Peter Pan

The boys realize what they’ve done, and Tootles is upset. “‘I did it,’ he said, reflecting. ‘When ladies used to come to me in dreams, I said, “Pretty mother, pretty mother.” But when at last she really came, I shot her’” (60). Peter arrives and tells the lost boys he has at last brought them a mother. When the boys show Peter Wendy’s body, he remarks, “She is dead….Perhaps she is frightened at being dead” (61). Suddenly, Wendy moves, and Peter inspects her. He finds his acorn, which had saved her life.

The boys hear Tinker Bell crying when she realizes Wendy is alive. Peter tells her he is no longer her friend. The boys want to carry Wendy down into their underground home, but Peter says no. “You must not touch her. It would not be sufficiently respectful” (63). They decide to build a house around her. Peter measures her to decide how big a house they need. When her brothers arrive, they ask why they are building a house. When they tell them it is for Wendy, John exclaims, “Why, she is only a girl!” (63). One of the lost boys explains, “That is why we are her servants” (63).

Peter demands they bring a doctor. One of the lost boys pretends to be the doctor. “The difference between him and the other boys at such a time was that they knew it was make-believe, while to him make-believe and true were exactly the same thing” (64). After they finish building the house, the boys ask Wendy to be their mother.

Peter fits Wendy, John, and Michael for hollow trees so they can hide from the pirates. “Once you fit, great care must be taken to go on fitting, and this, as Wendy was to discover to her delight, keeps a whole family in perfect condition” (69). The three make themselves at home. In the underground home, there is a fireplace and a small alcove for Tinker Bell. Wendy took care of the cooking. “You never exactly knew whether there would be a real meal of just a make-believe, it all depended upon Peter’s whim; he could eat, really eat, if it was part of a game, but he could not stodge just to feel stodgy, which is what most children like better than anything else; the next best thing being to talk about it” (71).

“As time wore on did [Wendy] think much about the beloved parents she had left behind her? This is a difficult question, because it is quite impossible to say how time does wear on in the Neverland ….But I am afraid that Wendy did not really worry about her father and mother” (71). Wendy tried to make sure her brothers remembered their parents, and the lost boys joined in on her lessons. “Peter did not compete. For one thing he despised all mothers except Wendy, and for another he was the only boy on the island who could neither write nor spell; not the smallest word” (72).

The pirates try to leave a poisoned cake for the lost boys, thinking they would eat it because they don’t have a mother. However, Wendy stops them from eating the cake. Eventually, the cake becomes hard.

The children go to the Lagoon where they swim with the mermaids, who are not fond of the children enjoying their water. They played with bubbles, smacking them with their hands. John introduces another way to hit them: with his head. “This is the one mark that John has left on the Neverland” (77). After a make-believe meal, they rest on a rock in the lagoon. Wendy notices a shiver goes through the lagoon. “It was not, she knew, that night had come, but something as dark as night had come. No, worse than that. It had not come, but it had sent that shiver through the sea to say that it was coming” (77).

Whatever is coming caused the rock to become chilly. Despite the chill, Wendy doesn’t ask the boys to stop resting. “[S]he was a young mother and she did not know [that it was bad to rest on a cold rock]; she thought you simply must stick to your rule about half an hour after the mid-day meal. So, though fear was upon her, and she longed to hear male voices, she would not waken them” (78).

Peter wakes up, and he announces that the pirates are coming. He tells everyone to dive into the water. A small boat approaches the rock with two pirates and Tiger Lily in it. The pirates prepare to leave her on the rock to drown with high tide. Not far from the rock, “Wendy was crying, for it was the first tragedy she had seen. Peter had seen many tragedies, but he had forgotten them all” (79). Peter did not like that it was two pirates versus one Indian. He calls out, imitating Captain Hook’s voice, and tells the pirates to set Tiger Lily free.

The pirates set Tiger Lily free and the real Captain Hook shows up shortly afterwards. Hook tells the pirates that the lost boys have found a mother. The pirates do not understand, and Hook points out a mother bird protecting her eggs. “There was a break in his voice, as if for a moment he recalled innocent days when—but he brushed away this weakness with his hook” (81).

Captain Hook asks why the pirates released Tiger Lily. They tell him it is because they heard Hook’s voice tell them to. Peter does not remain quiet, but calls out in his imitation of Hook’s voice. Hook asks who is speaking. “In his dark nature there was a touch of the feminine, as in all the greatest pirates, and it sometimes gave him intuitions. Suddenly he tried the guessing game” (82). Peter reveals himself and attacks Hook. As they fight, Peter notices that he is higher up on the rock than Hook. He doesn’t think it is fair fighting, so he puts out his hand to help Hook up.

Hook bites Peter’s hand. “No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter. He often met it, but he always forgot it. I suppose that was the real difference between him and all the rest” (85). Hook and the other pirates escape, leaving Wendy and Peter on the rock, which is slowly becoming submerged in the rising water. Peter finds a kite and tells Wendy that it could carry one of them to land. Wendy suggests they draw lots. “‘And you a lady; never,’” Peter says. “Already he had tied the tail around her” (87). He releases Wendy and watches her fly away. “Peter was not quite like other boys; but he was afraid at last. A tremor ran through him, like a shudder passing over the sea…. ‘To die will be an awfully big adventure’” (87).