The Legacy of "Peter Pan"

Paper Summary:

The paper reviews the dynamics of the "Peter Pan" story in terms of how it has survived and evolved. The paper explains its themes that embrace the fantasy sanctuary where time stops and children never have to grow up to live in the violent world of "mature" adults. The paper maintains that the more cruel the adult world becomes, the more germane "Peter Pan" is to those who want to dream of a idyllic world where children are safe and will always be children. The paper looks at the movie "Finding Neverland", which features popular actor Johnny Depp playing the role of "Peter Pan" author, Sir. J.M. Barrie. The paper concludes that this is a book that has had an undying appeal through the decades.

Outline:
Introduction
Thesis
Why Has Peter Pan Stayed Popular
Finding Neverland
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The recent savage slaughter in Virginia Tech's classrooms will be remembered, discussed and debated for years to come. No doubt some psychologist or psychiatrist and a smooth-talking media type or two will conclude that the killer was a "lost boy" who tried to reach out for help, gave all the signals, but somehow just didn't connect. Some creative shrink may even suggest that the shooter was like a Peter Pan character gone mad, a young man who didn't want to grow up and join the ranks of society, but didn't know where to run and hide. So, the story will continue, this tormented Peter Pan bluffed normalcy, played the grown-up game by going to college but secretly, stealthily, turned into a bloodthirsty version of Captain Hook, who, at the end of the play, made 32 innocent students "walk the plank" of his demonic ship of death."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980.
• Blackburn, William. "Peter Pan and the contemporary Adolescent Novel." Proceeds of theNinth Annual Conference of the Children's Literature Association Vol. 16 (1982): 47-53.
• Ebert, Roger. "Finding Neverland: Deep delivers another remarkable performance." RetrievedApril 19, 2007, from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com.
• Green, Martin. "The Charm of Peter Pan." Children's Literature Vol. 9 (1981): 19-27.
• The Outlook. "A Review of Peter Pan." 81.12 (1905): 645-46.

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