Peter Pan: Tale Addresses Fear of Commitment and Growing Up |

The famous tale Peter Pan was created by James Matthew Barrie while telling stories to the children of his friend Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. Initially, Peter was intended for the theater, however he first appeared in a book in 1902 called “The Little White Bird”. The work is a fictionalized version of Barrie’s relationship with Sylvia Davies’ children, which was later adapted for the theatre. In 1911, Barrie made another adaptation of the story which he called “Peter and Wendy”, but which is usually known simply as Peter Pan.

The story is about a little boy, called Peter Pan, who refuses to grow up and lives in search of magical adventures. He is represented as a lovely boy dressed in leaves and covered in tree sap, who plays the flute and still has baby teeth.

The story is about a little boy, called Peter Pan, who refuses to grow up and lives in search of magical adventures. He is represented as a lovely boy dressed in leaves and covered in tree sap, who plays the flute and still has baby teeth.

Miss Wendy and her two brothers, who live in London, are visited by Pan every night. At first he appears in dreams for children. However, the children’s mother – who already knows Peter from her own childhood – realizes something is wrong and starts sleeping with the children.

On a night when she needs to be away with her husband, then tragedy strikes, and the children leave with Pan to Neverland. In the book, the author mentions that from the age of two the child realizes that he will grow. In analytical psychology, around this age the child begins to have a notion of the “I”, that is, he begins to realize that he is a separate being from the mother and father. It is at this stage that her ego begins to form and establish herself as an individual.

The fear and anguish of growing up

So, right from the start, we realized that the central theme of Peter Pan revolves around the child’s discovery that he won’t be a child forever and the anguish and fear generated by this understanding. The ego, in analytical psychology, is what gives us the notion of “I”, of what we are, desire and feel. And it has a somatic basis, that is, it has an aspect of identification with the body. For this reason, when we realize that we are a subject, we begin to have a sense of finitude, and this is quite frightening.

In the book, Wendy’s age is not mentioned, but the narrative shows that the girl is leaving the childhood phase and entering puberty. Because she begins to be interested in Peter with a loving desire and asks him for a kiss, which signals that she is entering the phase of meeting with the other. In addition, Wendy also begins to wish to become a mother and start her family. And therein lies the strength of the child’s conflict and anguish.

Read Also: What does Jupiter retrograde mean? |

Wendy is the heroine of the story and her anguish is manifested in the escape from reality, which occurs with the trip to Neverland. There Wendy fantasizes that she has started a family. It’s all just a game that she doesn’t have to commit to.

According to the German analytical psychotherapist Marie-Louise Von Franz, Peter Pan is close to the archetype that Carl Jung called Puer Aeternus, that is, the eternal child.

According to the German analytical psychotherapist Marie-Louise Von Franz, Peter Pan is close to the archetype that Carl Jung called Puer Aeternus, that is, the eternal child.

Puer Aeternus is also the name of an ancient god. He was the child-God in the Eleusinian mysteries, called Iacchus. Later he was identified with Dionysus and with the god Eros. This is a God of life, death and resurrection – the one of divine youth.

Pan, after his confrontation with Captain Hook, is asked by the pirate who he is. And the boy replies: “I am youth, I am joy, I am a little bird that has just hatched”. Confirming that it is an archetypal image of the Puer Aeternus.

Peter Pan represents childish behavior of some men

In individual terms, Peter Pan indicates a certain type of man who behaves like a teenager all his life, with attitudes that would be absolutely normal for young people, but which are no longer consistent with adult life.

Peter Pan didn’t have a mother and didn’t feel the slightest desire to have one. He thought they were given too much value. However, he bonds with Wendy and takes her to Neverland in the pretense of turning the girl into his mother and the lost boys.

This shows that the man identified with this complex only has a relationship with a woman in order to seek a mother substitute. He does not want a mate, but someone who will care for him with motherly love, for he seeks a mother goddess. And every time he falls in love with someone, he soon discovers that she is an ordinary human being and thus becomes frustrated looking for that mother in another woman.

Pan has an ambiguous relationship with his mother figure: despite despising her, he really wants to have one. In fact, what he despises is the aspect of the Terrible Mother, who in the tales appears as a witch figure. The Terrible Mother is extremely necessary for the development of the personality and for the individuation process, since she is the one who pushes us towards independence and to leave the maternal paradise. In fairy tales, she does this by chasing or chasing the hero or heroine out of the house.

Read Also: The Fool in Tarot and the path to self-confidence |

The fact of flying shows that Peter wants to get as far away from Earth and his daily life as possible. Therefore, it is common for men identified with this archetype to seek sports such as mountaineering and aviation, symbolizing the separation from the mother, that is, from the Earth with their life.

The fact of flying shows that Peter wants to get as far away from Earth and his daily life as possible. Therefore, it is common for men identified with this archetype to seek sports such as mountaineering and aviation, symbolizing the separation from the mother, that is, from the Earth with their life.

Pan is extremely seductive and charismatic, as he has the charm of youth and therefore shows our seductive side, but who does not want to face reality and take responsibility. How many times do we catch ourselves dreaming of getting rid of our duties? How many times do we dream of being free and uncompromised children again?

This side of us can be extremely stimulating and lead us to unconventional situations, taking us out of our routine. However, we must be careful to intersperse our lives with responsibility and commitment, since venting only the childish side of our personality can lead to alienation and tragic consequences.

Captain Hook represents darker aspects of Peter

The villain also has no mother and, like the boy, wants one. He pursues Pan’s youth, as he is the opposite of him: old, grouchy and desperate for power. So he tries to stop the renewal. Just like Kronos, in Greek Mythology, Captain Hook tries to prevent the growth of new life, as the child also symbolizes this.

Just like Kronos, in Greek Mythology, Captain Hook tries to prevent the growth of new life, as the child also symbolizes this.

The author says that when children died, Peter Pan accompanied them part of the way, so that they would not be afraid. That is, he is also a guide of souls. And this could be a path for the development of Puer Aeternus.

The man with this complex can develop aspects of Hermes, the Greek god who symbolizes the guide of souls. The Puer, by assuming a commitment to creative and unconventional work, can help him to resemble this God, symbol of intelligence and cunning, becoming a guide for those who are afraid to cross the trajectory of their lives. .

Wendy raises reflection: when is it time to mature?

Wendy is taken to Neverland and there she starts to live in an underground house, inside the earth (which symbolically represents her mother), where she starts to cook, sew, clean and tidy. She and the boys also live inside trees, which in analytical psychology symbolizes human life, development and the inner process of formation of consciousness in human beings.

Read Also: Venus enters Aquarius and leaves love freer

The psychotherapist Von Franz points out that when human beings are suspended from a tree, it is because they tend to escape, trying to free themselves and act freely and consciously, and that is why they are painfully dragged back to their inner process. Like the Puer Aeternus, many young people, at a certain point in their lives, have to resolve their mother complex and realize that the course of life does not allow for eternal permanence in this state; he has to die.

In this case, the presence of Wendy – who can symbolize the anima (feminine side of the man), who calls for individuation and personality development – brings these boys the opportunity to leave their mother complex. So she calls them to go away with her. They accept the invitation, go with her, grow up and live a normal life. But unfortunately, a part of Wendy still gets stuck in childishness as Peter refuses to go with her.

From Wendy’s point of view, it can be said that she symbolizes the woman who has an animus (male side of the woman) still in a childish state. In the short story, Wendy’s father is presented as a man whose emotions were undifferentiated. He is hardworking but cannot earn enough money for the family and is constantly being taken over by his anima and filled with changeable moods. He is almost a spoiled child in terms of emotions. And this personal father experience shapes Wendy’s relationship with her animus and men.

But Wendy grows up and starts a family. However, a part of her animus still remains trapped in childhood. So the tale ends with his daughter and granddaughter repeating their journey to Neverland. That is, the problem was only partially solved and Peter remains in his eternal boy state.

Bibliography:

JUNG, C.G.. Archetypes and the collective unconscious. 6. Ed. Petrópolis: Voices, 2008. / Symbols of Transformation. Voices. Petrópolis: 1986. / The self and the unconscious. 21 ed. Voices. Petropolis: 2008.
STEIN. M. Jung, The Map of the Soul. 2 ed. So Paulo: Cultrix 2000.
VON FRANZ, M. L.. Puer Aeternus – The fight of the adult against the paradise of childhood. 5 ed. Paulus. São Paulo: 2005. / Shadow and evil in fairy tales. Paulus. São Paulo: 2002. Wikipedia – accessed on 07/23/2015