How Is Wendy Presented In Peter Pan

Peter Pan, written by J.M Barrie, portrays youth and childhood as a joyous time in one’s life, but a period that can only last for so long. The themes of youth and innocence play a crucial role in the novel. Peter Pan and Wendy are the two main characters in the novel who have contrasting views about growing up. Mrs. Darling, another crucial character in the novel, symbolizes the concept of having an idyllic childhood, but one that it is lost when one becomes an adult. Peter Pan is a young, charismatic boy who refuses to grow up, while Wendy is a soft- hearted girl who embraces the reality that she must grow up at some point, and Mrs. Darling’s character reveals to the reader that childhood is something temporary.

Peter Pan is first introduced when he flies into Wendy’s nursery looking for his shadow, and intrigues Wendy into coming to Neverland with him. Right off the bat, Peter Pan explains to Wendy that he will never grow up by stating “I want always to be a little boy and to have fun” (Barrie 24). This idea sticks in Peter’s mind and shows the

Darling, Wendy’s mother, is “a lovely lady, with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth” (Barrie 3), whose character encompasses the transition from youthful innocence to adulthood. Through Mrs. Darling, the readers are able to see how growing up is something that everyone must face. Throughout the novel, the reader gets a sense that even though Mrs. Darling is now a grown-up, she was once a child who enjoyed make-believe things including Neverland, just like Wendy. She says “she believed in him [Peter Pan] at the time, but now that she was married and full of senses she quite doubted whether there was any such person” (Barrie 8). This illustrates that Mrs. Darling, now grown up and matured, knows that there is no such thing as Neverland, but that when she was young and innocent, she did believe. Mrs. Darling’s character represents that childhood only lasts for so long, and that growing up is