Difference between revisions of "Peter Pan"

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Latest revision as of 09:01, 15 March 2021

Peter Pan is a fictional character created by J.M. Barrie. He is a free and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up. Peter Pan spends all his childhood time, which means all his life because he does not grow up, on an adventure in Neverland. There are also other characters that support the story of Peter Pan and also become the key characters in the story. They are Wendy Darling and her two brothers, Peter's fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the pirate Captain Hook.[1] The novel was published by different publishers in 1911, Hodder & Stoughton published the book in the UK, and Charles Scribner's Sons published the book in the US.

Plot

The book tells the story of the adventurous Peter Pan on an island called Neverland. Together with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook, their magical trip to Neverland is followed by many adventures.[1]

Controversy

Paterpan1.jpg

The author describes Neverland’s Indians (they are native of the land) in a very stereotypical way;

“They carry tomahawks and knives, and their naked bodies gleam with paint and oil. Strung around them are scalps, of boys as well as of pirates, for these are the Piccaninny tribe, and not to be confused with the softer-hearted Delawares or the Hurons.”

Moreover, they are also displayed in stereotypical characteristics such as speaking in grunts and calling Peter Pan the "great white father."[2] J.M. Barrier, Peter Pan's creator, described Neverland as an island of "coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers...and one very small old lady with a hooked nose."[3] New York Times reviewer wrote in 1905, "Mr. Barrie presents not the pirate or Indian of grown-up fiction but the creations seen by childish eyes." In practice, that meant portraying the fierce tribe that lives on Neverland in a way that even in the early 20th-century looked like a caricature.[3]

This portrayal was not a problem back in the time, however it becomes a problem for recent productions. There's no real reason for a tribe of Native Americans —"not to be confused with the softer-hearted Delawares or the Hurons," Barrie wrote—to live on Neverland, where they are impossible to excise from the story. Another controversy of the Neverland natives is that Barrie introduced the native as "Piccaninny tribe" in Peter & Wendy (Barrie's book-long adaptation of the story which was published in 1911).[3]

References