"Let us now kill a pirate": The Intrusive Narrator of Peter Pan

I should probably begin this post with the disclaimer that I find Peter Pan, and especially the novel's unconventional narrator, exceedingly satisfying and delightful. In fact, the first word that comes to mind is "delicious," but perhaps that is a bit too sensual. I state all this at the beginning to let you know that my enjoyment of this novel perhaps may cloud my judgment of it, just as if it were a friend, so I will gladly accept criticism of the opinions I will now express.

In fact, let's (see? I'm copying Barrie already) start with what other critics have said. Peter Hunt agrees with other critics that the narrator's age and relation to the reader is problematic. He writes, "Barrie's mode of address... constantly moves between that of the knowing but sympathetic adult and the bitter and cynical adult, and both voices address adults and children... Barrie has no sense of balance" (Hunt 204). He continues to link this problem to the transfer of the story from drama to novel: "It may well be that what works on stage does not work on the page; it is the narrator who brings with him the serpent into the simple Eden of wish-fulfillment" (204).

I argue, however, that Barrie has created a narrator that creates a similar magic and interaction on the printed page as one finds in a theater. The audience is an active participant in a stage production; no show is exactly the same from one night to the next because no two audiences are exactly the same. Barrie creates interaction between the narrator and the reader, or the listening child, through an intrusive narrator. From the very beginning the narrator charges the reader to be engaged with the text. The narrator says, "You always know after you are two." The child reading or hearing this must think, "Did I?" and is thus engaged by asking her/himself questions while experiencing the story.

The narrator also frequently employs the first person plural to include the reader in the story. When the narrator is describing the Neverland and all its inhabitants, he or she (although, really, I think it's a he, but I'm open-minded) describes Hook's claw and then suggests, "Let us now kill a pirate, to show Hook's method. Skylights will do" (Griffith 750). When the narrator includes us in this interjection, he or she includes us into the murder of one of Hook's pirates. Putting the horror of actually committing murder aside, the fact that we feel like we have an impact on the characters is unique and rather thrilling. Just as in a theater, our laughter and applause can get a response out of the actors, the narrator here allows, or at least gives the illusion of, our participation in the story. Throughout the novel, it is not entirely clear if the narrator is reporting a story or creating one. This simulates the experience in a theater because, while watching a play, we know that the story has already been fixed and is destined for only one ending, but the actors are alive and present, we could reach out to touch/kiss/trip them at will, and thus their course seems more malleable.

Essentially, in transferring his story from acted drama to the immortalized printed word, I think Barrie bottles some of the magic of the drama and the Neverland through a creative narrator. Let us... (?) The possibilities are not limited by genre.

Works Cited:

Griffith, John W. and Charles H. Frey, eds. Classics of Children's Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.

Hunt, Peter. Children's Literature. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.