A Beautiful Depiction of the Fantastical imagination of a Chilhood Innocence... No wait, it's a Terrifyingly Accurate Portrayal of the Selfishness of Youth

Books I've Never read (But Everyone else has):

Peter Pan

Peter Pan is a classic tale of childhood whimsy that sparks the imagination of young and old alike; a fairy tale that captures our desire to stay young forever.  A tribute to the adventurous nature of boys.  At least that's what everyone says whose experience with this story involves seeing Disney's animated film once when they were seven, or are a proclaimed expert on J.M. Barrie because they saw Finding Neverland.

When one actually reads Peter Pan, the stand-out theme of the story is "Children, for all their wide-eyed wonder, are mean, selfish, prats and growing up is actually a good thing!"  For being a story about fairies, pirates, Redskins (yeah, I said it), mermaids, boys who play with (and kill each other) with swords, magical flight, and a reasonably intelligent dog/nursemaid (roughly the same intelligence as a member of the Senate) it is a remarkable honest story.


To say the story revolves around Peter Pan is an understatement.  The WORLD revolves around Peter Pan.  "Feeling that Peter was on his way back, the Neverland had again woke into life.  We ought to use the pluperfect and say wakened, but woke is better and was always said by Peter" (Barrie 51).  

Neverland is literally slumbering while Peter, the ostensible spirit of youth, is gone.  No matter how you feel about Barrie's prose (which I found to be quite self-conscious and distracting at first, but eventually adding to the rollicking satire of youth), you have to enjoy the metaphor.  There is a longing in all of us to be "Young at Heart."  Even Jesus (yes, THAT Jesus) implores humanity to have "faith like a child."

 

And we've all met people that are too "grown up."  They have lost that youthful spirit, and it is as if their soul slumbers.  They're missing something.  There's no sense of fun about them.  Beyond a lack of youth, these people often seek to KILL that spirit, much like the story's main villain the magnificently complex Captain Hook. 

In Captain Hook, Barrie presents us with a devious pillager, who wants to KILL LITTLE BOYS (and in fact does, but no one we know so it doesn't matter).  At the same time, Barrie makes it impossible just to "Boo" him every time he appears on stage...er...on the page.  The Freudian analysis Barrie provides of why Captain Hook does what he does makes him almost sympathetic (until we remember that he wants to KILL LITTLE BOYS!).  Again the metaphor is brilliant.  Hook had such a terrible and painful childhood that the only path that his twisted mind can see toward happiness is to decimate the very embodiment of the boyish spirit.

So, everyone loves Peter Pan, because he represents the very best qualities of childhood, right?  Well, that's why well intentioned parents drag their children to the theatre, to see this play.

(Which is odd, because while parents always ask, "Did you like the play?" the child always responds, "Mm-hmm.  Why was Peter Pan a girl?")  However, J.M. Barrie would be, at best, ambivalent toward Peter Pan.  For every time that Peter comes to the rescue there is a moment where he completely disregards the fate of his "friends" until the very last second.  He also constantly demands to be praised for his cleverness whenever he does something laughable.  He is a child.  A beautiful, angry, selfish child that needs coddling and wants to be left alone.  

Peter Pan is not an ideal of childhood, but childhood itself.  No one can put this better than Barrie himself.  He closes Peter Pan with, "When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter's mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."

This book is not what I expected (despite having read it when I was nine).  It is enchanting, sad, frustrating, beautiful, and delightful.  If you want a fun version of the book without having to actually...you know... read, I recommend the 2003 film version staring Jason Isaacs of Harry Potter fame. 

 

Thanks for reading,

The Giant

The Giant Returns

New Season, new changes, and Perhaps More Consistency

Hello my many fans in cyberspace...or the 12 of you followed this blog for a few few months.

First off, I want to apologize for my extended hiatus.  I had to finish a couple of other projects, and this blog just fell by the wayside.  It was unprofessional, lazy, and entirely my fault.  I apologize.  

Second off, that can't be right, soooo,  "B!" It is my intention to make this blog a biweekly.  So I'll be writing in it twice a week. OW!  Sorry, I just got slapped by Webster and remembered that biweekly means every other week. OW!  That was Oxford, and apparently, it means both.  So, I mean every 2 weeks there should be a new "column"-like blog. 

Three - I am going to have to back off the reviews of books that I've never read (but that everyone else has).  I just can't get through a classic book every month, while trying to read several other books at the same time.  Those reviews will still appear, but they're not going to be consistent.  Sorry.


Finally, the blog will appear on over the weekend (Fridays through Saturdays).  So if you check this out on Mondays there will be nice shiny blog post.


That's all the news that is fit to print. 

Hope you'll keep reading.

The Giant
(Giant?  Seriously, I'm not even that big)