Reading Response #1

Themes Present in Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and The Secret Garden


In my opinion, the themes of the three novels I've studied, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and The Secret Garden all draw together in the respect that they have the ability to transfer the characters as well as the reader to a world where fantasy prevails. Underlying this world, there seems to be a constant theme of conflict between the innocence of childhood and the responsibility of adulthood. It seems to me that the characters are stuck in the middle of this metamorphosis between childhood and adulthood.

In Peter Pan, Peter has literally chosen not to make the transition from one to the other, famously stated in the opening line of the novel "All children, except one, grow up," (Barrie 1). When Peter takes Wendy, John, and Michael to the fantastical world of Neverland, he encourages the children to do the same and stay children forever. Over the course of time, the children realize that this wish to stay children forever is unrealistic, and the fact that they must grow up and return home is slightly tragic. "'Let us now,' said Wendy, bracing herself for her finest effort, 'take a peep into the future'; and they all gave themselves the twist that makes peeps into the future easier. 'Years have rolled by, and who is this elegant lady of uncertain age alighting at London Station?' 'O Wendy, who is she?' cried Nibs, every bit as excited as if he didn't know. 'Can it be - yes - no - it is - the fair Wendy!' 'Oh!' 'And who are the two noble portly figure accompanying her, now grow to man's estate? Can they be John and Michael? They are!'" (Barrie 112-113). The children use Neverland as a dwelling in which they can audaciously indulge in the splendor of childhood without limits. Through this time, the children, especially Wendy, mature, as if they've gotten everything they needed out of their childhood and are ready to move on to the next stage of their lives. 

Similarly, in Alice in Wonderland, there is an underlying motif of a girl maturing away from home in what seems to be a world ruled by chaos and nonsense. Although Alice dislikes the animals in Wonderland who treat her as a child, she is frequently daunted by the responsibility she must take on through her various journeys and adventures. "'Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!' And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake that it had made. 'He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. 'How surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am!'" (Carroll 23) This theme of maturity and loss of childhood is seen in Alice's constantly changing physical dimensions as well as they fluctuate erratically. "Alas! It was too late to wish that! She went on growing and growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there was not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled around her head. Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself 'Now I can do no more, whatever happens. What will become of me?'" (Carroll 24-25). Personally, I see this as a metaphor of the transition through adolescence. Comparatively Wendy grows uncomfortable with her own growth and tries to hide it from Peter in Peter Pan, which symbolizes the same basic theme. As much as they try to run from adulthood, they can't run from who they are and who they will inevitably become. As Alice is all alone in this world, another parallel is drawn from Neverland to Wonderland. It seems to me that in order for this necessary, yet somewhat tragic development to occur, each character must face challenges in their own way and essentially independently.

The Secret Garden also deals with the same basic theme, however in a slightly different manner. As Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland's characters escape into an entirely different world in which reality is foreign, the secret garden Mary finds is more inviting and more or less created by Mary herself. Therefore, this differs from the worlds in which Peter and Wendy and Alice are propelled into; ones substantially dominated by a subconscious imagination they do not have control over. Yet the concept remains the same: Mary is able to escape from her dreary reality into a world that is all her own and embrace what it truly means to be a child. "And then she took a long breath and looked behind her up the long walk to see if anyone was coming. No one was coming. No one ever did come, it seemed, and she took another long breath, because she could not help it, and she held back the swinging curtain of ivy and pushed back the door which opened slowly - slowly. Then she slipped through it, and shut it behind her, and stood with her back against it, looking about her and breathing quite fast with excitement, and wonder, and delight. She was standing inside the secret garden." (Burnett 61-62). "... she was inside the wonderful garden and she could come through the door under the ivy at any time and she felt as if she had found a world all her own." (Burnett 64). This physically, mentally, and spiritually enhances Mary. She discovers a love of nature and the outdoors and spends all of her time that she can running and "growing fatter". "She had no intention of going to sleep, and, in fact, she was becoming wider awake every day which passed at Misselthwaite. She was beginning to like to be out of doors; she no longer hated the wind, but enjoyed it. She could run faster, and longer, and she could skip up to a hundred." (Burnett 72).  Her ability to care for the garden begins to transcend her relationships with others. "'Dickon,' she said, 'you are as nice as Martha said you were. I like you, and you make the fifth person. I never thought I should like five people.'" (Burnett 87). Her growth comes from simply learning to care about something in a way she never had before.

The worlds may be different for each character, but ultimately they symbolize a place of growth, self discovery, and maturity. Simply because they envelope the characters in a world of pure imagination, they can mature and grow in a way they never could before. Therefore, thematically, the underlying aspect of loss of childhood is directly because of the discovered world where imagination and childhood flourishes.