelright
This. But i'd also add that maybe in his mind, being a grown up means you'd lie or 'replace' other people simply because they wouldn't do as you told them to.
gaia_nitemareleft gaia_kittenstar gaia_nitemareright

[KiddtheAssassin]

Revinita

KiddtheAssassin

In short: because he simply didn't want to.

Longer explanation:

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he lived in Neverland. Neverland is a world made entirely of children's dreams and adventures. It is the place where children remain eternal. Lots of children come and go from Neverland, some visiting longer than others. But eventually all children leave, save one.

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he was the Only Child. Like all Lost Boys he fell out of his pram and found himself in Neverland where he could have all the adventures he wanted for as long as he dreamed. But when he returned to visit his parents the window had been locked and another baby was in his place. His heart broken, he vowed never to trust grown ups or to become one himself.

And so he will not. Peter resides in Neverland as a symbol of childhood. He is selfish and cruel, but fun-loving and filled with adventure. He has all of his baby teeth and is quite absent-minded. He is the boy who will never grow up.

I don't think Peter fell out of a pram, I'm pretty sure he flew away to Neverland on his own. I remember there being a line about all babies being part bird that explained it.

Not in the original by JM Barrie. Peter fell out of his pram like all the others.

[Mayor Gravity]

Yanueh

Mayor Gravity

I've always wondered this, and want to know other people's opnions.

I've read teh J,M Barrie book, but I don't remember it ever actually disclosing it.

If you're looking for a literal, physical reason in the book, you're not going to find it. But if you pay attention to the themes and subtext, you'll see it: in the book, the aging process is essentially a natural side effect of maturing and progressing as a person. However, Peter refuses to progress and grow as a person - because that would mean accepting pain and responsibility - and as a result remains forever frozen in time. The book makes it clear that this is a bittersweet situation, because while he is functionally immortal he ends up forgetting everyone he ever knew. Furthermore, the only form of love he can feel is that of a child toward a mother, which is a selfish rather than selfless form of love.

Adults can also refuse to move on in this world, too. While Captain Hook's age is never explicitly made known, it's revealed that he was contemporary with Barbecue, or Long John Smith. This would mean that Hook was alive in the middle of the 18th century, whereas the book is set in the early 20th century. Hook's own miseries and demons are linked to his refusal to move on emotionally - he is obsessed with getting vengeance on Peter, and he lives in constant fear of the crocodile. He only escapes his misery when he gives up on his revenge and embraces the final change - death - by jumping into the jaws of the crocodile.

Actually, that makes a lot of sense. It's been awhile since I have read the book. I may have to go read it again.

Why would a child's love towards his/her mother be selfish rather than selfless?

[Yanueh]

Mayor Gravity

Why would a child's love towards his/her mother be selfish rather than selfless?

Because children rely on their parents to care for them, not the other way around.

[Yanueh]

KiddtheAssassin

Peter Pan didn't grow up because he was the Only Child. Like all Lost Boys he fell out of his pram and found himself in Neverland where he could have all the adventures he wanted for as long as he dreamed. But when he returned to visit his parents the window had been locked and another baby was in his place. His heart broken, he vowed never to trust grown ups or to become one himself.

Maybe, maybe not. The narrator of the book says "I am not sure that this was true, but Peter thought it was true."

Revinita

I don't think Peter fell out of a pram, I'm pretty sure he flew away to Neverland on his own. I remember there being a line about all babies being part bird that explained it.

This was not from Peter Pan, but from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, which takes place in a separate continuity.