Peter Pan is the well-loved story of three children and their adventures in Neverland with the boy who refuses to grow up. Swashbuckling, fairy dust, and flight; mermaid lagoons, ticking crocodiles, and Princess Tiger Lily; second to the right and then straight on till morning. You know the story... and if you don't, please start listening immediately!
By : J. M. BARRIE (1860 - 1937)
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Family
Peter Pan ran away from his parents when he was a baby as told in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and Peter and Wendy. Finding the window closed and seeing a new baby in the house when he returned some time later, he believed his parents no longer wanted him and never came back. This younger sibling is referred to in the chapter "Lock-Out Time" in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens but is not mentioned again.
Friends
Maimie Mannering
While in Kensington Gardens, Peter meets a lost girl named Maimie Mannering and the two quickly become friends. Peter proposes marriage to Maimie. While Maimie wants to stay in the Gardens with Peter, she comes to realise that her mother is so worried that she must return to her. Maimie promises to always remember Peter and goes back to her mother. When Maimie grows up, she continues to think of Peter, dedicating presents and letters to him. To remember Maimie, Peter rides the imaginary goat that Maimie created for him. She is considered to be the literary predecessor of Wendy Darling.
Wendy Darling
Wendy is hinted to have romantic feelings for Peter, but cannot be with him because of his inability to love back.Captain Hook can only take away Peter's ability to fly by thoughts of Wendy leaving him, growing up, and replacing him with a husband. Wendy saves Peter by giving him her hidden kiss (signifying he is her true love); this gives him the will to live. In the movie Hook, an older Wendy implies that she used to (and perhaps, still does) have feelings for Peter, saying that she was shocked that he did not prevent her wedding day. Return to Neverland, Peter and a grown-up Wendy are briefly, but happily, reunited after many years and continue to show feelings for each other.
In the original novel, Peter later befriends Wendy's daughter Jane (and her subsequent daughter Margaret), and it is implied that this pattern will go on forever. From time to time Peter visits the real world, and befriends children. Wendy Darling, whom he recruited to be his "mother", is the most significant of them; he also brings her brothers John and Michael to Neverland at her request. It is mentioned that Wendy was the only girl who captured his attention.
John Darling and Michael Darling
John, the older brother of the Darlings, proves to be extremely mature for his age. He becomes fascinated with piracy and imitates Captain Hook while playing at home with his siblings. Not only sophisticated, John is also courageous and smart. Peter typically tasks John with the responsibility of directing the Lost Boys when Peter is absent. Michael, the youngest of the Darlings, is convinced that Peter Pan is a real person after hearing Wendy's passionate narratives about him. During nursery games, it's Michael who plays the role of Peter Pan whom he looks up to.
Mary and George Darling
The parents of Wendy, John and Michael. Mr Darling works as a clerk in the City, and is named after George Llewelyn Davies. Mrs Darling is named after Mary Ansell, Barrie's wife.
Neverland inhabitants
Tiger Lily
Tiger Lily is the daughter of Great Big Little Panther, the chief of the Piccaninny Native American tribe resident in Neverland. Barrie refers to her as "a princess in her own right", and she is often described as such. She is kidnapped by the pirates and left to die on Marooners' Rock, but is rescued by Peter. It is hinted later that she may have romantic feelings for Peter but he does not return them, as he is completely oblivious of other people's feelings. In the Disney film, Tiger Lily shows her gratitude by performing a dance for Peter and kissing him. The kiss makes him turn bright red, and makes Wendy jealous of Tiger Lily.
The Lost Boys
Peter is the leader of the Lost Boys, which include Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly, and The Twins. The Lost Boys is a band of boys who were lost by their parents after they "fall out of their perambulators" and came to live in Neverland. In Barrie's novel Peter and Wendy, it is stated that Peter "thins them out" when they start to grow up. This is never fully explained, but it is implied that he either kills them off or sends them back to the real world.
The Crocodile
The crocodile is Captain Hook's nemesis. After Peter Pan cut off Captain Hook's hand in a fight and threw it into the sea, the crocodile swallowed it and got a taste for Hook. It also swallowed a ticking clock, which alerts Hook of its presence.
Adversaries
Captain Hook
Captain Hook whose right hand was cut off in a duel, is Peter Pan's arch-enemy. Hook's crew, including Smee and Starkey, also consider him a foe. Captain Hook's two principal fears are the sight of his own blood (which is supposedly an unnatural colour) and one crocodile. His name plays on the iron hook that replaced his hand cut off by Peter Pan and eaten by a saltwater crocodile, which continues to pursue Hook.
Hook seeks revenge on Peter Pan for having fed the crocodile his hand, and refuses to leave Neverland without satisfaction. Hook is supported by Mr. Smee. After promising Tinker Bell 'not to lay a finger (or a hook) on Peter Pan', he lays a bomb in Peter's hideout. At the conclusion of the film, Hook is chased by the crocodile into the distance. Walt Disney insisted on keeping Hook alive, as he said: "The audience will get to liking Hook, and they don't want to see him killed." In the sequel Return to Never Land, Hook mistakes Wendy's daughter Jane for Wendy, and uses her as bait to lure Peter Pan to his death.
Mr. Smee
Mr. Smee is Captain Hook's boatswain ("bo'sun") and right-hand man in J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan and the novel Peter and Wendy. Mr. Smee is Captain Hook’s direct confidant. Unlike the other pirates, Smee is often clumsy and incapable of capturing any of the Lost Boys. Rather than engaging in Hook’s evil schemes, Smee finds excitement in bagging loot and treasures.
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