Chapter 1: Peter Breaks Through

The first chapter of Peter Pan opens with the iconic line “All children, except one, grow up.” The narrator first introduces young Wendy—the oldest child of the Darling family—as she watches a flower bloom.

Mr. and Mrs. Darling are Wendy’s parents. Recounting their love story, the narrator explains that while many other men desired Mrs. Darling, Mr. Darling won her affection. They married and had three children: Wendy, John, and Michael. Additionally, the Darlings have a Newfoundland named Nana, whom they refer to as “quite treasure of a nurse.” The narrator then claims that “there never was a simpler happier family until the coming of Peter Pan.”

In their dreams, the children visit an imaginary land, the Neverlands. As Mrs. Darling embarks on “travels of her children’s minds,” Wendy describes Peter Pan to her mother. Mrs. Darling thinks he is a make-believe character that she vaguely remembers from her childhood and tells the children it is nonsense put in their heads by Nana. Wendy explains to her mother that Peter Pan visits the nursery at night; while her mother thinks she is just imagining things, the rustling leaves on Wendy’s bedside puzzle her. The chapter ends with Mrs. Darling dreaming of Peter Pan’s arrival in England from Neverland, and when she awakes, she recognizes his figure in the window. 

Chapter 2: The Shadow

As soon as Peter arrives, Nana attacks him. Fearful he has died, Mrs. Darling goes to look for him, and when she returns, she sees Nana with a shadow in her mouth. The narrator then provides flashbacks to Wendy’s birth, then John’s, and then Michael’s. When Mr. and Mrs. Darling talk about the children, they address each other as Mother and Father. As they reminisce about Michael’s resistance to taking medicine, Michael calls his father “a cowardly custard,” because Mr. Darling hides his own medicine behind his back while Michael takes his. He then puts the medicine in Nana’s bowl, which makes Nana feel sad and Mr. Darling ashamed. He expresses jealousy toward Nana for receiving more affection from the children, drags her outside, and ties her up in the backyard. While Mr. and Mrs. Darling are on the street looking at the stars, they hear “the smallest of all the stars in the Milky Way” exclaim, “Now, Peter!”

Chapter 3: Come Away, Come Away!

Peter Pan looks for his shadow in the nursery with his fairy, Tinker Bell. Frustrated, Peter cries because he is unable to attach his shadow to his body, and he tries to stick it on with soap. Wendy awakes to see Peter, and they introduce themselves to one another. When he tells Wendy he does not have a mother, her instinct is to console him; but he tells her he doesn’t want a mother and is instead upset because he is unable to stick his shadow to his body. Wendy thus sews Peter’s shadow to him. Afterward, Peter exclaims how clever he is for sewing on his shadow, upsetting Wendy, as he has taken credit for her idea. Peter then approaches her and tells her that “one girl is more use than twenty boys.” Wendy finds this sentiment especially charming and offers to give him a kiss. As she leans forward to kiss Peter—who does not know what a kiss is—he puts an acorn button in her hand. Wendy responds by telling him she will “wear his kiss on a chain around her neck.”

Wendy asks Peter how old he is. He replies that he doesn’t know and that he never wants to grow up. She continues...