The Dark Side of Peter Pan: J. M. Barrie, the Man Who Couldn’t Grow Up

Explores the complex life of James Barrie, revealing the darker origins of Peter Pan while examining the misunderstandings surrounding his character and sexuality.

James Barrie has been marked in recent years as manipulative, perverted and without the ability to love. Having authored the story of Peter Pan, which has been enjoyed by children and adults for over 100 years, many literary critics have been intrigued about where this story epitomising childhood joy and innocence came from. Most will associate Peter Pan with Disney’s colourful version, but the original story that Barrie penned is actually much darker, with a gloomier background in its making.

With humble beginnings from a small town in Scotland, Barrie’s childhood was filled with grief and loss, but also stories and play. He took his passion of storytelling to study English Literature at university before finding himself in the capital for all writers: central London. It was here that he came to meet the Llewelyn Davies family. His involvement with this upper-class family with relatives including Daphne du Maurier are what many say to be the sole inspiration for Peter Pan, and that his integration into the family was primarily with sinister intentions.

Much of his writing reflected his life, including his marriage and the unhappiness that spanned from it, all of which can be found in traces throughout Peter Pan. The Peter that Barrie wrote was not just a boy that didn’t want to grow up, but a being that was neither human nor not human, with complexities that can only be understood if Barrie’s life is also looked into.

This book aims to prove that much of the speculation and accusations surrounding Barrie and his nature have come from a time of misunderstanding, where many psychological terms were not coined and sexuality was a taboo subject. With the latest claims that Barrie was manipulative and perverted, these critics overlooked the likelihood that Barrie was asexual, as well as suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome. With a life littered with loss, it’s clear that Barrie did not go through his life unscathed, but is it fair to mark him as the bad man he’s recently been painted to be, especially after providing one of the most popular stories of all time?