Charlotte Collier
BA (Hons) Education Studies and English
Abstract
This essay analyses J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy (1911) as a didactic tool that reinforces restrictive Victorian gender ideals amidst the cultural tensions posed by the emerging ‘New Woman’ movement. It argues that the novel shapes young male readers’ perceptions of ideal womanhood. The narrative’s focus on masculinity and boyhood ensures that male characters define, control, and idealise female roles. Consequently, the novel privileges the perspective of male authority, instructing young boys that power and agency lie in the ability to dictate female identity and define gendered norms, reinforcing the expectation that men, rather than women, determine gendered norms. Victorian ideals are further reinforced by presenting traditional female roles of domesticity and maternal self-sacrifice as essential for societal stability and male development. In contrast, non-conforming figures warn young males against female autonomy. Ultimately, the novel privileges male authority, reinforcing the patriarchal expectation that men determine gendered norms.
Introduction: Gender, childhood and the Victorian ideal
Sir James Matthew Barrie (1911) published Peter and Wendy at a time of growing cultural tension, when the Victorian ideal of femininity, which centred around domesticity, purity and maternal self-sacrifice, was increasingly under scrutiny. The ‘New Woman’ movement promoted alternative models of womanhood based on independence and self-assertion. In response, opponents of this shift utilised literature as reinforcement of traditional gender roles, targeting young audiences due to their supposed susceptibility to influence. As Zipes (2002) explains, children’s literature plays a formative role in shaping young readers’ gendered understandings by ‘normalising specific behaviours, values and attitudes’ (p. 10). Barrie’s (1911) text presents a fantasy world in which female characters’ value is dependent upon their conformity to the Victorian feminine ideal. This essay argues that the novel reinforces Victorian gender ideals by contrasting idealised domesticity, through Mrs. Darling and Wendy, with the transgressive figures of Tinker Bell and Tiger Lily. Ultimately, Peter and Wendy frame traditional female roles as virtuous and socially stabilising, while portraying independent female agency as disruptive and dangerous. Although the novel offers a prescriptive domestic ideal for its young female readers, this essay focuses on how the novel more profoundly shapes young male readers’ perceptions of ideal womanhood. The emphasis on male readers arises from the novel’s focus on masculinity and boyhood – it is the male characters who define, control, and idealise female roles. Consequently, the narrative privileges the perspective of male authority, teaching young boys that power and agency lie in the ability to dictate female identity. In doing so, Barrie reinforces the social expectation that men, rather than women, determine gendered norms. Thus, we can speculate justifiably that Peter and Wendy influenced male readers more deeply than female ones.
Barrie’s Female Characters: Conformity, resistance and Victorian ideals of femininity
Mrs. Darling: Motherhood as the measure of a woman
The portrayal of Mrs. Darling likely influenced many young male readers by modelling the ideal Victorian woman as rooted in domesticity and maternal devotion. Peter and Wendy reflects the theorised influence of the separate spheres model on gender construction. In accordance with this model, women were confined to the private realm of the home, while men experienced the ‘distinctively masculine privilege of enjoying access to both the public and the private sphere’ (Lemmer, 2008, p. 37). By contrasting Mrs. Darling’s conformity to this ideal through her exclusive dedication to the private sphere with Mr. Darling’s public freedom as a bank worker, she is aligned with expectations of selfless motherhood. Thus, young male readers are encouraged to value women who adhere to these ideals – women who are ‘tender, full of love, and ever devoted to their offspring’ (Griffin, 2020, p. 167). The text’s portrayal of Mrs. Darling reinforces and reflects the idealised maternal role central to Victorian gender ideology by presenting her as a model of domestic femininity for male readers. Early within the novel, Barrie (1911) highlights that for Mrs. Darling, it ‘was the nightly custom to every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight’ (p. 5). Her nightly ritual is outlined at the beginning of the novel, establishing the domestic setting and maternity as the moral centre of the household. The determiner ‘every’ positions Mrs. Darling as a model of Victorian motherhood, universalising this expectation as a standard for all women to conform to. Similarly, Nusbaum (2014) states that Mrs. Darling ‘conjures up all the domestic power of the Angel of the House’ (p. 23), aligning her with Patmore’s (1863) vision of the ideal ‘Angel of the House’, who ‘unconditionally loved, supported and submitted to their husbands’ (p. 1). The description of Mrs. Darling instils in young male readers the expectation that women must embody traditional roles rooted in family devotion. Furthermore, the phrase ‘rummage in their minds and put things straight’ reinforces the societal expectation that women nurture children’s well-being and their moral values to align their ideals with patriarchal norms. As primary educators of gendered ideals, women who uphold these roles are esteemed for sustaining tradition. Thus, Peter and Wendy teaches young male readers that female worth is tied to fulfilling and instilling expected gender norms.
Mrs. Darling’s domesticity and maternal devotion defines a woman’s identity and societal value, suggesting that without these roles, she loses a fundamental part of herself. When Mrs. Darling loses contact with her children, she simultaneously loses a part of her identity, evident when Barrie (1911) writes, ‘now that we look closely and remember the gaiety of the old days, all gone now just because she has lost her babes’ (p. 51). The phrase ‘look closely’ depicts the transformation as subtle, emphasising the naturalised expectation of female self-sacrifice. Additionally, ‘babes’ rather than ‘children’ intensifies the sacredness of maternity for identity, connoting dependency and vulnerability. Gaarden (2017) agrees, by noting that ‘as Mrs. Darling’s children go, they take her life with them’ (p. 83), reinforcing the idea that a woman’s purpose and value are inseparable from her role as a mother. Maternal sense of purpose aligns with the adoration Mrs. Darling feels for this role, as she ‘loved to have everything tidy, inside and out’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 3). The verb ‘loved’ suggests genuine fulfilment in serving her domestic role. By portraying Mrs. Darling as emotionally fulfilled only when performing her maternal duties, the novel reinforces the idea that a woman’s worth is measured by her service to men and children, an ideal they are expected to admire and joyfully embrace.
The relation of Mrs. Darling to the family dog, Nana, reflects the ideological essentialisation of femininity, wherein women are valued solely for their domestic and maternal utility. Nana is anthropomorphised to the extent that she performs the same nurturing functions as Mrs. Darling by bathing, disciplining, and emotionally caring for the children. Sharing such responsibilities suggests that the feminine ideal is so rigid and instinctual that even non-human characters can fulfil it. Both figures are depicted as belonging within the nursery, their value tied to their ability to maintain order and provide care. As Pueyo (2014) theorises, the nursery setting reveals ‘how strong the link between women/mothers and the household is’ (p. 2). Moreover, both characters are only socially legible once they assume their respective caregiving roles, without them they are rendered purposeless. When the children have ventured to Neverland, both Mrs. Darling and Nana are excluded entirely from Victorian society and painted as failures as women for losing their children. They are both left with ‘filmy eyes’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 25) and reduced to silent grief as women unable to attend to the home. The parallel treatment of woman and a dog suggests that femininity is fixed, instinctive, and domestic. Women who fall outside of this ideal – who are not claimed by a household, or who challenge patriarchal authority are treated as strays, stripped of value and excluded. Nana is said to ‘belong to no one’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 3) before the Darlings engage her, closely resonating with Victorian anxieties surrounding unmarried, childless, or independent women. Thus, Mrs. Darling is a reinforcement of restrictive binaries governing femininity. To be a woman is to nurture, to serve, and to be tethered to the domestic sphere, or else to be cast out or forgotten. The traditional ideal of femininity is celebrated but also expected to be passed down through generations. Accordingly, Mrs. Darling’s success as a mother is revealed through her daughter Wendy, who internalises and performs her mother’s domestic maternal duties in Neverland.
Wendy and the heroism of generationally-taught femininity
Through this generational transmission, Peter and Wendy present femininity as both innate and learnt, framing maternal devotion as a natural part of female identity that must be modelled and reproduced to uphold social order. As Shafeek (2022) argues, ‘being nurturing is considered a natural part of [Wendy’s] role and identity as a female because of her sex’ (p.11), revealing how social expectations become internalised as essential traits. Even in childhood, Wendy’s play imitates the maternal: while the boys imagine themselves as warriors and pirates, Wendy is described as a ‘tidy child’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 8), engaging in caregiving tasks, reading, cleaning, and mirroring her mother’s domestic labour. Prusko (2012) also notes how ‘she plays at maternity, performing the role as she thinks it ought to be performed’ (p. 116), highlighting how Wendy rehearses the socially prescribed ideal of womanhood. Wendy also frequently reads the Lost Boys stories. Just as her mother ‘tidied’ her mind, her reading such books ‘reproduces patriarchal narratives for male listeners’ (Prusko, 2012, p. 112). In doing so, Wendy perpetuates the gendered division between male action and female narration, teaching the boys narratives that affirm their centrality and authority, while simultaneously situating herself as their nurturing carer and guide.
By portraying Wendy’s continued performance of maternity as both natural and noble, the novel frames feminine self-sacrifice as heroic, presenting adherence to the ideal as vital and admired by young males. In Neverland, a world devoid of traditional gender structures, Wendy’s self-sacrificial adoption of the mother role for the Lost Boys presents her as a heroine. Covington (2016) argues that ‘the female hero is characterised by sacrifice’ (p. 70). Wendy demonstrates this heroism through emotional labour and caregiving. The Lost Boys, abandoned by their maternal figures, are in need of rescue: they are ‘the children who fall out of their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way…they are sent far away to Neverland’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 28). Wendy fills their gaps of maternal and emotional care immediately upon her arrival when she is given ‘a single role,’ as ‘the only one they can imagine for women, namely as mother’ (Shafeek, 2002, p. 7). She embraces this expected role fully, stating, ‘I feel that is exactly what I am’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 67), suggesting she has internalised the ideal to the point of self-identification, even at the cost of her own agency. While Hedrick (2017) argues that Wendy exhibits independence because ‘she flies to Neverland because it interests her and she leaves as soon as it stops’ (p. 17), her autonomy is determined by her duty. Following her declaration ‘I must have somebody in a cradle’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 128), Wendy eventually ‘grew up of her own free will’ (p. 212), becoming a mother to her daughter. The modal verb ‘must’ implies obligation, portraying her self-sacrifice as something to be valued by young male readers. Nusbaum (2014) offers a similar view, stating, ‘by exiting and re-entering society, Wendy is able to realise the futility of fighting her gendered role as mother’ (p. 223). Therefore, conformity to the ideal is presented as a form of heroism, implicitly teaching young male readers to admire women who uphold domestic and maternal roles.
The text portrays motherhood as a cyclical duty, passed from mother to daughter to encourage young male readers to expect and depend upon women’s continual self-sacrifice as a natural and enduring part of societal order. Shafeek (2022) also highlights how ‘the book suggests that generation after generation of women are socialised into the same gendered identity’ (p. 7). Generational education of this female role is visible within the novel, as Wendy follows this role, providing Peter future domestic support through her daughter Jane, and granddaughter Margaret. Readers are informed that ‘Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to Neverland, where she tells him stories about himself, to which he listens eagerly’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 267). Jane also states that ‘it is just for spring-cleaning time…he always wants me to do his spring cleaning’ (p. 168). The reference to cleaning ties back to Mrs. Darling’s motif of tidying. Despite three generations passing, her expectations of what it means to be a woman remains internalised in her great-great granddaughter. The displayed importance of generational duty reinforces the notion that the idealised Victorian woman is esteemed not for who she is but for her sacrifice – providing nurture, domestic labour, and structure of gendered ideals – which ultimately accommodate men’s needs.
The functional role of the defiant figure of Tinker Bell
Young male readers are taught to categorise women into fixed roles based on their usefulness to men, as the text contrasts the idealised maternal figure of Wendy with the sexualised and rebellious Tinker Bell. Although Tink represents a movement away from the ideal, as she lacks maternal qualities, she still serves a purpose for men through her domesticity and sexualisation. Arguably, her traits connect her to the emerging ‘New Woman’ concept, yet she is still expected to adhere to ideals, through allusions to the Madonna-whore dichotomy. As Tosh (1997) notes, the ‘New Woman’ movement saw ‘women step out of their allotted roles and challenge the conventional separation of spheres’ (p. 52). Unlike Wendy, the compliant ‘angel of the house,’ Tink is the rebellious ‘whore’ counterpart. Wendy embodies the Victorian Madonna ideal through being pure, nurturing, and morally upright. Her value lies in her capacity for self-sacrifice and maternal care. She is the moral centre of Neverland, offering emotional guidance and domestic stability to the Lost Boys and Peter, thus reinforcing the patriarchal fantasy of the ideal woman as caregiver and moral compass. As White (2021) argues, Wendy and Tink serve as ‘split objects for Peter: Wendy the good maternal object and Tinker Bell, the bad sexual object’ (p. 69). The Wendy-Tink binary reflects the Madonna–whore dichotomy, in which female identity is fractured into mutually exclusive roles: the virtuous mother versus the erotic other. Wendy’s acceptance within Neverland is contingent upon her adherence to this idealised femininity, while Tink’s marginalisation stems from her refusal – or inability – to conform to it. Barrie (1911) introduces Tink with immediate emphasis on her body, describing her as ‘exquisitely gowned in a skeleton lead, cut low and square, through which her figure could be seen to the best advantage,’ (p. 12) and suggesting she is both alluring and intentionally provocative. Jones (2015) suggests that Tink is presented as ‘vain as well as aware of her sexuality, which would have been quite scandalous to an audience within the Victorian era’s modesty’ (p. 52). Thus, Tink’s resistance to traditionally pure femininity is presented as subversive and potentially dangerous. Her sexualised nature places her beyond the boundaries of acceptable femininity, reinforced by her rejection of the highly valued role of motherhood. Her rejection of motherhood presents her as an unsuitable role model for the Lost Boys. Rather than staging Tink as a liberated figure, the narrative associates her rejection of maternal duties with immaturity and hostility. For example, in response to Wendy’s proposition, ‘perhaps Tink wants to be my mother,’ Tink responds passionately, ‘you silly ass’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 159). The insult ‘silly ass’ presents Tink’s defiance of traditional femininity as immature and volatile, warning young male readers to view non-nurturing women as socially deviant and emotionally unstable. Such rejection of deviant forms of femininity aligns with the early 20th-century fears surrounding the New Woman, who rejected traditional domestic roles in attempts to gain independence. The presence of the deviant and New Woman figure of Tink leaves the Lost Boys without a stable female figure. As a consequence, they remain in a state of childhood, unable to mature due to the absence of nursing guidance.
In addition to a rejection of motherhood, Tink is presented as emotionally and physically aggressive, opposing the passivity and gentleness expected of women. Barrie introduces her as ‘screaming with fury’, calling Wendy a ‘great ugly girl’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 27). These phrases establish Tink as irrational, her spiteful and exaggerated words a result of her dysregulated ‘fury’ and jealousy felt towards Wendy for her ability to gain Peter’s attention. Her aggression escalates into physical violence against Wendy, and in Tink’s introductory scene she is depicted as ‘darting at her victim [Wendy] from every direction, pinching savagely each time she touched’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 91). While initially presenting an act of female resistance to traditional expectations, her impulsive aggression ultimately presents her negatively as a malicious character. Alexander (2014) agrees, stating, ‘she is downright dangerous. For example, a vindictive Tink convinces one of Peter Pan’s comrades…to shoot Wendy in the heart and then make it seem as if Peter ordered her death’ (p. 91). Here, she is a threat to not only harmony and order, but also life, presenting unregulated women as destructive. For the Lost Boys, Tink’s behaviour distorts not only harmony and order, but life, through their understanding of female autonomy, equating independence with irrationality and violence. Jones (2015) supports this argument, stating that Tink’s portrayal transforms her into ‘a non-traditional female portrayed as a negative stereotype’ (p. 46), undermining the figure of the New Woman. Young male readers are, in turn, taught to view women who reject traditional Victorian roles as dangerous and emotionally unstable, via which the text reinforces the necessity of female submission to male authority. In short, despite Tink’s rejection of the idealised role, her depiction ultimately serves to reinforce patriarchal ideals. Her devotion and sexual availability provide Peter with consistent validation. Thus, female deviations from traditional roles do not lead to agency but, rather, shift women into another form of dependence on male attention and approval. Peter and Wendy conveys that without male permission, true female agency cannot exist, and women are only valuable in service to male desire. For example, although she resists the nurturing, passive ideal in appearance, her continued presence in Neverland is permitted only because she fulfils a functional and domestic role for the Lost Boys. As a ‘Tinker’, hence Tinker Bell’s name, she ‘mends pots and kettles’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 28) for them, suggesting productivity but secured within the home and, thus, the domestic sphere. Consequently, it is asserted to young readers that only when a woman provides a service for men is her presence tolerated. Overall, Tink is ultimately presented within a restrictive ideal, as a domestic figure or sexualised object yet she is accepted in Neverland due to her service to men.
Mermaids and the acceptance of sexual non-conformity
While Tink is permitted a place in Neverland due to her domestic utility and service to Peter, and by extension the patriarchal order, the mermaids represent a more transgressive and destabilising form of femininity. They are hypersexualised and depicted as a mythicized form of femininity that exists outside conventional Victorian roles. Their fantastical form connotes Victorian anxieties surrounding feminine autonomy and monstrosity, suggesting that when women deviate from domestic ideals, they become both alluring and dangerous. Cergueira (2018) observes that, ‘Mermaids and fallen women…were the objects of judgmental gaze’ (p. 32), simultaneously desired and condemned. Their overt sexuality, she writes, is ‘pervasive, symbolising the fear of feminine sexuality and dramatizing the otherness of women’ (p. 32). As Robson (2025) similarly explains, ‘mermaids and sirens were often used by 19th-century moralists to demonstrate the dangers of lustful living – those who allow themselves to be seduced by the charms of these creatures invariably meet a bad end.’ In line with these Victorian tropes, Barrie’s mermaids inevitably reinforce ideologies of ‘other’ women whose sexuality is viewed to disrupt moral order. However, this disruption is displayed to be tolerated in society, and so the mermaids remain in Neverland for their service to male needs of pleasure. Like the Victorian prostitute, they are both desired and demonised, permitted to exist on the basis that they gratify male fantasy in the form of sexuality, despite threatening societal virtue.
The novel’s characterisation aligns with Victorian metaphorical discourse surrounding feminine sexuality through its utilisation of the male gaze to frame the mermaids as erotically alluring yet morally hazardous. Their first appearance, ‘basking, combing out their hair in a lazy way’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 102) foregrounds their sensuality. The verb ‘bask’ connotes both sensual pleasure and passivity, positioning the mermaids as objects of visual consumption rather than active agents within Neverland’s narrative. Ofek (2016) highlights that ‘loose hair automatically signified loose sexuality’ (n.p.), while England (2018) adds that ‘brushing one’s hair in public was considered by Victorians to be sexually enticing’ (p. 34). These ideals display the mermaids as provocatively feminine, however their sexuality functions with threat to masculine virtue. The quote, for ‘just one heavenly moment; if there could be two moments you might see the surf and hear the mermaids singing’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 101) reinforces to young male readers the dangers of overt feminine sexuality. The ‘heavenly moment’ suggests a temporary pleasure, while the ‘mermaids singing’ resembles a sirens’ call luring in men. The ‘surf’ becomes a threshold between safety and sin, marking the liminal space beyond which male virtue is compromised. To hear the mermaids is to begin one’s descent into ruin, paralleling Victorian fears of the respectable man’s downfall through prostitution or sexual vice. In contrast to Wendy, who offers moral education and maternal care, the mermaids represent a form of femininity removed from domesticity. Rather than providing nurture, they provide seduction. Their continued presence in Neverland teaches young male readers that women who diverge from the domestic ideal are not excluded if their presence provides a male service. However, their inclusion is contained, as represented through the Lagoon. The Lagoon is a liminal space, neither public nor private but a symbolic boundary marking them as desirable yet dangerous. Thus, Barrie’s characterisation provides a clear message to his young male readers, that femininity outside the domestic norm may be indulged, but only when it is contained and instrumentalised to serve male desire. The mermaids ultimately reveal that non-conforming femininity is tolerated as long as they remain controlled and useful to the patriarchal order.
Tiger Lily and the racialised exclusion of non-conventional femininity
Tiger Lily’s portrayal teaches young male readers that the conditional tolerance granted to the mermaids and Tink does not extend to all forms of non-conventional femininity. When compounded with deviancy or racial and colonial differences, alternative forms of femininity are not contained but excluded entirely from society. Unlike Wendy, Tink, or the mermaids – who align with Victorian ideals of femininity or offer male service, and are thus accepted by Peter and the Lost Boys – Tiger Lily exists outside these expectations. Crucially, Tiger Lily does not cater to male needs, as she offers neither domesticity nor sexual submission. Due to her lack of male service, she is denied the acceptance granted even to the non-human female figures, such as the mermaids. Furthermore, her exoticisation and othering also reflect the era’s racialised views and rejection of women who do not conform to the submissive and domestic ideals.
On the surface, Tiger Lily challenges the ‘Angel of the House’ model by conforming to some aspects of the ‘New Woman.’ Tiger Lily displays physical activity and autonomy as a warrior and a leader, contrasting with Wendy’s domesticity, passivity and maternity. The novel presents her as a ‘princess in her own right,’ praising her beauty as a ‘belle of the Piccaninnies’ (p. 51). However, it simultaneously undermines this admiration by portraying her as ‘coquettish, cold and amorous by turns,’ asserting that ‘there is not a brave man who would not have the wayward thing to wife’ (p. 51). The phrase ‘wayward thing’ reduces her to an object of desire that is simultaneously unattainable and undesirable for marriage. The derogatory term ‘Piccaninnies’ also reflects the racialised and exoticised framing of non-idealised women. By using such a slur, rooted in colonial caricature, the novel presents Tiger Lily as an object of spectacle, rather than an individual with agency. According to Donaldson (1992), literature of the time and Victorian circus traditions regularly ‘portrayed piccaninnies as partially naked [and] dirty’ (p. 76). Indeed, this ‘subhuman savagery betrays a deep racial ambivalence about the participation of African Americans in Anglo-European society’ (p. 76). Moreover, her very name, Tiger Lily, is derived from an exotic flower, visually alluring yet potentially poisonous. Her association with dangerous plants suggests that Tiger Lily is a wild and hazardous character, far removed from the civilised Victorian ideal. Due to this ‘rationale for maintaining white racial hegemony’ (Donaldson, 1992, p. 76), Tiger Lily is diminished and othered. Thus, Tiger Lily’s indigenous identity emphasises her already present ostracism as an un-idealised woman.
Peter and Wendy’s animalistic portrayal of Tiger Lily and her tribe, depicting them as ‘heavy breathing’, ‘savage things’, with ‘their tongues…hanging out’ (p. 51-52), and reducing them to primitive beings, further strips them of their humanity. The repeated emphasis on their ‘heavy breathing’ and ‘panting’ reinforces Victorian colonialist stereotypes of Indigenous people as uncivilised. Her portrayal here distinctly separates Tiger Lily from the traditional white Victorian feminine ideal by emphasising her otherness and aligning her with the untamed wilderness of Neverland rather than the domestic sphere. Her resistance to domestic roles can be understood through Sara Ahmed’s (2014) theory of ‘willfulness’. As Simpson (2016) highlights in her review of Ahmed’s book, willfulness is essentially ‘a diagnosis of the failure to comply with those in authority’ (p. 749). Tiger Lily is thus a willful figure that disrupts established norms by resisting assimilation into socially expected roles of motherhood. Therefore, Tiger Lily’s marginalisation functions on the intersecting objects of her cultural otherness and her resistance to normative gender roles. As Fitzpatrick (2014) argues, she is ‘allowed to…divert for the “Angel” ideal…she is an “other”’ (p. 15). Additionally, Cary (2021) states that, in effect, ‘Tiger Lily is unable to take on the motherly role because, as a presumably dark-skinned indigenous person, she is viewed by Peter as inferior and less human…she is more closely related to the mythical creatures of the island than the humans’ (p. 325). By aligning her with Neverland’s fantastical creatures, Peter and Wendy not only deepens the otherness of the ‘New Woman’ but also reflects the Victorian perception of non-white cultures as outsiders. Such visions stereotype alternative cultures as dangerous, their differences to white cultures creating fear of the unknown. Unlike Wendy, who is allowed to travel back to London and grow into her role of mother, Tiger Lily remains static and exoticised, suggesting that indigenous women do not belong in the domestic and social order of Victorian Britain. Her rebellious portrayal effectively reinforces restrictive gender norms, positioning her as an unfamiliar ‘other’ unfit for domesticity and agency, and strengthening both patriarchal and colonialist ideologies.
Peter and Wendy’s gendered pedagogy: Implicating the gendered ideals of young male readers
Domestic angels and the valuation of traditional femininity
By centering its narrative on male characters and framing women through their relationships to men, Peter and Wendy direct its moral influence towards a male audience. The novel offers female virtue not as a model for girls to emulate, but as a lesson for boys to learn before they grow into men holding power in a patriarchal society. McCabe et al. (2011) foreground this argument, stating that ‘children’s literature is a key source in reproducing and legitimising gender systems and gender equality’ (p. 218). In this context, the text teaches young male readers to internalise a romanticised expectation of women as inherently self-sacrificing to their primary role of domesticity. The text presents these traits of the ‘Angel of the House’ through Mrs. Darling. Gilbert and Gubar’s (2020) analysis of Mrs. Darling aligns with this implication, arguing that her ‘unselfish grace, genderness, simplicity, and nobility reveal that she is not only a pattern Victorian lady, but almost literally an angel on earth’ (p. 7). Thus, Mrs. Darling is presented admirably for her selfless devotion to her children, dedicating herself to their development. By presenting her in this way, young male readers are reinforced to believe that a woman’s worth is measured by their ability to nurture the home, husband, and children.
Similarly, the novel upholds traditional gender expectations for young males by presenting maternal service as an unquestionable duty passed down generationally and framed as essential to societal stability. Through Wendy’s progression from childhood play to maternal responsibility in Neverland, the text naturalises caregiving as an inherent obligation for women, despite Wendy’s maternal role requiring guidance from her mother be perfected. The portrayal of maternal duty as biologically determined and inextricably linked to tradition discourages young male readers from challenging gender roles, particularly in the context of the New Woman movement, which threatened these established ideals. To resist maternal responsibility is to violate both nature and tradition, something highly transgressive in Victorian society. As a result, Wendy’s adoption of the mother figure and acceptance of being ‘a subject to the Victorian female gender norms,’ (Dijk, 2017, p. 21), elevates her to a heroic status, positioning her as a preserver of tradition in a world otherwise devoid of stability. The generational transmission of this maternal ideal from Wendy to her daughter and, eventually, her granddaughter, reinforces domesticity as both inevitable and a celebrated virtue. Peter and Wendy present this cycle as fundamental for the preservation of a functional society, further discouraging young male readers from questioning or challenging this gender role. Thus, the text reinforces to readers the expectation that women must remain in the domestic sphere to ensure the continuity of traditional gender order through portraying any deviation as disruptive.
Maternal absence and moral disruption
The consequences of maternal absence, and the vitality of traditional Victorian femininity for societal stability and male development, are exemplified by Barrie (1911). Before Wendy’s arrival, the narrative portrays the Lost Boys as existing in a state of disorder. Rovan (2016) describes this state as ‘a repetitive, cyclical nature of existence’ (p. 214). Without Mrs. Darling or Wendy to provide stories of social education, the Lost Boys are instead guided by Tink and Tiger Lily. Peter and Wendy links their rejection of maternity to the New Woman movement, portraying such women as disruptive rather than nurturing. Tosh (1997) aligns with this textual implication by arguing that a lack of traditional femininity ‘is so inseparable from masculine identity that it has an…undermining impact on masculinity’ (p. 40). Bzymek (2023) agrees, theorising that resistant women create ‘a conflict of role for a young man…leading to the inhibition of the maturity process’ (p. 1). Drawing on Tosh’s (1997) and Byzmek’s (2023) ideas, Tink’s rejection of maternity and overt self-sexualisation has a direct impact on the Lost Boy’s emotional and physical maturity. Emotionally, Peter and the Lost Boys develop a narrow understanding of women as primarily mothers, as it is a female role that they long for. The narrative implies limited comprehension of female roles through Peter, as he is unable to envision women beyond that of the maternal role. For example, Peter responds to Wendy’s question ‘what are your exact feelings for me?’ by stating ‘those of a devoted son’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 100). He further remarks, ‘Tiger Lily is just the same. There is something she wants to be to me, but she says it is not my mother’ (p. 100). Thus, the novel warns young readers and, by extension, society that a woman’s failure to adhere to maternal ideals restricts the emotional development of boys due to Peter’s inability to define the role of a woman as ‘something’ other than ‘mother’. Even Tink, despite her sexualisation, is overlooked by Peter when the idealised Wendy arrives with her preferred nurturing maternity. Therefore, the writing implies to young male readers that a woman’s role is first and foremost as a mother, and the resistance of this duty contributes to the stunted emotional and moral development of boys. Such hindrance extends to physical development, as the Lost Boys are restricted to their childhood. Captain Hook states ‘the game is up…hose boys have found a mother’ (Barrie, 1911, p. 83). Here, the ‘game’ refers to the Lost Boys’ resistance to grow up due their maternal abandonment. Therefore, without a mother figure, boys cannot transition into adulthood. As foils to the Lost Boys, Wendy’s brother’s John and Michael illustrate how maternal influence facilitates healthy male development. Unlike the Lost Boys, they are able to return to London, where they mature both physically and emotionally, and eventually become fathers themselves. Their ability to grow up reinforces the severe emotional and developmental stagnation caused by maternal absence as the Lost Boys are not given this privilege. By portraying male development as reliant on maternal and domestic influences, the text reinforces Victorian gender expectations to its young male readers, idealising women as the moral and emotional educators of the household and reinforcing that alternative models of femininity are damaging. Therefore, it is implied to young male readers that a woman’s role is primarily mother, and the resistance of this duty contributes to the stunted emotional and moral development of boys.
The conditional acceptance of non-conforming femininity
Peter and Wendy reinforces Victorian femininity hierarchies through the exclusion and marginalisation of alternate forms of femininity to the idealised Angel in the House. However, female exclusion from society is exacerbated by divergence from traditional white Victorian ethnicity and race. Therefore, there is a conditional acceptance of non-conforming femininity based on racial identity. The portrayal of Tinker Bell and the mermaids exemplifies this conditional acceptance; despite their rejection of maternal norms, they do not face the same degree of ostracisation as Tiger Lily. Shipley (2012) highlights this dynamic, stating, ‘with the exception of Wendy, the females all represent dual or multiple examples of otherness to Peter and his Lost Boys; Tinker Bell and the mermaids are both female and not human’ (p. 157). Such a distinction displays how non-human femininity can maintain social acceptance when aligned with male service, whereas racialised femininity faces greater exclusion. Moreover, the portrayal of Tink illustrates how Victorian sexual double standards allow certain forms of female deviance to be tolerated depending on racial identity and the servicing of male desires. According to Hill and Hamid (2025), ‘a flagrant double standard of sexual morality allowed men to enjoy the pleasure of a prostitute without reaping harsh societal consequences’ (n.p.). By contrast, women were ‘expected to be pure, innocent… and willing to submit to her husband’ (n.p.), and were believed to possess ‘no sexual desire’ (n.p.). As Joyce (2008) states, ‘it was acceptable for men to sin, but women, kept in the pure ideal, could not’ (n.p). Prostitutes, despite facing moral condemnation, remained socially relevant due to their utility to men. Evans (2011) highlights this sexual complexity, arguing that ‘prostitution was a necessary evil to protect the sanctity of courtship’ (p. 5). The novel’s portrayal of Tink reflects the sexual double-standard for women. Despite Tink’s overt sexualisation, harmful behaviour towards Wendy, and contribution to the Lost Boy’s static childhood, she remains accepted by male characters. As Simmons (2012) states, ‘the sexual danger was not that women would overcome men but that they would deny male needs’ (n.p). In accordance to Simmons (2012), by presenting Tink as physically alluring, yet accepted within the Lost Boy’s world, the novel reinforces to young male readers that while traditional femininity is favoured, deviance is only accepted as long as it ultimately benefits men, such as for a sexual purpose and remaining tied to duties within the domestic sphere.
The dangers of female sexuality
The depiction of the mermaids as both alluring and dangerous acts as a didactic tool, intended to educate young male readers about prevailing Victorian anxieties concerning female sexuality. While the mermaids conform to the imaginative tone expected of the fantasy child literature genre, their characterisation evokes fears of surrounding prostitution. They are permitted to remain in Neverland, but only on the condition that they serve male desire, mirroring the real-world toleration of prostitution within Barrie’s society. As figures of erotic spectacle, the mermaids are positioned within a long-standing societal framework that presents sexually autonomous women as both marginal and instrumental. Their presence in Neverland is consequently one of conditional tolerance. They are permitted to exist as long as they fulfil a purpose in safeguarding the Victorian ideal of femininity and maintaining the structures of patriarchy. Victorian prostitutes completed a similar role by offering outlets for male desire, and protecting the sanctity of the domestic, maternal woman who remains untouched and morally elevated. As Brown (2008) explains, ‘many Victorians believed that it was the prostitute who kept middle class women pure but satisfying the needs of middle-class men.’ In this way, the mermaids function similarly to the Victorian prostitute, publicly scorned but privately acknowledged as necessary to uphold gendered order. Thus, their continued presence in Neverland reinforces the idea of patriarchal utility: women who exist outside of respectability may be tolerated, so long as they serve a function in maintaining broader gendered social order. By instructing young male readers to accept such figures as inevitable but inferior, the novel teaches them the necessity of tolerating fallen women to preserve the domestic ideal. Barrie’s young male readers are educated that while sexual temptation will exist and be tolerated, it may never be allowed to interfere with the performance of masculine respectability. Thus, while the mermaids serve a social function, they are also depicted as inherently dangerous. Their seductive power threatens the very men they are expected to appease. Their ability to drown those they lure in metaphorically reinforces the Victorian belief that female sexuality when detached from domesticity is morally corrupting. In aligning the mermaids with the idea of the ‘fallen woman’, Peter and Wendy warn of the personal ruin that accompanies indulgence in such desires by gentlemen. Many Victorian men, including prominent gentlemen, engaged in prostitution in secrecy. As Walkowitz (1980) writes, ‘prostitution constituted a private obsession for some respectable Victorians’ (p. 32), reinforcing the extent to which men were expected to manage these interactions discreetly. Therefore, the mermaids become tools of patriarchal instruction, symbolising a female sexuality that must be both desired and controlled to maintain the continuation of a gendered society.
By setting the New Woman-esque figure of Tiger Lily in an alternate world filled with mythical creatures such as the mermaids, the novel provides young male readers a dramatised warning about the potential repercussions of the New Woman movement in Victorian London. Like Mrs. Darling, whose identity is tethered to maternal service and domesticity, Tiger Lily’s portrayal highlights the consequences of failing or refusing to conform. Yet while Mrs. Darling is valued so long as she performs her caregiving role, Tiger Lily, as a racialised and non-maternal woman, is not afforded even the conditional inclusion that white, domestic femininity offers. Her colonised characterisation as exocitised, animalised, and voiceless renders her othered, both as indigenous and as a woman who does not serve male emotional or domestic needs. As defined by Ahmed (2014), and references in Simpson (2016), Tiger Lily is ‘willful’, and ‘to be identified as willful is to become a problem’ (p. 249). In order to address the problem, society attempts to eliminate willfulness from the will’ (p. 249). Such conditional acceptance reveals a hierarchy of feminine worth, wherein only those women who are ‘claimed’ by a household, like Mrs. Darling, and even Tink and Nana, are granted social value, while women who exist outside domestic structures, like Tiger Lily, are cast out as strays. Her lack of maternal care for the Lost Boys is framed as detrimental to their emotional and physical development, justifying her marginalisation. As Crocker (2021) outlines, ‘Tiger Lily’s relative voicelessness serves to highlight the particular ways in which the novel’s invocation ideology further denies female characters the subjectivity of their male counterparts’ (p. 5). Cary (2021) agrees that ‘Tiger Lily is denied agency as both an indigenous figure and a non-maternal woman’ (p. 327). Through this racialised and gendered portrayal of Tiger Lily as willful, the novel’s characterisation warns young male readers of the destabilising effects of the New Woman movement. Young male readers are instructed that women who do not conform to white Victorian ideals are inherently irrelevant to male needs. Thus, the text reinforces patriarchal norms, presenting racialised non-traditional women as threats to societal stability and legitimising their exclusion from both male spaces and domestic order. All three figures of Tiger Lily, Tink, and the mermaids exist outside the category of fully human Victorian womanhood. They are exoticised, violent and non-maternal, permitted presence only when they serve male fantasy or function. Thus, these characters reflect the novel’s implication to young male readers, that women who do not conform to white, domestic, maternal ideals are rendered as less than human, and are consequently othered, silenced and objectified. Their continued inclusion in society relies on their usefulness to men through service, submission or sexual availability.
Conclusion: Reinforcing Victorian patriarchy
In conclusion, Barrie’s Peter and Wendy reinforces Victorian gender hierarchies amid emerging challenges from the New Woman movement. Through its idealisation of domestic femininity and maternal sacrifice, the novel offers young male readers a rigid model for female behaviour. Women must be nurturing mothers like Mrs. Darling and Wendy, or alluring figures such as Tink or the mermaids, existing for male gratification. Resisting women, namely Tiger Lily, are marginalised or excluded from society. The text upholds tradition and actively warns against female autonomy by associating it with social disorder and male underdevelopment. Ultimately, the story teaches that female worth is conditional, valued only through maternity, sexuality, or racial conformation, invalidating the New Woman movement and reaffirming domesticity as a woman’s rightful domain. Through the use of fantastical creatures like mermaids, Barrie displays the prevalence of Victorian gender ideals and ensures that these are both engaging and accessible for young readers. Thus, Peter and Wendy serves as a didactic tool, shaping young male readers’ understanding of gender by idealising conformity and marginalising resistance through fantasy narratives.
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