In the children's classic Peter Pan, by JM Barrie, we are introduced to the concept of never growing up, embodied in the title for kids character. This refusal to grow up was the result of denying his possible adult responsibilities. In the three novels Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz, there is a recurring theme in which the children in the story leave their normal lives that require responsibility to escape into a new world that has become lawless and devoid of structural forms. . By seeing the world without structure, children are forced to step forward and mature into people who contribute to and appreciate the way their preconceived worlds work. Among the three stories there is a very evident lack of parental figures. Peter Pan features the Darlings, Alice his sister, and the wizard's aunt and uncle Dorothy. Although these parents are good caregivers, they impose some form of responsibility on their children, which leads them to ultimately escape into the world of dreams. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Peter, we experience a fiasco in the Darling household, right before Wendy, John, and Michael head to Neverland. We are presented with a scene where Michael, the youngest, refuses to take his medicine. His father begins to lecture him, "when Michael dodged the spoon into Nana's mouth, he reproachfully told her, "Be a man, Michael. With this quote we can accept that being an adult means taking your medicine without complaining. Michael refuses, shouting, “I won't; I won't!”, showing his refusal to “be a man” and grow up. Michael would rather choose not to do something unpleasant, rather than see the bigger picture. He refuses to see that without taking his medicine he would get sick and face terrible circumstances as a result. With Alice, we see a similar scenario. We begin on the shore, sitting with Alice and her sister, where Alice “began to get very tired of sitting next to her sister on the shore, with nothing to do: once or twice she had peeked into the book her sister was reading. , but contained no images or conversations. Even if Alice isn't actively forced to do something she doesn't want to do, she is forced to take on the responsibility of entertaining herself. As he attempts to read his sister's book, he brings up an interesting point. Looking over her sister's shoulder, she sees that the book is missing “images [and] conversations,” and what would be the point of reading such a book? Carroll brings out an interesting quality in Alice, showing that she is only interested in entertainment that would provide instant gratification (e.g. pictures), or fantastic and “superficial” entertainment (e.g. conversations). Her sister is reading a nonfiction book, something that would provide Alice with information, but it's not something that would provide her with instant gratification, so she declines. In Wizard, we see the future in store for Dorothy and the transformation she will undergo, through Aunt Em. When she first arrived at the farm, “Aunt Em came there to live [when] she was a pretty young wife…they had her took the shine out of the eyes and left them a sober grey; they had taken the red out of his cheeks and lips, and they were gray too. This description alone would terrify a child growing up in that environment, but what becomes more disturbing is that she "never smiled now" and that "when Dorothy... first came to her, Aunt Em was like that surprised by the child's laughter as he screamed and pressed his hand to hisheart every time Dorothy's cheerful voice reached his ears; and she still looked at the little girl with the wonder that she could find something to laugh about. This is ultimately what differentiates her from Dorothy, adult versus child, life versus death, laughter versus gloom. When Aunt Em's transition from a young woman to her current state began, she lost the joy and carefree attitude of a child. So even though Dorothy isn't forced to take on responsibilities, she sees the toll this lifestyle will take on her and what she will ultimately lose. Interestingly, each character has an animal companion that is with them at some point in the story. Often when raising children, pets are used to instill a sense of ownership and responsibility, however in every relationship we see that there is an inversion of that idea, allowing children to escape that duty as well. With the Darling children, we see him with Nana, whose name immediately reveals his relationship with the children. You are expected to take care of them, wash them, clean them, give them medicine, everything like a dog. From his name alone we can see the dependence and authority he has over children and ultimately adults. By giving her the name "Nana", he implies that she is one of Darling's parents. This takes away the possibility of childhood authority between Wendy, Michael, and John and keeps them stagnant in their adolescence. In Alice, we are never physically introduced to Alice's cat, Dinah, however she becomes a topic of discussion throughout the novel. As Alice wanders through Wonderland, she begins to narrate, saying, ""I'm going to miss Dinah very much tonight, I think! " (Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they will remember her saucer of milk at tea time." While this may seem responsible on a superficial level, there are several indications that might contradict this inference. Alice fears that "they" , assuming her family, remember to feed her cat. Her cat that she thoughtlessly abandoned to explore Wonderland. This fixation with the White Rabbit and Wonderland shows her concern for herself and the disdain for whatever might be responsible at home. Dinah also contributes to Alice's self-involvement, which we can see when she says "I'm going to miss Dinah very much tonight." in Wonderland, he only feeds his ego by suggesting that his cat will miss him. The wizard shows a very strong dependence between Toto and Dorothy, as the dog provides a distraction from the dusty land in which she is trapped. "It was Toto who made Dorothy laugh and saved her from turning gray like the others around." As discussed above, part of Dorothy's reluctance to grow up may have originated in the future she saw for herself through Aunt Em, who had already become gray and dowdy. So instead of helping these children transition from their life stage into a more developed and mature individual, these pets help maintain these childlike qualities (some good, some bad). By providing childcare, friendship, distraction and attention to their charges, these pets help maintain this Peter Pan quality in each child and deflect the effects of their environment. From here we move on to escape from boring regular society into “the land” (Neverland, Wonderland, Land of Oz), where children are able to break free from their previous lifestyle. This escape occurs immediately after each confrontation with responsibility described above, which explains why in each individual world the lack of responsibility and order is rampant, since each world is a mirror of the child's imagination and creativity. Every land yes.