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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:51 am
I loved the story of Peter Pan mostly because it was a very amusing fantasy that was relatively different than other books that had been written around the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Barrie's writing style is still very intriguing to me, mostly because the general impression I receive upon reading it, it seems that Barrie must have had a relatively enjoyable time writing the book. I find the character development my favorite aspect of this novel. Captain Hook is probably the best described character; he's the only one of which the actual appearance is made very clear, while other characters such as Wendy and Peter, are merely given a general description as to what they look like. I suppose Tinkerbell is also well describe in the physical sense.
However, the characters seemed to be more or less developed based almost solely on their attitudes and demeanors, but it is taken upon in a very interesting way. Barrie seems to connect well with the general thought processes of children, which is why I find Peter so endearing. He's a bit flighty and very prone to distraction, as well as very caught up in the imaginary world. To think that he does not wish to grow up and will remain as such forever is actually cute. I often wondered if perhaps Barrie himself wished to never grow up, as we all enjoyed, at least at some point, the freedoms of being a child. I think its interesting how the characters are approached (i do seem to be rambling a bit, sorry for my lack of fluidity). I like Wendy, for example. We can picture how she would move about, her habits and facial expressions although they are not given to us in detail, just by the way she is presented. I can imagine a soft and delicate looking girl, who admires her mother and is motherly to her brothers. This is all simply based on her speech and her behaviors, and I love this about the book.
Captain Hook is perhaps my favorite character. Although he has taken on the profession of piracy, he is very elegant and kingly like. This is slightly oxymoronic. Pirates tended to be a vulgar bunch from the fringes of society, or those who got caught up in some sort of business that turned sour. They did not tend to follow good form or the like, but I think this is one of the best parts of the character of Hook. He appears to be very delicate and stealthy, with a very intriguing hint of melancholic attitudes. He's violent but is graceful in his actions. There are theories that the character is allegoric to either Barrie or others he knew, and this adds to the fun of Hook and is perhaps why he is described and presented as he is.
One of my favorite scenes is when Peter is trying to reattach his shadow. Its just like every little boy I've ever known. Haha, to cry and then when caught insist they had not been crying!
I guess the point is, I would like to see others ramble about the novel and some of the things they enjoyed about it. twisted
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:45 pm
Captain Hook is indeed the deepest character in the novel, which makes it all the more depressing that he was turned into a bumbling comedic relief in the Disney movie and then other versions that followed. Hook was an extension of Barrie in many ways, more so a re-creation of a character that Barrie invented while playing with his boys, 'Captain Swarthy'. The ticking crocodile always in pursuit of him, eager to end his life was very symbolic to Barrie; an embodiment of his fear of time chasing after him, and catching up. The whole 'boy forever' idea came from the death of Barrie's brother, David, when David was very young. Barrie's mother had said to him later, "He will always be a boy forever in my mind." Perhaps it was a desire to also remain a boy forever for his mother, or his longing to see David again that made him give birth to the idea of Peter Pan. I always thought it was facinating that the idea of Peter Pan originally emerged from death. That would explain why the book (and play) is so bittersweet and morbid at times. Death has quite the same qualities about it. In a letter he sent to his boys, he wrote about the inspiration for Peter Pan; "I made Peter by rubbing the five of you violently together, as savages with two sticks produce a flame. That is all he is, the spark I got from you." (I hope I quoted that correctly, I've read it enough times to memorize it, I think... ^^; ) I have more to say, but I think I'll hold off. xD I've written enough.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:48 pm
Is it just me or was the ending really quite depressing?? I mean, all the lost boys go off with Wendy, grow up, get jobs, get married, have kids, their kids all do the same and then they die! That is life in the most simplistic of terms! The only 1 who goes on is Peter Pan & refused 2 grow up with a family. So is this some kind of allusion as 2 what Barrie would imagine his dead brother 2 b doing?? Living on somewhere without a family & coming back 2 it would only mean a monotonous downward slope of a life. I may just be rambling. The rest of the story was beautiful, no doubt, but isn't that again like childhood is magnificent and adult life dulls in comparison. Maybe that's why Captain Hook is a pirate for the more glamorous aspects make it seem as though piracy was a reckless carefree life, much like that of a child, going wherever they please, doing whatever they please.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:40 am
Callipygia Is it just me or was the ending really quite depressing?? I mean, all the lost boys go off with Wendy, grow up, get jobs, get married, have kids, their kids all do the same and then they die! That is life in the most simplistic of terms! The only 1 who goes on is Peter Pan & refused 2 grow up with a family. So is this some kind of allusion as 2 what Barrie would imagine his dead brother 2 b doing?? Living on somewhere without a family & coming back 2 it would only mean a monotonous downward slope of a life. I may just be rambling. The rest of the story was beautiful, no doubt, but isn't that again like childhood is magnificent and adult life dulls in comparison. Maybe that's why Captain Hook is a pirate for the more glamorous aspects make it seem as though piracy was a reckless carefree life, much like that of a child, going wherever they please, doing whatever they please. I agree completely... I've always thought the ending to be very bittersweet. Everyone always leaves Peter... He's always alone. His only defence against this kind of pain is his selective memory, which forgets anything that causes him undue misery, i.e. forgetting Tinker Bell, the lost boys, Captain Hook... Even though Hook was his enemy, in a childish sort of way, it's possible that Peter missed him after he killed him. Maybe he viewed him as a sort of companion, someone he could always count on, even if it was just for a merciless battle. I quote J. M. Barrie: "Nothing that happens after we are 12 matters very much," I definitely believe that Barrie was trying to illuminate the woes of adulthood, and it probably had a great deal to do with his brother.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:01 am
In some ways I like to think that after they all leave Peter alone, he grows up and becomes a new version of hook, and that the other one had been a Peter at one time.....but thats just what I like to imagine.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:37 pm
You know... the reason why so much of the book seemed like it was written in a really different style is because the story of Peter Pan was not originally a novel. It was a play. It makes much more sense when you read it knowing that. The part with Tinker Bell dying and the clapping thing... that was supposed to be part of the audience's involvement. They'd actually clap and Tinker Bell would revive and stuff. =)
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