Peter Pan (33 page)

PETER AND WENDY

CHAPTER I
:
PETER BREAKS THROUGH

  
1
.
Wendy:
Barrie actually coined this name, which became very popular in England and America after the production of his play in 1904. He had been close friends with the poet W. E. Henley, whose young daughter Margaret had difficulty saying the letter
R.
She used to call Barrie “my friendly,” which she pronounced “my wendy.” Unfortunately, she died at the age of six, and Barrie memorialized her as Wendy.

  
2
.
kiss:
Barrie foreshadows the interchange that Wendy and Peter will have about kiss and thimble. Wendy and Peter will never exchange a real kiss, and thus their love will never be consummated as a real adult love.

  
3
.
one pound seventeen:
s Calculations as made in the predecimal British currency. One pound seventeen is one pound seventeen shillings, or £pD1.85, and three nine seven is three pounds, nine shillings, and seven pence, or £pD3.48.

  
4
.
half a guinea:
One guinea was equal to one pound, or £pD1.05. Therefore, half a guinea was ten shillings and six pence, or 52p.

  
5
.
Newfoundland dog:
During the writing of the Peter Pan stories the Barries owned a St. Bernard named Porthos, who died in 1902. He was replaced by a Newfoundland named Luath. In most of the plays and musicals the dog is a St. Bernard.

  
6
.
Kensington Gardens:
A park connected to Hyde Park in central London. This park was much more rural in Barrie’s time, and even had sheep grazing in it. The two parks are divided by the Long Water and the Serpentine. There is an island in the middle where, in
The Little White Bird,
Peter Pan had his dwelling. Barrie was accustomed to take walks in the Kensington Gardens,
where he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who lived nearby, as did Barrie and his wife.

  
7
.
George:
This was the first name of the eldest of the Llewelyn Davies boys. Barrie used the names of all the sons except Nicholas (Nico). John and Michael were the Darling sons, while Peter was dubbed Peter Pan. However, Peter Pan bore much more of a resemblance to Barrie than to Peter Llewelyn Davies.

  
8
.
Neverland:
In the first draft of the play, Neverland was called Never, Never, Never Land, based on an actual region in Australia. The name was changed for the first time in the novel.

  
9
.
coracle:
A small boat made of wickerwork.

10
.
not to wipe:
Wendy is very fastidious and expects Peter to wipe his feet. This is part of her maternal charm.

CHAPTER II
:
THE SHADOW

  
1
.
Mea culpa, mea culpa:
It’s my fault. It’s my fault.

CHAPTER III
:
COME AWAY, COME AWAY
!

  
1
.
Peter’s shadow:
Barrie was familiar with the German romantic Adelbert von Chamisso’s
Peter Schemihl
(1814), in which the protagonist foolishly gives away his shadow, not realizing that he is giving away his soul. A similar motif can be found in Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Shadow” (1847).

  
2
.
embonpoint:
A polite way of saying that someone is fat or plump.

  
3
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ha’pence:
Half a penny.

  
4
.
housewife:
Sewing kit.

  
5
.
cave:
Watch out or beware; from the Latin
cavere.

CHAPTER IV
:
THE FLIGHT

  
1
.
Jas. Hook:
James Hook. Barrie always depicted Hook as an upper-class gentleman who had fallen from respectability. In early drafts of the play he represented a headmaster and stuffy institutions. However, as Barrie revised the play, Hook became more associated with a conflicted, if not satanic, aristocrat-turned-pirate. Some of his features are similar to those of Robert Louis Stevenson’s pirates in
Treasure Island,
which had a great influence on Barrie.

  
2
.
Blackbeard’s bo’sun:
Blackbeard’s boatswain or ship’s officer. Blackbeard was a notorious historical figure. His real name was Edward Teach, and after serving in the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701–03), he began a career as a pirate and terrorized the Atlantic Coast of America and the Caribbean Islands. He was known to be brutal and merciless. Captured in 1718, he was allegedly decapitated, and his head—with full black beard—was impaled on the spar of his ship.

  
3
.
Barbecue:
The name given to Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson’s
Treasure Island.

CHAPTER V
:
THE ISLAND COME TRUE

  
1
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Execution dock:
Located at Wapping in East London, this dock served as execution place for criminals condemned to death by the Admiralty Court. Most of the pirates were hanged here; it is also mentioned in Stevenson’s
Treasure Island.

  
2
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Italian Cecco:
Barrie named this pirate after Cecco Hewlett, the son of the novelist Maurice Hewlett.

  
3
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Gao:
Generally referred to as Goa, a former Portuguese colony in India.

  
4
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six dozen on the Walrus from Flint:
Jukes received six dozen lashes of the whip on the
Walrus,
the name of Captain Flint’s ship in Stevenson’s
Treasure Island.

  
5
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moidores:
Portuguese gold coins.

  
6
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Black Murphy:
An historical pirate.

  
7
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usher:
The assistant headmaster in a British private school.

  
8
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Morgan’s:
An historical pirate.

  
9
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Alf Mason:
Barrie’s friend, the novelist A. E. Mason.

10
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Sea-Cook:
The name for Long John Silver in
Treasure Island,
which Stevenson had originally titled
The Sea Cook.

11
.
blackavized:
Dark complected.

12
.
Charles II: King of England,
Scotland, and Ireland (1630–85). Charles II was a pleasure-loving king who set the tone of the Restoration period in the arts and literature.

13
.
Piccaninnies: A picaninny or pickaninny
was a tiny child, and the name generally referred to children of South African or Australian natives. Barrie’s depiction of the Indians was clearly uninformed and has strong racist overtones.

14
.
Odds bobs, hammer and tongs:
Hook continually uses this exclamation taken from a sea ballad in Frederick Marryat’s novel,
Snarleyyow; or, The Dog Friend
(1837). Marryat wrote many adventure books for boys with which Barrie was familiar.

CHAPTER VI
:
THE LITTLE HOUSE

  
1
.
Let us build a little house round her:
A reference to the little house built around Maimie Mannering in
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
For Barrie, this house was intended to recall the tiny wash house located near his birthplace in Kirriemuir, where he used to play at theater.

CHAPTER VII
:
THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND

  
1
.
Queen Mab:
Fairy queen of European folklore. In English literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries she was the powerful fairy queen who gave birth to dreams in human beings. She was also a mischief maker, often changing babies, and made appearances in the plays of Drayton and Shakespeare.

  
2
.
stodge:
to fill or gorge with food. To feel stodgy is to feel full of food.

CHAPTER VIII
:
THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON

  
1
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Luff, you lubber:
To luff is to bring the head of a ship nearer to the wind and sail in a specified direction. A lubber is a big, clumsy, and often stupid seaman.

  
2
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pinked:
Pierced or wounded.

  
3
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To die will be an awfully big adventure:
Attributed to Peter Llewelyn Davies, who allegedly made this remark while listening to Barrie tell tales in Kensington Gardens.

CHAPTER IX
:
THE NEVER BIRD

  
1
.
pieces of eight:
Spanish dollars or pesos.

CHAPTER X
:
THE HAPPY HOME

  
1
.
calabash:
The hollow shell of a calabash—a gourd—used as a water bottle or other utensil.

CHAPTER XI
:
WENDY’S STORY

  
1
.
half mourning:
The second stage of ritual mourning at the beginning of the twentieth century. People were permitted to discard full black attire and wear garments with plain colors such as gray, blue, or lavender.

  
2
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hanger:
A short sword or dagger, hung from the belt.

  
3
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first Thursdays:
The first Thursday of each month was when people in high society could attend a fixed reception at a friend’s house without a formal invitation.

CHAPTER XII
:
THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF

  
1
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Geo. Scourie, Chas. Turley:
While finishing
Peter and Wendy
in the summer of 1911, Barrie took a vacation with the Llewelyn Davies boys at Scourie Lode in northwest Scotland. George Ross was the owner’s son, and his name was combined with the name of the lodge to form Geo. Scourie. Charles Turley Smith, an author of school stories for boys, provided the other pirate’s name.

CHAPTER XIII
:
DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES
?

  
1
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would:
Wanted to.

  
2
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periwinkle:
A light-blue, starry flower.

  
3
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death-dealing rings:
Rings containing poison.

CHAPTER XIV
:
THE PIRATE SHIP

  
1
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Kidd’s Creek:
William Kidd (1645–1701) was perhaps the most famous legendary pirate in England. He was hung at Execution Dock on May 23, 1701, and allegedly amassed a great fortune from his piracy. Many books and stories have been written about him, and he appears in works by Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Louis Stevenson.

  
2
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famous public school:
Eton College, the most prestigious private school for boys in England.

  
3
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good form:
Boys who attended Eton were expected to live up to school codes and standards of proper behavior set by the upper classes.

  
4
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what house?
: Eton was divided into numerous houses, similar to dormitories, and each house had its own history of social prestige. Here Hook, who supposedly attended Eton, feels nothing but contempt for Barbecue and Flint because they did not attend private school.

  
5
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early dissolution:
Early end or demise.

  
6
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Pop:
A prestigious club at Eton College. Generally speaking, the top twenty boys were selected for this club in their senior year,
and aside from the social honor, they were responsible for school discipline and maintaining the school code.

  
7
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damp:
Sweating profusely.

  
8
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scugs:
Losers. These were the boys at Eton who were not good in sports.

  
9
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Rule Britannia!:
Britannia was the Latin name for Britain personified as a female. This was an exclamation of patriotism and loyalty to the motherland.

CHAPTER XV
: “
HOOK OR ME THIS TIME
”

  
1
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touch of that cat:
The cat o’ nine tails was a nine-thronged whip used to punish sailors at sea.

  
2
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S’death:
A curse, meaning God’s death.

  
3
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I’ll swing:
I’ll be hanged.

  
4
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doodle-doo:
The devil.

  
5
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one on board:
Again, a reference to the devil.

  
6
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Jonah:
Reference to the story of Jonah and the Whale in the Bible. In sea lore, Jonah is the one who brings bad luck to ships.

  
7
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buckler:
Shield.

  
8
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quietus:
Death blow or final summation.

  
9
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sent up for good:
At Eton, if a boy was sent up, it meant he was sent to the headmaster and rewarded for his good work. Here Hook is thinking about being rewarded for his good form.

10
.
watching the wall-game from a famous wall:
A unique game played at Eton, generally watched from the top of a wall.

CHAPTER XVI
:
THE RETURN HOME

  
1
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rope’s end:
Reference to one of the duties of a boatswain; he was to keep discipline by whipping and beating disobedient and lazy sailors with a rope’s end.

  
2
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tars before the mast:
A reference to common sailors. Jack Tar was a standard name for a sailor.

  
3
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lashed himself to the wheel:
Peter takes over the helm of the ship to indicate he is now captain and will navigate the ship through dangerous waters, even though there is no danger anymore.

  
4
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round robin:
A complaint form that sailors signed in a circle to keep the captain from knowing the order of the signing.