When we read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, I had recently seen my high school’s production of Peter Pan. In Peter Pan they transport to a similar type of world, Neverland. While Peter Panromanticizes the fantasy of eternal childhood and the refusal to grow up, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland portrays the fantasy as confusing, frightening, and emphasizes the importance of growing up and understanding the real world.
In Peter Pan, Neverland is a place where children never grow up. In the musical, there is a whole song called, “I Won’t Grow Up” where the characters agree to “stay boys forever” and never grow old. Peter is the leader of this philosophy. He is the one who convinces Wendy, John, and Micheal to go to Neverland and tries to encourage them to stay there forever. Peter resists adult responsibilities and social complexities. He forgets things easily, including people and experiences, which reflects his desire for eternal childhood. He is scared and resistant of change.
In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Wonderland is chaotic and nonsensical. Alice is often confused and frustrated by the logic of the world. She is frequently trying to remember poems, lessons, or rules from the adult world and questions her own identity. She experiences frequent changes in her size, which may reflect her confusion with growing up. Reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland through Peter Pan highlights how Alice doesn’t celebrate her youth and childhood the same way. Instead, Alice values curiously and always seeks to understand the world around her, while Peter is more willing to just appreciate the moment and accept things that may not make sense.
Comparing these two stories shows how these fantasy worlds function differently. For Peter, he is permanently trying to escape his adult responsibilities and desires an eternal childhood. Alice understands the confusion around growing up but still desires to grow up and understand herself and the world. Peter resists change, while Alice embraces it.