Innate Desire For Parental Love Parent-child relationship is an everlasting topic in children’s literature. In J. M. Barrie’s famous work Peter and Wendy, he portrays a self-sufficient, limpid children’s world, Neverland, without the presence of parents. To most readers, it seems that he conveys the freedom and independence of children by shaping the main character Peter Pan, a king of children, as carefree and self-centered. However, by revealing the book deeper, it’s easy to find out that Barrie presents children’s innate desire for care and love from parents through many details and symbolic pairs of parents and children like Wendy as a mother and the lost children and Peter Pan as kids. It’s may be confusing that Peter is set to be always
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When Peter first meets Wendy, Wendy wants to give him a kiss. But “Peter did not know what she meant.”(92) Later, Tinkle Bell gets angry when Peter kisses Wendy. In the book, Barrie writes that “Peter could not understand why, but Wendy understood.”(96) Therefore, we need to take a look at the difference between Wendy and Peter. Wendy is a relatively mature and motherly girl who knows a lot of social rules and manners of adults’ world. Comparatively, Peter is entirely a kid who would never grow up. He is self-centered and unwilling to care about anything unnecessary for him. Romantic love, unfortunately, seems to be unnecessary for a child. When he finds that both Wendy and Tiger Lily wants to be something to him but not mother, he considers them as “so queer”. It is totally a thing out of his common sense. His feelings for Wendy are “those of a devoted son” because this is the most comfortable position for him. As a representative of innocent child, he knows only a child ought to know. And the only kind of love Peter wants and accepts is parental love. This definitely shows the author’s opinion about the significance of parental care for children. That is the thing innately exist in children’s mind and they cannot live without knowing
When Peter first meets Wendy, Wendy wants to give him a kiss. But “Peter did not know what she meant.”(92) Later, Tinkle Bell gets angry when Peter kisses Wendy. In the book, Barrie writes that “Peter could not understand why, but Wendy understood.”(96) Therefore, we need to take a look at the difference between Wendy and Peter. Wendy is a relatively mature and motherly girl who knows a lot of social rules and manners of adults’ world. Comparatively, Peter is entirely a kid who would never grow up. He is self-centered and unwilling to care about anything unnecessary for him. Romantic love, unfortunately, seems to be unnecessary for a child. When he finds that both Wendy and Tiger Lily wants to be something to him but not mother, he considers them as “so queer”. It is totally a thing out of his common sense. His feelings for Wendy are “those of a devoted son” because this is the most comfortable position for him. As a representative of innocent child, he knows only a child ought to know. And the only kind of love Peter wants and accepts is parental love. This definitely shows the author’s opinion about the significance of parental care for children. That is the thing innately exist in children’s mind and they cannot live without knowing