What is child psychology? How was it reflected in psychology? How was it discussed through movies, plays, songs, etc.? Why is childhood an essential factor in everyones life? How much is childhood fundamental in a teenager’s life and in a child’s life as well? As a fundamental aspect in literature, childhood is the basic stage in one’s life. It is a stage by which people mainly generate from it. In other words, childhood mirrors the future. Many psychologists based their studies and research on “childhood” since they considered that childhood highlights people’s future. In other words, the early experience of children is crucial to their future life experience. In this paper, I will highlight the importance of childhood in one’s life, and how Peter Pan contradicts childhood by which the story reflects adulthood through the characters and other aspects in the stor Generally speaking, children begin to learn about the world around them from a very early age. Children’s early experiences- the bonds they form with their parents and their first learning experiences- deeply affect their future, physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. The encyclopedia of early childhood development stated that optimizing the early years of children’s life is the best investment we can make as a society in ensuring their future succes When they are born, the world around children is like a white paper. Whenever they encounter a new interesting thing, they immediately save it on their memory. Children easily absorb the image about the world and tend to imitate merely any image which they see. They gradually learn new knowledge by an unawareness way.
Recent research confirms that childhood is the most important part of one’s lives because it can affect the child’s attitude towards life. It affects the way the child communicates with others, the way he/she thinks, acts, and reacts in different circumstances. That is why it is said that it is very important for parents to spend as much time possible with their children; to teach them good manners, to plan good seeds in them which will definitely show later in their success in life. Eventually, childhood is the most crucial part in a person’s life, not only because it is a foundation for his character, but it will definitely influence and shape his whole future, his career, his attitude towards life, his actions and his beliefs as well.
Rosalind Ridley, in her article, stated that J.M. Barrie might be the most famous for his well-known story of the flying boy, Peter Pan, who never grows up. Barrie, first, told the story of Peter Pan to the young boys of the Llewellyn Davis family whom he met while exercising his dog, Porthos. At one level, Barrie’s intentions were to entertain these young children, however, Barrie was also far ahead of his time when it came to cognitive psychology. In many ways, Pater Pan is simply a reflection of J.M.Barrie’s life. It is the story that allows adults to enjoy the safe pleasure of returning to childhood without endangering one’s self. The famous psychologist Karl Jung’s archetype on the narrow passage way explains how people move from the conscious to the unconscious. This is seen in the novel as children travel with Peter to Neverland and back. England and the Darling represent the consciousness and Neverland represents the unconsciousness in which we are able to live out fantasies and dreams that cannot be real in real life.
The story in general represents desire, possessiveness, jealousy, evilness, anger, motherly-love rather than innocence of childhood. In other words, J.M.Barrie s relationship with his mother is clearly reflected in the story. For example, Peter Pan, is cynical about mothers and does not shy away from awful acts such as killing. He is, in fact, youthful, but carefree and ignorant. He insists that mothers are bad people, but he also takes Wendy as a mother. Even when Wendy is gone, he continues to search for something he never had. Wendy is often referred to as the mother of the Lost Boys and Peter Pan as their father.
Wendy is the most developed character in the story and is often considered the central protagonist along with Peter. She is proud of herself since she is proud of her childhood and enjoys telling stories and fantasies. Wendy is granted the opportunity by Peter where they remain young forever. According to Ridley, in Neverland, Wendy performs various tasks for them revealing herself as a mother. The above were examples on how the story reflects aspects of adulthood rather than childhood.
On the other hand, the feelings between Peter and Wendy weren’t so clear, since J.M. Barrie pictured them with different feelings in different circumstances. Ridley continues to say that other than mother and father, Wendy sometimes flirts with Peter and he seems to like her as well. Such a relationship is simple unclear. Thus, jealousy appears here when Tinker Bell feels annoyed when she witnesses Wendy and Peter close. Tinker Bell convinces the Lost Boys to help her kill Wendy. Tink even tells Captain Hook where Peter’s hideout is, when he tells her that he will get rid of Wendy for her. From here, we notice the character Tink who has a sharp tongue. She simply despises any girl that lays claim on Peter’s affection. According to Bailie, Tink loves Peter so much that she almost dies to save his life. That is another example from the story that reveals adulthood rather than childhood.
As stated before, the lack of clarity regarding Peter Pan’s traits towards Wendy presents Wendy with a complex psychological challenge. Because of his nature as a trickster, it is hard for her to grasp hold of him figuratively speaking, or to feel a sense of security when she is with or near him. She is torn between her desire to be a bit “Peter Panish” herself, and her desire to tame and civilize his childish part. Her ambivalent attitude toward him reflects her condition in general. On the one hand, she is drawn to the “Peter Pan option” that will make the whole task of growing up irrelevant and enable her to continue to “float” through life like a child. On the other hand, she is unable to ignore the secrets of the adult world that promise a different type of excitement which she has already begun to sense. Peter and Wendy’s relationship explicitly addresses people with diverse levels of maturity. This complex relationship might reflect adult relationships rather than children’s relationship.
According to eNotes, Captain Hook is actually the antagonist for the protagonist Peter Pan. Hook is another example of a grownup, who tries to escape the world of adults just like Peter Pan, but his tragedy is that he is an adult already, and can’t return to the world of children represented by Peter Pan. In fact, Peter is everything Hook is not- wild, untamed, with no regards for rules and proper form. Hook actually despises Peter and fears that Peter may exhibit unconscious good form. Hook hates the fact the Peter does not fear him. Captain Hook is Peter’s greatest enemy. Though he is supposed to be a fearsome pirate, he is often shown to be cowardly and lacking courage. He is scared of the crocodile that follows him around, the crocodile that once bit off his hand. Many others argue that Hook is Peter Pan as an adult. In spite his selfishness, Hook is honorable. It is Peter’s bad form that brings about Hook’s demise. In spite his fear of crocodile, he is a man who respects Wendy because she is mature. He is at once the mirror of Peter and his opposite as well. If nothing else, his presence in the novel confirms the idea that no adult is wholly good or wholly evil.
As for Neverland, we all have a place like it in or own imagination where time stands still and everything is just the way we want it to Mainly, Neverland is a blank canvas that becomes covered in paint as children or adults dream. It represents the ideal reality from a child’s point of view. Neverland, filled with exciting dangers and adventures, is just what every child and adult wish the real world to be. It is said that Barrie is Peter. Barrie is conveying an internal conflict that was occurring within himself in real life. Peter represents youth, joy, and happiness; traits that Barrie wished for. He actually split his personality –into Peter and Hook- and turned Neverland, the ideal world, into an arena. An arena where most desired personality traits fight among each other. Neverland , to some, is London that can be best perceived and appreciated by experienced readers. This is a proof that Peter Pan might seem to be addressing adults rather than childrenAna Teras believes that Neverland ceases age and it is best known resident famously refuse to grow up, so it is often used as a metaphor for eternal childhood, immortality and escapism as well. The last two terms typical reflects adulthood. The longer one stays in Neverland, the harder it is for him/her to recall their former life. As an adult in reality, that is trureThe unresolved controversies over whether Peter Pan was directly created for kids or for adults, remain crucial. Addressing children varies from addressing adults, still Peter Pan continues to prod us to explore our larger cultural investment in ideologies of children, adults, and the boundaries between them, Peter Pan may mark itself for adults, but in the process it creates an imagined “adult” as much as it does a fictionalized “child”. According to Holmes, such an issue opens to all of us many other issues that are proactive in the Peter Pan such as gender differentiation, family relationships, colonialism, imperialism, and racism. Such problematic features will always be a matter of argument among psychologists, critics and educators as well. This is why we must knowledge that Peter Pan leaves the doors open to readers of all ages, making the impossible possible Briefly speaking, whatever Barrie was thinking when he created all these characters and whatever was in his dark mind, we cannot deny the fact that all of his characters reflect many aspects of people in real life. Whether the story reflects childhood or adulthood or any phase in life, we just have to say that childhood is a basic stage in one’s life, because its fundamental aspects build up the stages after it. Peter Pan is just the boy who never wanted to grow up in Neverland. Maybe there is Peter is every one of us.