Peter Pan

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Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up or Peter and Wendy, often known simply as Peter Pan is a work by J.M. Barrie. He is a free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up. Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland. The Peter Pan stories also involve the characters Wendy Darling and her two brothers, Peter's fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the pirate Captain Hook.[1] The novel was first published in 1911 by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, and Charles Scribner's Sons in the US.

Plot

The book follows the story of Peter Pan and his adventures on the island of Neverland 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 flight to Neverland is followed by many adventures.[1]

Controversy

Paterpan1.jpg

The author describes Neverland’s Indians the first time they appear in the story 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.”

They are also displayed in certain stereotypical characteristics like speaking in grunts and calling Peter Pan the "great white father."[2] J.M. Barrier 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]

Even though at the time this portrayal wasn't controversial, it has become a problem for contemporary 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. It's almost impossible to depict them in a way that's not offensive.[3]

References