Peter Pan and James Matthew Barrie

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Peter Pan is a timeless story written by J.M Barrie. In the time leading up to him writing this story, he was a successful author and playwright. Even with his great success, Barrie still had personal struggles from his marriage and childhood. Barrie used these struggles to write stories that people still enjoy today. Although Peter Pan is a happy children's story, J.M Barrie's inspiration for writing Peter Pan was not so positive.

James Matthew Barrie, or J.M Barrie, was born on May 9, 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. His father was a poor weaver, named David Barrie and his mother Margaret Ogilvy Barrie did not work. His childhood was very difficult with his brother's death and not being close with his father. Every school he went to was run by his brother A.O Barrie, who was famous in the British educational world. Barrie graduated from Edinburgh University and got his Master of Arts in 1882. (“Sir James Matthew Barrie” 73)

After he graduated he started working on the writing staff of the Nottingham Journal in 1883. After a year at the Nottingham Journal he began working at London St. James Gazette. He married an actress named Mary Ansell in 1894. They were married for 15 years after getting divorced in 1909. There were many reasons for their divorce, his attitude of a child and his neglect of the marriage and Mary. His neglect led to her having affairs which also played a part in the divorce. (“Sir James Matthew Barrie”73-74)

Shortly after his divorce he met Arthur and Sylvia Llewellyn Davies. He developed a close relationship with the family, and after the parents died he became the children's legal guardian (Hollindale). The five Davies boys loved Barrie very much and they inspired him to write Peter Pan (Allen). The yo...

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...inspired this story. A result of the struggle in his life is Peter Pan and his other works. Even with Barrie’s difficult experiences that inspired Peter Pan, a great story that influenced a lot of things was created. Peter Pan is a story that will be read for many more years to come.

Works Cited

“Sir James Matthew Barrie”. Masterplots: Cyclopedia of World Authors. Ed. Frank N.

Magill. Vol. 1. New York: Salem Press, Inc., 1958. Print.

Hollindale, Peter. “A Hundred Years of Peter Pan.” Children’s Literature in Education.

36.3 (2005): 197-215. Academic Search Elite. Web. 22 Jan. 2014

Allen, Norman. “Peter Pan turns 100.” Smithsonian. 35.9 (2004): 108. MasterFILE

Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2014

Alapati, Amarendra Dr. “Peter Pan Syndrome.” www.syndromespedia.com 22 Jan. 2014.

Web. 22 Jan. 2014 http://syndromespedia.com/peter-pan-syndrome.html

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