The Little White Bird
Peter Pan appeared for the first time in Barrie's charming novel "The Little
White Bird" from 1902. The novel consists of several intertwined stories and the
main theme of the novel is the conflict between shadow and substance, between
fantasy and reality.
The frame story of the novel is about the middle-aged Captain W. who becomes the
benefactor of a young, loving couple. He follows their love affair from the
window in his club and he succeeds – unbeknown to the couple – to solve a
conflict between them. They get married and have a son David, who comes to look
upon the captain as a sort of father. Captain W. tells David stories that
usually take place in Kensington Gardens. Here we get the first glimpse of
Captain Hook in the shape of schoolmaster Pilkington and we also hear about
Peter Pan for the very first time.
The story of Peter Pan is both beautiful and tragic. He runs away from home when
he is only seven days old and comes to live in Kensington Gardens in London.
Here he befriends the birds and the fairies and he also gets a human friend, the
girl Mamie who is a wild and strange forerunner for Wendy. Although Peter loves
Mamie dearly and even marries her, he misses his mother, but when he returns to
his home, his mother has replaced him with a new little boy and barred the
windows, so that Peter cannot come back inside again. Since then Peter has lived
alone in Kensington Gardens, where he helps children who has stayed after the
gates have closed. If they are still alive, he leads them to a little fairy
house, but if they are dead, he buries them. Unfortunately Peter has a problem
distinguishing between life and death, though…
“The Little White Bird” is a novel for grown-ups and as such, the story of Peter
Pan was not originally intended for children, which is quite obvious as it is
both very ironic and very harsh. The novel as a whole has an odd, captivating
charm that has often been described as whimsical, but the critics who love to
blame Barrie for being sugary and sentimental, must have overlooked his irony
completely.
3 out of 5 stars: ***
© Lise Lyng Falkenberg, 1990