Summary of Peter Pan

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Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie tells the story of the Darling children and their newfound friend, Peter Pan. Peter is an adventurer that frequently visits the window of Mrs. Darling's house in order to listen to her bedtime stories. One night, he is discovered, and loses his shadow while trying to flee the scene. Peter comes back trying to retrieve his shadow and wakes up Mrs. Darling’s daughter, Wendy, who helps him put it back on. To return the favor, he invites her to come back to Neverland with him. Wendy agrees and extends the invitation to her brothers, John and Michael. In Neverland, Wendy eagerly takes the role as a mother to Peter and his friends, the Lost Boys. However, Neverland is not as perfect as it seems and as the novel progresses, Barrie reveals several conflicts to the reader.
One of the main conflicts throughout the novel is Wendy being uncertain if she would rather enjoy the childlike innocence of Neverland or return to the life waiting for her as a woman in London. Wendy has somewhat of a distaste towards adulthood due amount of pressure her father puts on her to become a proper woman and the fact that her life will have to change, proven by “All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this… This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up (page 1). ” As a result, Wendy’s goal in the beginning stages of the novel is to somehow avoid growing up. She is given the chance to do this by Peter Pan, who takes her to Neverland. Ironically, Wendy finds that living in Neverland brings out her more mature side. Her change stems from the fact that Peter and the Lost Boys want Wendy to act like their mother because they ...

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...s wonderfully crafted which made the novel easy to understand. In the end, the Darling children ultimately become concerned about their parents and feel somewhat homesick. They decide it is time to return to London and the Lost Boys, excluding Peter, want to go with them. Captain Hook and his goons, however, ruin their plans by capturing them and keeping them imprisoned on their ship. Only Peter, with help from a fairy named Tinker Bell, is able to avoid being captured. The pirates are just about to make the children walk the plank to their doom when Peter arrives and saves them. In his last fight with Captain Hook, Peter shoves him towards the edge of the ship towards the ticking crocodile. Captain Hook falls into the crocodiles waiting jaws. The Darling children then return home, along with the Lost Boys. Peter stays in the Neverland and visits Wendy occasionally.

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