PETER PAN VS ALICE IN UTOPIAN/DYSTOPIAN WONDERLANDS
PETER PAN VS ALICE IN UTOPIAN/DYSTOPIAN WONDERLANDS

Summary/Abstract: An important similarity in these two books is that both James Matthew Barrie’s Peter Pan as well as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland contain a series of dystopian elements. This paper aims at establishing the utopian elements and at analysing how these elements become dystopian and how they influence the morals of the books. We have chosen these two children’s books because they present the children’s permanent dream of travelling to mysterious faraway lands, of experiencing all kinds of adventures and of defeating their fears. The Unknown also contains some frightening figures (the grown-ups: the Queen of Hearts and Captain Hook) and strange creatures with curious names. In the case of Alice’s Adventures,the paper focuses on analysing Alice and the way she handles Wonderland and its inhabitants. With Peter Pan, the focus will primarily be on Peter, but also on the Darling children. The dystopian and (seemingly) utopian elements present in the two books can serve as examples that show how children learn from and relate to the protagonists’ experiences, therefore the children’s literature is generally regarded as teaching children useful moral lessons.

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