Everyone always wants to talk about Hook or Pan. Everyone always wants to debate which one is good and which is evil - who weâre supposed to follow and who we arenât. The Peter Pan mythos has pretty much shrunk down to nothing but Hook and Pan (Hook, SyFyâs Neverland, Pan, OUAT, etc). Occasionally Tinkerbell factors in (Hook, Disneyâs Tinkerbell, OUAT, etc). Thereâs one character, however, that always gets sidelined - which is puzzling since they are the main character of both the play and the book. That character is, of course, Wendy Darling.
Peter Pan is Wendyâs coming of age story. Wendy who decides to run away from home. Wendy who realizes that she must grow up - and that thereâs no shame in that. Wendy who sees Peter as deficient and sees Hook as empty and decides that, no, she doesnât want to be a part of that. Wendy gets the adventure sheâs always wanted and she turns away because she realizes that itâs lacking. Sheâs the only one who truly sees the hollowness of being young forever. Barrie even says âYou need not be sorry for her. She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than other girls.â
People always debate on who the hero is. When they learn that Peter could be horrid they assume it has to be Hook. Of course, the answer is that neither of them are the hero. Wendy is the hero of the story. Youâre not supposed to be like Peter, who kept every good and bad aspects of being a child and canât tell right from wrong. Youâre not supposed to be Hook, either. He let go of everything childish and loving about him and became bitter and evil. Theyâre both the extreme ends of the scale. Youâre supposed to fall in the middle, to hold onto the things about childhood that make it beautiful - the wonder, the imagination, the innocence - while still growing up and learning morality and responsibility. Youâre not supposed to be Hook. Youâre not supposed to be Peter Pan.
Youâre supposed to be Wendy Darling.Â
