Has anyone read this book to their children? I have just started reading it to my 6 year old daughter. We're enjoying it, but I am so surprised with Peter Pan himself. He is so different to the Peter Pan I grew up loving from the Disney cartoon. We are not very far into it yet, only just arrived in the Neverland actually, but Peter is really not a very 'nice' character at all. I would not go so far as to call him evil, but he seems to have an amoral nature. Any other thoughts on this?
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J.M. Barrie: Peter Pan
- Thread starter Billy
- Start date
Library Potato
New Member
In childhood I did not pick up on certain details of the story, perhaps they will go over your daughter's head as well. But I read it again a few years ago as an adult, and was surprised by the content. There is an unpleasantly graphic description of the Captain ripping a man's throat out with his hook, Tinkerbell's intentions towards Peter are a bit clearer than was stated in the Broadway musical, and at one point "Peter was attacked by a group of drunken fairies coming home from an orgy".Billy said:
Well, we are not quite that far yet. Thankfully she is only six, so has no idea what an orgy is. The whole book has a sort of sinister tone to it. Even in the beginning where we meet Mr and Mrs Darling, there seems to be something that isnot quite right - Mr Darling is more concerned with moeny than his children. I keep thinking I may just go and read some more without my daughter, but she would kill me if I did and I wouldn't feel like reading it again if I had already read it, so I will wait and hope that I can either somehow manage to improvise or skip the bits that are not quite appropriate for a six year old.
Chez
New Member
Yeah, the original book of 'Peter Pan' is a good deal darker than the movie - but then, isn't that always the case with Disney? It's essentially supposed to be a children's novel, but works on an adult level as well and definitely has a cynical edge that may need to be softened for younger readers. Certainly a good read, though.
abecedarian
Well-Known Member
The various movie versions have always been a bit confusing. The pirates are usually more naughty than evil, and I've wondered why Peter and the Lost Boys went to such lenghths to fight them..and Tinkerbell's jealousy of Wendy seemed like mere childishness..the sanitized Disney version robs the story of it's real power, which is to empower kids to spot and fight real evil as it exsists in real life.