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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 3: Come Away, Come Away!
Explanation and Analysis—Clocks:
Throughout Peter Pan, clocks become a recurring motif that represents the passage of time. Barrie first mentions a clock in Chapter 3:
Wendy was not listening to him. “O Peter,” she cried, “if she would only stand still and let me see her!”
“They hardly ever stand still,” he said, but for one moment Wendy saw the romantic figure come to rest on the cuckoo clock.
Here, Tinker Bell alights on top of the cuckoo clock. She "hardly ever stand[s] still" but chooses for a moment to rest atop the clock in the Darling nursery. This scene juxtaposes the timeless young Peter Pan and his fairy counterpart Tinker Bell. She lives a finite life because "every time a child says, ‘I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead." This moment serves as an early reminder of the fairy's mortality; later in the story, a grown-up Wendy asks Peter about Tink, and he claims to have no memory of her.
In Chapter 5, Smee reminds Hook of his own mortality by referencing the ticking clock in the crocodile:
[Hook] sat down on a large mushroom, and now there was a quiver in his voice. “Smee,” he said huskily, “that crocodile would have had me before this, but by a lucky chance it swallowed a clock which goes tick tick inside it, and so before it can reach me I hear the tick and bolt.” He laughed, but in a hollow way.
“Some day,” said Smee, “the clock will run down, and then he'll get you.”
Hook wetted his dry lips. “Ay,” he said, “that's the fear that haunts me.”
In this passage, Smee reminds Hook that the ticking crocodile who ate his right hand will one day "get [him]." Smee also speaks figuratively of the clock that will "run down" in order to represent the finite nature of Hook's life. This scene shows Hook's fallibility and makes him seem less terrifying, and, more interestingly, less powerful than Peter Pan. The motif elevates the story's emphasis on the passage of time and reminds the reader of certain characters' mortality in contrast to the timeless Peter Pan. This motif also supports the novel's larger theme of the fantastic and the commonplace by creating two temporal realities—mortality and immortality—that in many ways influence characters' fears, habits, and identities.
Related Themes:
