Peter Pan and the Hero’s Journey

If you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you know that we’re in the middle of a coming-of-age series. Hopefully that sparked a few of you to wonder about today’s topic, Peter Pan. If you’re thinking, “Peter Pan never grows up. Why did she choose that as a coming-of-age story?” then kudos to you. You’ve had your coffee, and it’s in full effect. Peter Pan’s whole M.O. is that he doesn’t grow up, so he can’t really come of age, right?

But Peter’s not the only main character of the story, and I’ll try to make the case that his co-protagonist, Wendy, grows into maturity throughout the story while Peter – her leader, friend, and crush – flat out refuses to follow.

Origins of Peter Pan

Originally, J.M. Barry wrote the story as a play called Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. Peter’s rejection of maturity was clear from the playbill itself. Later, Barry transformed the story into a book, calling it Peter and Wendy. There you see that the two title characters have an equally-important role to play in the story.

If you’ve never taken time to read (or listen to) the book, let me beg you to do it. It’s short, but it’s infinitely sweet, quirky, funny, witty, and oh-so-poignant. It’s one of my all-time favorite books, and that’s saying a lot. Please, at least listen to the audio version narrated by Jim Dale. You won’t regret it.

The Hero’s Journey

Now, down to business. I described the cycle of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey in my last post about the Yearling. If you’re not familiar with this archetypal storyline that shows up in so many tales, give my last post a quick read.

Today I want to show Peter and Wendy’s progression through the 12 stages of the Hero’s Journey. For our purposes, their journey is toward not just adventure in general but toward the specific adventure of maturity. Let’s see if they make it, shall we?

Peter and Wendy’s Journey

Ordinary World: When the story begins, Wendy’s ordinary world is quite different from Peter’s. Hers is one of manners, nannies, rules, and conventions. Peter’s world is wild, dangerous, unpredictable, and frightening. It doesn’t seem ordinary to us, but it’s become normal for Peter.

Call to the Adventure of Maturity: Wendy dreams of Peter Pan, as do her brothers, but they hadn’t seen him in real life yet. Wendy’s call to adventure comes when she catches Peter trying to capture his shadow in the children’s bedroom. His appearance there is no accident; he’d been visiting to hear Mrs. Darling’s stories, and he soon invites Wendy to Neverland to tell bedtime stories to Peter and the other Lost Boys.

Refusal: Wendy, being a responsible firstborn, doubts whether her mother would approve of a midnight visit to a distant island. Initially she declines Peter’s tempting offer to join him in Neverland. However, Peter eventually swindles her into joining him, luring her with promises of mermaids and mothering, both of which are more than she can resist.

Meeting with the Mentor (in this case, Death): Her brothers join the journey, and off they fly to Neverland. The three Darling children nearly die on the journey because they keep falling asleep while they fly, but Peter rescues them at the last moment—a way to showcase his cockiness. But Wendy has a much closer brush with death when a Lost Boy, deceived by Tinkerbell, shoots an arrow at Wendy’s chest as she flies. The arrow is deflected by an acorn necklace Peter gave her, but it was  a fitting welcome to a lawless island.

Crossing the Threshold: Now the Darling children have entered Neverland in earnest, and there’s no going back—at least not yet. The island is more real and treacherous than they could have imagined. Wendy is suddenly a mother to nine boys, two of whom are actually her brothers. Peter is back in his element and is a questionable host at best since he’s always looking for ways to show off and be the boss.

Tests, Allies, and Enemies: In Neverland, the allies and enemies are pretty straightforward. Wendy is despised by Tinkerbell, the mermaids, and the pirates, but she’s adored by the Lost Boys. Peter has earned the admiration of everyone except the pirates, and even some of those seem to regard him with awe. There are plenty of tests and adventures as the story progresses, and Peter always manages to come out victorious. This enrages the infamous Captain Hook.

Approach to the Inmost Cave of Maturity: Eventually, the Darlings have been in Neverland so long that the boys forget basic facts about their real home and family. Wendy assures the boys that their mother will always be waiting for them to come home, but Peter bitterly announces that he’d tried to go home once and found that his mother had closed his bedroom window and put another baby in his crib. This shocks the Darlings (and the Lost Boys) back to reality. Wendy makes the mature decision to fly home immediately, and the Lost Boys decide to come too. Peter refuses to join them and stays behind, pretending to be nonchalant.

Ordeal: Little do they know that Hook is outside, plotting and waiting. He kidnaps everyone else and sends them to his ship. He tries to secretly poison Peter, whose youth and cockiness are a constant thorn in his flesh. On board, Wendy and the boys show great courage and maturity in the face of death. However, Hook is unpleasantly surprised to find that Peter has survived and has come to rescue the Darlings and the Lost Boys.

Reward of Maturity: Peter sends Hook to the hungry crocodile, who happily swallows him up. Now they’re free to rejoin the Darling family. Wendy has grown into a responsible young lady, and maturity is within Peter’s grasp, too.

The Road Back: They dress as pirates and sail the ship through the sky all the way back to London. The Darling children slip back into their beds as though nothing has happened, and the Lost Boys wait to be called in.

Resurrection: The Darlings are overjoyed to have their children back. They never gave up hope of the children’s return, but their appearance is as good as a resurrection. Even stodgy old Mr. Darling agrees to keep the scruffy-looking Lost Boys.

Return with the Elixir of Maturity: Wendy and all the rest of the boys grow up to be regular adults with normal jobs. They forget about Peter and Neverland, but Wendy doesn’t. At first Peter comes for her each spring, but soon he forgets to come, and she grows too big to fly anyway. After many years, Peter returns and finds Wendy a married woman with a child of her own. Peter, who has forgotten all about the adventures with Wendy and the Lost Boys, is just as happy to take Wendy’s daughter to Neverland. And so the cycle continues.

In the End

Ultimately, Wendy chooses to mature the conventional way, but Peter refuses, choosing instead to remain the only boy who never grows up.