Never-Ending Pixie Dust. A Critical Analysis of Motherhood and Its Complexities in Peter Pan

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature grade: A course: Housewives in American Literature language: English abstract: The role of the mother-woman in nineteenth century literature is constantly complexified. But who is the audience? For whom are we preserving the mother-myth and what are the parameters of doing so? This inquiry gave way to an investigation on an audience that perhaps was not intended to be targeted in such a way: children. Undeniably though it was.This paper explores the way in which Sir James Matthew Barrie's novel Peter Pan aims at children to both perpetuate and dismiss the myth of the mother woman as a singular role while expanding the girl-child's power beyond earthly realms.The paper analyses the gender roles as they are presented in Peter Pan the role of the mother-woman and the influence the characters of Peter and Wendy continue to have on children.