“I grew up, and it's a terribly hard thing to do. It's much easier to skip it and move from one childhood to another.” (Fitzgerald) In Peter and Wendy, the child characters do not portray romantic and heroic behavior, but instead the realistic traits found in everyday children. Therefore, the absence of moral thinking due to the absence of parents pushes the children to challenge the nature of good and evil throughout the novel. By bringing to light the fundamental aspects of Peter Pan's personality, ambitions and behavior and analyzing the wild mentality of the Lost Boys, it becomes clear that, just like the fantastic island of Neverland, the surface is far more beautiful than what lies beneath .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first and foremost culprit of such duplicity is Peter Pan. From beginning to end and beyond, Pan is known as the boy who won't grow up. As such, he displays anti-heroic and more childish behavioral traits. Time and time again it yields to narcissism, arrogance and the irresponsible pursuit of pleasure. This is seen when the Darling children follow Peter across the skies of Kensington Gardens for the first time. Finally Peter would dive into the air and catch Michael just before he could hit the sea, and it was adorable the way he did it; but he always waited until the last moment, and one felt that it was his intelligence that interested him and not the saving of human lives. He also liked variety, and the sport that once absorbed him suddenly stopped engaging him, so there was always the possibility that the next time you fell he would let you go. (Barrie 42) Here, Peter pays more attention to play than to Michael's life. Pan's role in the story is that of the eldest son of all. For this reason it follows that it behaves this way. Throughout the novel, he never takes responsibility for his friends' lives. It pushes them to take enormous risks for the gain of their own selfish pleasure; and feels no guilt over the deaths of the Lost Boys, who are said to be "thinning out" quite frequently in their ongoing dealings with pirates. All in all, Peter Pan treats life and death as a game, as he treats all things, because he is a child. Although it can be said that Pan sometimes displays heroic behavior; for example, when he decides to save Princess Tiger Lily from the pirates who are holding her hostage at Marooner's Rock; it can also be disputed that this is not, in fact, an act of altruism, but rather what Peter sees as a fun game to pass the time; “He felt less sorry for Tiger Lily than Wendy; it was two against one that made him angry, and he intended to save her. An easier way would have been to wait until the pirates were gone, but he's never been one to take the easy way out.”(88) So, once again, whatever's on Peter's mind right now it's the thrill of the challenge, choosing the rescue method that contains the greatest risk. This strange quirk of personality is one of Pan's most characteristic. It is often said in the novel that Pan is different from the other children on the island. Perhaps due to his seniority, Pan is a deeper example of childishness than the others. Peter has no fears, so he feels no desire for security, and he has no memory, so he doesn't understand change or loss. And there's something else it doesn't have, even if it's a void that's harder to name. For convenience, JM Barrie calls it 'heartless', because without it there can be nothing like love. (LitCharts) Here we understand why Peter Pan behaves the way he does. Since Wendy and her brothers are able to maintainmorality and common sense instilled in them in Kensington Gardens, it is clear that Pan is a special kind of boy: He is forgetful (most of the events they mark disappear from his mind the moment they return to the past), which it allows him to remain uncontaminated by emotional drives such as nostalgia or remorse. Furthermore, he reigns as a sort of god in Neverland. Blessed with escape and immortality, the island never fails to wake up upon his return and bend to his will as he flies around. Therefore, with all of Pan's power, as well as the lack of ability to learn from past mistakes, his morality is destined to become twisted. “Man is not, by nature, deserving of everything he wants. When we think we are automatically entitled to something, that's when we start trampling on others to get it." (Criss Jami) Whether it's Pan's impact or a development of their own actions, the other children are also morally twisted. Many times in the story, children's inability to understand the rights, wrongs, and consequences of their actions generates grotesque acts of murder. "Wendy was now almost on top of them and they could hear her wailing cry.[...] Tink's response rang out: 'Peter wants you to shoot Wendy.' It was not in their nature to ask questions when Peter commanded, "Let us do what Peter wants," the simple boys shouted, 'Quickly, bows and arrows.'” (Barrie 64) Here the children do not question their decision before acting. . There is no moral reflection as the boys agree to shoot Wendy on a command given to them by mere hearsay. Without question, reflection or reasoning, the boys prepare to commit murder children as they fight under the command of Peter Pan is all in good fun and such an analysis is excessive for the sake of a children's story. However, there is a mentality among the Lost Boys that suggests something other than simple adventures childish The question of battle and blood is no longer an issue in the minds of these children: they wake up every day with bloodshot eyes, they dress and feed themselves quickly so they can chase the pirates with their swords and weapons. At one point, Pan even goes so far as to state; “I taught you to fight and fly. What could be more? (107) These gruesome details are elegantly disguised by Barrie as he uses humor and imagination to soften them. However, these elements should not be used to excuse such details, but rather to contrast them so that they can be emphasized. It is clear that while Peter Pan may have been aimed at a child audience, Barrie was also imbuing his work with serious adult content, which did not go unnoticed by early 20th century British and American theater audiences. Although he created a fairy land full of delightful fantasies to amuse and bewitch children for centuries to come, he also illustrated the darker side of that imaginary childhood land. (Doln) The final statement regarding the morality of young children is seen especially in the development made by the Darling children. In the climax, terrifying sentences finally manage to freeze the reader and shock him into a dark realization. But it's just for fun, right? It's a story for heaven's sake, a story about a boy in the woods playing soldier or cowboy and Indians, playing all those wild games we all know so well and enjoyed so much when we were little. But then comes the climactic scene on the pirate ship where the Darling children and the Lost Boys must be rescued, and suddenly, the game ends. "There was little noise.”