This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Find all my work at MJMunoz.com.
This time I'm talking about chapter 8 of Peter Pan in my chapter by chapter read-through
of this book. And I want to talk about the horror of Mermaid Lagoon. Sort of. So every
month the mermaids, when the moon is full, go a little mad and they shriek and wail and
it's creepy and whatever and that's kind of weird. It's probably a retention of the myth
of the sirens who would lure sailors to their death by singing to them songs. Seductive
songs, I guess. Anyway. So that's interesting. And these mermaids are deadly anyway because
they kind of attack Wendy and then at the end of the chapter when Wendy's injured and
so is Peter, they try to pull Wendy out of his grasp while he's, I think while he's passed
out or very injured and having a hard time recovering. And they start to pull her into
the water and he pulls her back because these mermaids are scary. Another scary thing in
Mermaid Lagoon is Marooners Rock where people are left on a rock that gets covered by the
rising tide and eventually they drown there. And I don't know how they're, I don't know
if they're anchored to it or what, I guess. I don't know if they're anchored to it or
if they're injured or what happens, but somehow they stay there and then eventually they're
marooned there and then eventually they drown to death, which is horrible. But you know,
this is pirates who are doing this kind of thing. So I guess that does make sense. In
this chapter, we get a pretty much deadly battle between the pirates and the Lost Boys
at Mermaid Lagoon. There's a really interesting description of like this dark gloomy, this
like gloomy darkness that comes along and kind of sets the stage for the battle. And
then they're fighting in this, you know, gloom. And that's kind of a fun idea. Anyway, but
yeah, it's an actual battle. It feels dangerous to the boys. They are getting away, yes, because
of the kind of story this is, but there's a possibility that they can be killed. We
know that Indians have scalps of boys and pirates. So they've scalped people before
and you know, Peter's talked about killing people and it's mentioned in the previous
chapter that sometimes there's a body when he tells his stories or he says, no, nothing
happened to me. And then you find a body anyway. So that's, you know, not, no, that's not good.
He's dropping bodies over here. But it's interesting. Peter in this battle with Hook, in this fight
with Hook, he went and swiped his knife from him and he was going to fight Hook with his
knife and Hook with his hook or his sword. Peter does have a sword, though. I made an
error a couple chapters ago when I said that when he was guarding Wendy's tent at night
or her little house at night that he had a knife or a dagger because he doesn't have
a sword. He in fact did have a sword. So could have been an imaginary sword, but I'm not
sure about that. Anyway, during this battle, Hook is coming up, coming up like a rock and
Peter's at the top of it. And he says, I have the high ground. Because he has the high ground,
he helps Hook up because it would be fair for him to fight him at such a disadvantage
because it would probably make Hook more liable to lose. So while Hook is there needing help,
needing help and Peter offers it, he grabs his hand and he pulls him up. And when he
does that, at some point in that exchange, Hook hits Peter. He ends up clawing him with
his iron hook two times for his iron hand two times. And that's interesting. Peter,
Peter feels, Peter feels betrayed by this. And it's interesting. Barry says something
very interesting about children. When children come to you, all they really expect from you.
When they come to you in your care, when a boy comes to you in his care, or for when
a boy comes to you and you take him into your care, sounds like a parent receiving a son.
His only expectation of you is that you be fair with him and that you be honest and that
you not betray him. And this is what Peter was expecting. But Hook did betray Peter in
this instance. And Peter has been betrayed many times, but he always forgets. And therefore
he feels like this is the first time he's been betrayed like this. And he's shocked
and frozen. And I don't know if it says he's going to cry or not, but he's very upset by
the fact that he was betrayed by Hook, who he offered a helping hand to. That's pretty
funny actually. And it's really interesting. There's something about this forgetfulness
of Peter Pan that bothers me, makes me sympathetic towards him, makes me feel really bad for
him, and kind of makes him a tragic figure in my estimation, in my opinion. And I'm curious
if other people see that, or if they just see the fun and kind of the glamour of flying
and living with fairies and commanding the Lost Boys and everything. I don't know. I
don't know how other people feel about it, but that's something that hits me in a weird
way. And in fact, the first time I listened to this book all the way through, I kept crying
at different points because I just... I don't know, something shook me. Something really
shook me, and it was really interesting. It was all around stuff like this with him forgetting
and having these weak, tenuous connections to people. It was really interesting.
So then, Hook ends up running away from the battle because he is scared because the crocodile
is coming. And while Hook is running scared, and that saves Peter's life, which is good
for the book to keep going, Peter is stuck with Wendy on Marooner's Rock. He's basically
mortally wounded, and he feels like he's too weak to fly, feels like he's too weak to swim
even. And Wendy's also weakened. Fortunately, one of the boys, Michael, I think it was Michael,
had made a kite and it got away from him, and it was so strong, it was carried by the
wind so well that the boys were... He kind of flew away with it. It took him off the
ground. And so Peter, very chivalrously, chivalrously, yeah, ties this thing around Wendy's waist
because she's like, oh, we'll try to straw this people. And he's like, never, you're
a lady. You're not going to... I'm not going to risk my life or... No, you're not going
to risk your life in this situation. I'm going to send you away, save your life, and if I
die, I die, that's fine. So I really like that. I think it's really cool and it's really
beautiful that he's willing to give up his life. And then he stands up, or I don't know
if he's standing or not, but I imagine him standing, and he realizes he's going to die.
And he says, what is it? It's so beautiful. To die will be an awfully big adventure. And
he's ready. He's ready for it. This idea of Peter being ready to die, even though he never
wanted to grow up, is shocking. It's striking. It's a very powerful idea to me. And I really
don't know what to say about it. It makes me think about Hook's fear of death and Hook's
fleeing from the crocodile. Peter's staying there. He can't flee anyway. If he tries to
flee, he will die. So him staying there and just waiting death and waiting death with
such a positive attitude that it will be a great adventure is interesting because, you
know, like I said, Hook flees from the crocodile. And I'm trying to figure out how is it that
Hook got into the Neverland? How did Hook and all these pirates get into the Neverland?
It kind of makes me think that because Hook is so concerned about living or not dying,
not being killed, eaten by the croc, which of course would be horrible and painful, I'm
sure it's an awful way to die, he really fears death, which means he values life. So it makes
me wonder, is it possible that Hook somehow came into the Neverland as a way to escape
death and to have a kind of serial longevity? I believe that's the frame used. Well, that's
the frame used around the lives of the elves in Tolkien's legendarium, you know, Lord of
the Rings, Silmarillion, Hobbit, etc. And it's not that the elves can't die, it's that
they don't get sick, for example, not naturally, I guess if they were poisoned by something,
they might get sick from that, but it could be healed. But they can be killed, they can
be murdered, they can be slain in battle. But they have these lives that are long, and
they're purposely long, and they're actually not meant to die. And if they die, they can,
their hurla, their soul, their spirit can actually be rehoused in a different body,
or any body at a later date. I don't know if it's the same body, it looks the same,
it has the same face and everything, or if it's a completely different body, or how that
works necessarily with the elves. But they do have this serial longevity, which is, it's
not that they're actually immortal, it's that they are so long-lived that it's as if they're
immortal and they'll only die if they're killed. So like, was Hook seeking that kind of serial
longevity for himself because he's so afraid of death? And that's why he wanted to go to
the Neverland. But then again, the Neverland is only supposed to be found by those who
the island wants to be there. So maybe the Indians, this is a whole new idea that's just
coming to me right now, maybe the Indians are there, or the Redskins as they call them
in this, Hook and the pirates, and any of the other dangers are in Neverland, the mermaids
even, because the island wants them to be there, possibly because Peter, or the other
children who are there, want them to be there as well. That's a really fascinating idea.
I wonder if you have any thoughts on that, dear listener, because I'd never thought about
this, like this stuff's just coming to me now, and I'm not sure what it means, and I'm
not sure Barry knew what it meant, and I'm not sure he had that in mind, but he's not
here for us to ask him, and I think as long as it tracks logically, we can look into things
and think about things from this context going forward, and see if the Neverland having this
will and drawing these characters to itself is a feasible theory, or a way to surmise
how things happen in Neverland, and in the book. Certainly the island was looking for
Peter and his companions, was it just Peter or was it his companions as well? I don't
think we really know at this point, and I'm not sure there's a way to know. So anyway,
that's all I have to say for this chapter. I ask that you like and share this if you
enjoyed it. I want this channel to grow, and I want more people to learn about this project
I'm doing, learn about this endeavor, I want more people to join in listening to me talking
about this and other books, and I want to be able to have intelligent, honest conversations
about these books and these stories. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting to the
actual Fortress Fiction episode where I talk about whether or not this story is worthy,
because there's some things in this book that are weird and outlandish, and I don't really
think they fit for what it's supposed to be a good story for children, but then there's
some fascinating things that are so beyond the child's mind that I think would only really
hit the adult in a certain way, or in the intended way, and I find those things to be
fascinating, and I'm really fascinated with this story, and I'm looking forward to talking
about it in the future, but I would love to have more people to talk about it with as
time goes on. So go ahead and subscribe to this channel as well for more. I'm putting
out pretty much daily content of daily chapter-by-chapter discussions, reviews, reactions, as I'm reading
through Peter Pan, and I plan to do that with the next book as well. The better it does
with this book, the more inclined I am to do with the next book, and so on and so forth.
So we'll see how that goes, and then I also encourage you to check out my other work.
I have something called Henshin Inspection, where I talk about Japanese transforming superheroes,
and that's a lot of fun. I also focus on story a lot on that, but I also focus on the spectacle,
but there's spectacle in writing as well. The kind of genre or the kind of fiction I
like is exciting and dynamic, and I mean books here. It's exciting and dynamic, and it's
pop culture, but I think there's a lot of depth and there's a lot of meaning in that
pop culture because it sticks with the reader, and they apply that to different things in
their lives, and it helps them to see the world in a different way, better than certain
other types of writing that don't stick with you so well are able to do. So anyway, yeah.
I'm also writing books. I'm writing a book right now that I'm actually very much revising
and getting edited so that I can publish it. It's going to be about magical bugs battling
monsters. Yes, magical bugs battling monsters, and protecting children from these monsters.
So I'm looking forward to getting that published and released and out to the masses at some
time in 2024. Anyway, the more people that are interested in the stories that I'm interested
in, the more people who are joining me in these conversations about these books, I think
the better chance I have of finding people who will love the stories that I write because
they're so inspired by the stories that I love as well. So anyway, that's all I have
to say for now. Until next time, folks, take care, be well, and keep reading.
I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other
feedback you might have. There you can find all of my analysis, art, and fiction. I cover
comics, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more. Look around, you're sure to find something
else that you'll enjoy as well. This has been a Story Over Everything production.