by JM Barrie
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OVERLOOK LITERATURE – SKIP TO A PAGE
BURDA MODEN ⎔ GLAMOUR ⎔ HAMLET ⎔ HOTEL & MOTEL RED BOOK ⎔ JEEVES ⎔ THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH ⎔ PETER PAN ⎔ PHONEBOOKS ⎔ PLAYGIRL ⎔ SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ⎔ TRAVEL ⎔ TRAVEL HOLIDAY MAGAZINE ⎔ WHITE MAN’S BURDEN ⎔ WINNIE-THE-POOH
APPEARANCE
108:22-108:24
IDENTITY
As Jack stalks upon Wendy here, he says, “Wendy? Darling? Light of my life.”
Wendy Darling is the name of Peter Pan’s girl friend in Neverland. They have a kind of platonic romance, where Wendy shows affection, but Peter can’t love back. The reference seems small (Hallorann’s question “Are you a Winnie or a Freddy?” to Wendy’s “I’m a Wendy” also feels connected–as if Wendy is rejecting her true pop culture twin (Winnie-the-Pooh) in favour of her less true twin, or more desired twin), but the connections feel apt.
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
Peter Pan spends all his time with indigenous kids, fairies, mermaids and pirates (Shutter Island seems to capture what The Shining leaves off). And there’s both the idea of endless youth, and the horror of the clock in the alligator’s belly. Jack’s dilemma is in some ways that he’s terrified of the forward motion of time getting the better of him. Here he’s making a horns figure with his right hand, while Captain Hook’s hook is on his left hand. I don’t know if the Peter Pan imagery is necessarily overwhelming The Shining, but it seems to be a mild influence. Captain Hook does sound a good deal like Captain Cook.
If Jack, whose pursuit of immortality is definitely Faustian, is being compared to Peter Pan himself, it would fit within a Jungian framework, in which Faust is compared to Pan and The Little Prince.
Next literary reference: Little Red Riding Hood
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THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 