The novel Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is about the adventures of three little children named Wendy, John and Michael, along with Peter Pan who is a boy that can fly and went away to Kensington Gardens and lived among the fairies for a long time.
The novel begins with a description of Wendy, John and Michael’s home in London, England, and their parents Mr. and Mrs. Darling and the faithful nurse Nana who is actually a Newfoundland dog. Peter Pan first meets Wendy at her home in London, where she helps him to find his shadow. Peter takes Wendy, John and Michael with him to Neverland while their parents are away at a party. The children have many adventures in Neverland where they meet fairies, mermaids and the pirate named Captain Hook who is Peter’s enemy.
The novel explores the supernatural world and Peter tells Wendy about the beginning of fairies, “when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies…children know such a lot now, they soon don’t believe in fairies, and every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies’, there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.”
Peter Pan is a boy who never grows up which is a tragedy because he cannot make the transition from childhood to adult life. Peter’s childhood friend Wendy grows up and gets married and has a daughter called Jane, who also makes friends with Peter and visits Neverland during spring cleaning time almost every year.
