Everyman must lose this false confidence, and lose his life, to truly understand the higher purpose of the human soul and existence, as Everyman prepares himself for the final passage -- and so must we all, good and bad.

But in "Peter Pan" there is a lack of moral apportioning to children along the lines of the laws of adult life. Wendy, who seems to be the most thoughtful and responsible of all the Peter Pan characters, pays with her youth and takes on adult responsibility unlike the title protagonist, who also transgresses but never feels remorse and never pays for any hurt he does to the girl. Thus, loss, both plays suggest, is an inevitable part of human life, but Barrie is far less positive about what this loss leaves. Loss for Barrie means the loss of carefree and amoral youth and the loves of youth, while loss in...
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