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| author | Francine E. Odri |
| title | "You Will Always Be Known as a 'Betwixt and Between'": J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and its Afterlives |
| abstract |
J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is an incredibly fungible text that has endured numerous adaptations since its creation. In this thesis I will argue that Peter Pan
has remained a cultural focus for over one hundred years because both the story and Peter himself exist in an unclassifiable, liminal state that has led to
re-appropriations for new cultural purposes. I will illuminate binary relationships found in Peter Pan by utilizing a blend of two approaches: biographical, to
discover the relationship between J.M. Barrie's life and the story he created, and historicist, to view the works in their own historical context to see which elements of
the text supported cultural views of the time, which challenged them, and how Peter Pan was appropriated during the years after it was written. I will conclude with
the discovery that new versions of Peter Pan emerged during periods of immense cultural discomfort, and that the story itself functions both as a cultural
instrument and a mirror. The aspect that draws us most to Peter Pan is not simply the allure of childhood, but the fascination with and fear of his constantly
altering state.
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| school | The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University |
| degree | B.A. (May 2014) |
| advisor | Wendy Kolmar |
| committee | Frank Occhiogrosso
Lisa Brenner
James Carter |
| full text | FEOdri.pdf |
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