The Origin of the Story of Peter Pan
Author, journalist, and playwright Sir James Matthew Barrie wrote the story of Peter Pan. If you read and understand his 1902 book, The Little White Bird, you will grasp the origin of Peter Pan. Barrie was very popular during the late 1800’s through early 1900’s. I have watched a couple of videos online that are “book-reviews” of The Little White Bird. The reader-reviews did not grasp the real underlying story. In late 1897 Barrie met the Sylvia Llewelyn Davies boys. At a dinner party on the Eve of 1898 Barrie met Sylvia and Arthur Llewelyn Davies. When he wrote the book, The Little White Bird, the story was a thinly disguised telling of Barrie and that family. To understand the title with the word “Bird” (in singular) you must understand the back-story. Sir James Matthew Barrie wrote, in the novel, about a son he had that passed away named “Timothy”. In reality there was never Timothy. Timothy was the Sylvia Llewelyn Davies boys all rolled into one singular name. In the story Barrie tells David (David was the eldest boy's disguised name) that the little white birds in Kensington Gardens where the birds that should have become children but were never born. So there is your spoiler and the answer to the puzzle of The Little White Bird. Timothy was the little white bird. That was the Sylvia Llewelyn Davies boys that he loved as if they were his own real children. During the couple of years that Barrie wrote the book he was playing and writing in his journal of his experiences with 3 of the boys. At this time not all 5 boys were born yet. There was George, Jack, and baby Peter in the pram with the nurse, Mary, in charge. Barrie would talk about the stories with George and they would do a little collaborating. There are 13 chapters about Peter Pan in this book. Question: Who is represented / disguised as Peter Pan. Barrie later, in a dedication to the 5, stated that he combined the boys and came up with Peter Pan but I personally think there was some Peter Pan in Barrie himself. Barrie would spellbound and transport the boys into various adventures...and...Barrie never wanted to grow up. You can understand everything by reading and watching videos via the links below. You can now purchase the book and understand as you read The Little White Bird.
