The Social Environment of The Dawn Treader and Peter Pan - Assignment Example

The Case of The Dawn Treader and Peter Pan Introduction In this assignment, I have chosen to write about both Peter Pan Stories (Barry 1915) and Chronicles of Narnia series, specifically, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Lewis Pte. 2002). Both have been targeted to cater for the imagination of children and adults alike. Both have become classics in the coming of the present century. Little do people realize that the social contexts behind these Children’s stories have always been rooted in the original author’s philosophical and social inner beliefs. This is almost likely the case in all stories that have been written for centuries may they be focused to adults, children, teenagers, and the like. Such stories have always included characters in them that would usually symbolize a certain group or class of people living in the society. With this in mind, to analyze deeper into the social contexts in these stories, we will be looking at some of the main characters in both stories and relate them to the people that are existent today. Both are classics but at the same time, both of these classic children stories have been a journey that transcends time and reaches into the present 21st century. Peter Pan The original Peter Pan was dark and rhetorical English tale (Flores 2011). Old English folk stories provoked of vile creatures and dark premises in such stories often offered the fantasies of heroic creatures with powers that a plain human do not exhibit. One of these stories was Peter Pan. The original text was written in 1915 and was greatly influenced by medieval background as how literature back then was inspired. The roots of the Peter Pan that caters to the children of today was originally a Peter Pan that was a novel that talked about dire and scary creatures that used magic, that were beastly and ravage. Only the turnaround in the Disney made the Peter Pan stories cater to kids because of the animation although the subliminal meaning it sends is still from the original roots of Peter Pan. Peter Pan is a lost boy who doesn’t grow up may be related to people of today, yesterday and tomorrow that refuses to hold to responsibilities and move on with the cycle of life. They insist on staying on the tracks where all is consisted of happy thoughts and the like. Peter may refer to the main influence that keeps the lost boys together. The society today is filled with people who gang up together pursuing the pleasures of life instead of the responsibilities that the traditional life has always expected of people. Peter Pan’s arch enemy is a pirate in the person of Captain Hook. I am still not sure why Captain Hook is really angry at Peter Pan, but some versions of this story suggests that the reason why Mr. Hook lost one of his hands has something to do with Peter Pan. At the same time, certain in depth analysis of other authors such as Birkin (2003) analyzez how Mr. Hook may be related to an envious counterpart adult in Peter Pan’s happy-go-lucky life. He is confined in the bounds of his ship while Peter Pan flies off just everywhere he wants to go. Never Never land may refer to a concept of eternity as a place. It may denote certain meanings such as a transcendence of time and space. It is found nowhere in England but can be visited by flying above the clouds. In here, the characters do not grow old, and as a matter of fact, in the movie Hook (Spielberg 1991), the story revovlves around the idea that Peter Pan has actually left Neveland to marry Wendy’s daughter in London. When they comes back to rescue Peter’s two children from Hook’s captivity, Peter finds his being once again questioned in the perspective of his past versus how he has become. This may pertain to certain beliefs in the present day society such as Eternal Life, or Nirvana, or Heaven. Such concepts avail of the idea of Neverland as a place other than where we live where conflicts still arise. Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader We rather see a very comparative plot with Peter Pan and Narnia. Narnia is also a place created by C.S. Lewis centuries ago. His beautifully written masterpieces are, opposed to Peter Pan’s dark medieval roots, are rooted into 21 century Christianity—particulary with the Trinitarian theology. This is since Lewis, a former atheist who then became a theologian in his quest in finding God finds the perspectives that undertake the people in the society, whatever century they may have existed. In Lewis’s other books, his philosophical reasoning have probably transcended into his Writing of the Chronicles of Narnia that targets Children instead. His writings have covered a wide variety of moral topics that included the human-mind’s perspectives that creates the big difference in viewing other people and a certain situation. The characters in Narnia, just like with that of Peter Pan are from an English society during the industrial revolution. And just like Peter Pan they are taken into somewhere far off than the society they live in. In the Dawn Treader, The Pevensies; Lucy and Edmond are taken into Narnia with their unaccommodating cousin Eustace. In this series, the siblings have already, hundreds of Narnian years, have inhabited Narnia and their wish to go back to Narnia was granted, but this time with their unpleasant (for them) cousin Eustace. Their Narnian adventure in the Dawn Treader deals with each of the main character’s struggle in defeating their inner desires of selfish reasons that might take the whole Dawn Treader’s crew into chaos and defeat. As mentioned earlier, moral issues arise such as Eustace’s greed when the crew lands at the second island that they were able to visit. His avoidance of ship chores and sharing of responsibilities leads him to a dragon’s keep where gold are everywhere. He fills his pocket with all that he can afford to carry. Although the warning of skeletons who have also attempted before he did lay on the ground where the golds were. As the story continues, the gold was only illusions of treasure. This may be realted to Lewis’s take on earthly treasures and the human view on greed as how greed may send an illusion to people of coveting everything that they can manage. This is actually a very very classic concept that even the present day society faces. The issue of greed is not new and will never be something that will ever grow old. At this part of the story, Eustace is saved by his crew mates even if he had been behaving badly inside the ship of the Dawn Treader. Another character in the story faces her own struggles as Lucy is caught up in another illusion of her wanting to look like her sister, Susan. She viewed Susan as pretty while viewing herself as less superior than her sister in terms of talent and beauty. Her case was a case of envy. Certain symbolisms arise such as the temptations the illusions sent to Lucy telling her that she was less beautiful than her sister. She even made forbidden things which she should have not done. In this dilemma, Aslan the Great Lion—which symbolize God since Narnia is from a Christian author, The Great Lion himself meets Lucy face to face showing her that she too is pretty in her own way. Lucy’s context related to the present day society is also not a new or an ever will grow old issue of the perception of people in what is beautiful and what is not. Millions and millions of women struggle in their quest for beauty. Liposuction and plastic surgeries have transcended the industry more than how people could have imagined. Others say it is actually an issue of a woman’s contentment with her body. Millions also are diagnosed of eating disorders that are related to the ideals of super skinny models as how the media has endorses. Other characters are also faced with their inner struggles as they near the Dark Islands in their quest to rescue the Old Kings of Narnia who have lost their way in the Islands. They may be related to the who were great in the Old times of Narnia but have succumbed into power and greed. They are found in a dark place where they are partaking of a meal, though they look like lifeless beings frozen by time. This may mean something like that. Conclusion The issues these two books discussed are rather of timeless virtues to the human race. They may have been presented to children to promote values and morals and yet, the same are still vital in the adult life. They may have been written centuries ago but having such content that still caters to human morals, they never grow old. Their messages still underlie the same issues that are here even in the present day society. They have been problems in their century, or even in the medieval times, as Peter Pan is inspired from there. At the end, may it be Peter Pan or Chronicles of Narnia who are of opposite inspirations; one of the dark ages, and one from Christian theologies, brings a sense of discussion to human issues that never grows old or is never unlearnt from generation to generation. References: Andrew Birkin. J.M Barrie and the Lost Boys: The Real Story Behind Peter Pan. Yale University Press. Yale: 2003 C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, First Edition. Geoffrey Biles: September 1952 C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis Signature Classics: The Great Divorce. C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Harper Collins: 2002 C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis Signature Classics: Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Harper Collins. NY: 2002 Eugene Bradley Coco. Walt Disney’s Peter Pan. Little Golden Book. Golden. 1997. C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis Signature Classics: The Screwtape Letters. C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Harper Collins. NY: 2002 J.M. Barrie F.D. Bedford . Peter Pan and Wendy. Scotland: 1915 J.M. Barrie, Steven Spielberg. Hook (1991 Movie). Starring Robbin Williams; Julia Roberts. USA: 1991. Zerah Mercado, Karen Flores. Peter Pan: A Discourse. ZippyZiggy. Philippines: 2011. Read More