Who is Peter Pan in Peter and Wendy?

Peter Pan is a perpetual child who escaped early to Neverland. He is brave, vain, musical, and forgetful — he cannot hold loss in mind and therefore repeats adventures without deepening. In Barrie’s novel he recruits Wendy to be mother to the Lost Boys, defeats Hook with trickery and swordplay, and eventually returns Wendy’s children to London while continuing to visit new generations.

Peter is not the sanitized Disney lead alone: he can be cruel, jealous of attention, and indifferent to danger others feel. His refusal to grow up protects him from grief but costs everyone who loves him continuity. Start readers with the nursery flight and Hook’s end, then the coda when Wendy ages — the book’s full portrait needs all three.