Using either Peter Pan or Elidor, examine the relationship between the real world and the fantasy world - Essay Example

f a kind”, and although readers find themselves somewhat confused in drawing a straight line between reality and fantasy, “there are kinds of writing in which absolute clarity is not a virtue, when for instance, the author has to evoke a mood, to suggest feelings of which his characters are scarcely aware themselves”, and “clarity appeals to the intellect, but the emotions are often more deeply stirred by something less sharply comprehended…” (Mincoff, Marco, “The Study of Style”, p.10, 13). Many distinguished authors, essayists, critics have written about Peter Pan and the “Neverland” beginning their works with the famous opening sentence “All children, except one, grow up”.

Many of them use a scientific psychological approach and argue about the Freudian Oedipus complex in the main character, which actually falls into “the third common area of psychological criticism, that is, the analysis of fictional characters” (“Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama”, Kennedy, X.J. and Gioia, Dana, p.1398). Hereby, I would try to give my own understanding of the novel and leave scientific arguments to more adequate people for such a difficult task.

Before I go into some deeper analysis of the novel itself, let me say that I agree with most of the opinions that we (the people) really wish at one time or another to remain children forever and never grow up, because everyone knows growing up brings too many problems along. A minor proof of this can be found in Goceva-Zdravkovska’s short poems about passage of time: It is obvious that in the three years period between these two short poems, the poet had grown up, and didn’t like it. Many people feel this way, and so did Peter Pan.

However, his creator J. M Barrie knowing the boy wanted to remain a boy forever created the “Neverland” for him as well, and Peter never grew up. Speaking of Peter Pan’s creation and J. M. Barrie, it must be said that the author got the