When I read Peter Pan, I felt as if I actually got to know J.M. Barrie. So often in the book he refers to himself as the narrator, deciding which stories to tell us, saying how he doesn't like Mrs. Darling, for she is the one that urges her children home (he later changes this opinion). I saw Barrie as a fun, light, yet still proper person. I don't know if that is what he was really like, but I like him all the same.Early Life
James Matthew Barrie was born on May 9, 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland. He was the ninth of the ten Barrie children, and to make himself noticeable he became an avid storyteller. He became a bit of a boisterous young boy to make up for his small stature (he would grow to be 5'3"). When Barrie was six, his next oldest brother David, who was their mother's favourite, died. Margret, his mother, never fully recovered. She took some comfort in the idea that David would remain a boy forever. This would provide inspiration for Barrie's timeless tale. Barrie took it upon himself to help his mother. He would try to be like David so that she wouldn't miss her favourite boy.
Writing Career
After graduating from Edinburgh University in 1882, Barrie pursued his love of writing by becoming a journalist. He published his first novel, Better Dead in 1887. This would be the beginning of several popular books set in Scotland. Encouraged by his success, Barrie began writing plays in 1890, beginning with Walker London, a light comedy about marriage that was well-recieved. What became his legacy, however, was the tale of a small boy who would never grow up: Peter Pan. The timeless character first appeared in The Little White Bird (1902), but it was two years later when his story really took off. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up debuted December 27, 1904. He would later write the novel Peter Pan and Wendy, which is simply known now as Peter Pan.
Peter Pan
Like, yet unlike Charles Dodgson, the inspiration for J.M. Barrie's greatest work came from some young friends. Barrie met Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and their then two sons George and Jack and became great friends. The Scotsman would join them in Kensington Gardens on many afternoons to play with George, Jack, and then Peter, Micheal and Nico. Being involved in an unhappy marriage, Barrie saw that Sylvia was everything he wanted in a woman: beautiful and the embodiment of motherhood. Fortunately, Arthur knew he had nothing to worry about, for he and his wife were very much in love. Barrie longed for sons of his own, but he was greatly contented return to childhood with the Llewelyn Davies boys. He was their greatest companion with his endless games, stories, and cild-like imagination. Their childhood innocence and the stories they forced Barrie to tell would be the makings of Peter Pan.
Now, try as I might, I was unable to find any evidence of inappropriate behaviour between Barrie and the boys. I seems he just loved them as sons and nothing more.Something intersting that I came across was the name Wendy. It has been speculated that Barrie invented the name, but while that has been disproven, one source said "he might as well have!" A young friend of his, five-year-old Margret Henly, would call Barrie "my friendly". However, she was unable to pronounce her "R's", so it came out sounding like "fwendy" or "wendy". Barrie decided to use this name after young Margret died in 1895 at the age of six. The name (the real name) is said to have Welsh origins and possibly a form of Gwendydd, the fistional sister of Merlin. Wherever it came from, Barrie's play made Wendy an iconic name in Britain.
J.M. Barrie, like Charles Dodgson, has a bit of an unfortunate reputation due to his relationships with small children. I hope you have learned that Barrie was an imaginative child-at-heart who created a boy that, like his brother David, will remain a boy forever.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie
http://www.biography.com/people/jm-barrie-9200058
http://www.wendy.com/wendyweb/history.html
Birkin, Andrew J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys. London: Constable and Company, 1979
Tartar, Martha The Annotated Peter Pan. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011
Inteteresting guy. It seemed as though he had alot of sadness in his life, do you think that shows through in sone of peter pans characteristics? For me I always thought there was something anout peter pan, that made him seem kinda sad, now that I know where the inspiration for the boy who never grew up came from, I can see why.
ReplyDeleteYa it's weird, for all of Peter's fun he does have an air of sadness, doesn't he? I think Barrie did a great job of putting that loneliness in his character, and there's a good chance that it came from the loss of his brother. Huh, I never really thought about it like that before. Thanks:)
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