Stories like Peter Pan (and The Cat in the Hat) really scared me as a kid, in that unnerved, no-one-is-watching-out-for-me, deep kind of fear. (I was a strange kid, granted.) And this essay perfectly sums up why that is: it was purported to be a carefree, happy-go-lucky children's story, but it's terrifyingly lonely, and THERE ARE NO GROWNUPS TO HELP. In both cases (and, actually, in Hansel and Gretel too, the other scariest story I knew as a child), there are characters (Peter, the Cat, the witch) who have no care for the kids at all -- though they act like they do -- and it's up to the kids to figure out how to save themselves. Is there any scarier story for a child? My 13-year-old daughter is reading Peter Pan in school this year, and she's so excited; I keep warning her, Peter is NOT nice in the book! It's not like the Disney movie!
I think Barrie must have been a genius, to portray how desperately everyone wants a family in such a way that can almost go unnoticed.
Stories like Peter Pan (and The Cat in the Hat) really scared me as a kid, in that unnerved, no-one-is-watching-out-for-me, deep kind of fear. (I was a strange kid, granted.) And this essay perfectly sums up why that is: it was purported to be a carefree, happy-go-lucky children's story, but it's terrifyingly lonely, and THERE ARE NO GROWNUPS TO HELP. In both cases (and, actually, in Hansel and Gretel too, the other scariest story I knew as a child), there are characters (Peter, the Cat, the witch) who have no care for the kids at all -- though they act like they do -- and it's up to the kids to figure out how to save themselves. Is there any scarier story for a child? My 13-year-old daughter is reading Peter Pan in school this year, and she's so excited; I keep warning her, Peter is NOT nice in the book! It's not like the Disney movie!
I think Barrie must have been a genius, to portray how desperately everyone wants a family in such a way that can almost go unnoticed.