Wendy Darling
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Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional heroine and main female protagonist in the Peter Pan stories by J.M. Barrie, in all their theatrical, literary, and motion picture adaptations.
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[edit] Background
In the novel Peter Pan, and its cinematic adaptations, she is an Edwardian schoolgirl on the brink of adolescence. She belongs to a middle-class London household, and is the daughter of George Darling, a short-tempered and pompous bank/office worker, and his wife, Mary. She shares a nursery room with her two brothers, Michael and John.
[edit] Character
Wendy is proud of her own childhood and enjoys telling stories and fantasizing. She has a distaste for adulthood, acquired partly by the example of it set by her father, whom she loves but somewhat fears. Her ambition early in the story is to somehow avoid growing up. She is granted this opportunity by Peter Pan, who takes her and her brothers to Never Never Land, where they can remain young indefinitely. Ironically, Wendy finds that this experience brings out her more adult side. She becomes a matriarch to the tribe of Lost Boys who dwell in Neverland, and (in some versions of the tale) develops a crush on Peter (thereby forming a love-triangle with Tinkerbell), but also acts a surrogate mother, performing various domestic tasks for him and the Lost Boys.
Wendy eventually learns to accept the virtues of adulthood, and returns to London, having decided not to postpone maturity any longer. In some later works, she revisits Neverland briefly while she is still young (in adulthood it becomes impossible).
Wendy is actually the main character in the story of Peter Pan, however her role was reduced slightly in the Walt Disney version of the story to increase Peter Pan's character.
[edit] The name Wendy
The first name Wendy was not popular in the Anglosphere until after the Peter Pan mythos became well-known. It was so rare that some have been led to speculate that the name was an invention by J.M. Barrie. This is only half-true. Although the name Wendy is a shortening of Welsh Gwendolyn, in this instance it is believed to be derived from the phrase "friendy-wendy", used by a child called Margaret Henley whom Barrie befriended in the 1890s.
[edit] Portrayal in Film
- Peter Pan (1953 Animated film) - Kathryn Beaumont (Voice)
- Hook (1991 Live-action film) - Maggie Smith (Plays an aged Wendy)
- Peter Pan (2003 Live-Action film) - Rachel Hurd-Wood
- Return to Never Land (2002 animated film) Kath Soucie (grown-up Wendy)
[edit] Other references in entertainment
- In Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's adult graphic novel Lost Girls, Wendy is re-imagined as an adult woman who recounts her sexual encounters with a local homeless boy who represents Peter Pan. The graphic novel has faced some criticism from the Great Ormond Street Hospital which owns the copyright to Peter Pan. Because of this issue, the novel is currently not being sold in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Cultural references
"Wendy" is an aspect of Peter Pan Syndrome.
