Why is Peter Pan trying to stick his shadow on with soap?
December 27, 2015 9:28 AM Subscribe
What's the joke behind Peter Pan trying unsuccessfully to reattach his shadow with soap?
Wendy finds Peter Pan trying to reattach his shadow with soap and is amused, declaring "How exactly like a boy!"
What's the joke?
Was soap used to stick on other things and Peter is just assuming it would work on his shadow? If so, what things was it used for? Is it due to the differences between soap then and now?
Was he mistaking soap for some kind of glue stick?
Am I wrong in assuming this is a joke lost on me and instead it's just a bit of nonsense?
The joke appears in the play, the novel Peter & Wendy, Barrie's attempted screenplay and survives in Disney's Peter Pan 50 years later. I assume it's still in modern stagings.
What don't I know about the stickiness of soap?
Wendy finds Peter Pan trying to reattach his shadow with soap and is amused, declaring "How exactly like a boy!"
What's the joke?
Was soap used to stick on other things and Peter is just assuming it would work on his shadow? If so, what things was it used for? Is it due to the differences between soap then and now?
Was he mistaking soap for some kind of glue stick?
Am I wrong in assuming this is a joke lost on me and instead it's just a bit of nonsense?
The joke appears in the play, the novel Peter & Wendy, Barrie's attempted screenplay and survives in Disney's Peter Pan 50 years later. I assume it's still in modern stagings.
What don't I know about the stickiness of soap?
It is based on the stereotype that boys are dirty, "How like a boy to not know about cleaning/to refuse to bathe so much that he doesn't even recognise soap."
posted by jeather at 9:43 AM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by jeather at 9:43 AM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
I think jeather is right that it's a reference to the dirtiness of little boys, but I think it's much more than that.
The vampires of Bram Stoker's Dracula (published in 1897; Peter Pan in 1911) have also lost their shadows, and one of the central facts about vampires is that they are essentially unclean, as Mina makes explicit when she is rescued from their clutches:
Here's the scene of the shadow, and reading it, I found that only certain aspects of tone kept it from being the beginning of a terrifying horror novel, and then barely.
posted by jamjam at 1:19 PM on December 27, 2015 [7 favorites]
The vampires of Bram Stoker's Dracula (published in 1897; Peter Pan in 1911) have also lost their shadows, and one of the central facts about vampires is that they are essentially unclean, as Mina makes explicit when she is rescued from their clutches:
“I am unclean in His eyes, and shall be until He may deign to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred His wrath.”and they require physical contact with the very soil of their original graveyard each night, so I think Barrie is very slyly establishing Peter Pan's essential identity as a kind of vampire, by having him attempt to regain his shadow/humanity in God's eyes with the most mundane of cleansers.
Here's the scene of the shadow, and reading it, I found that only certain aspects of tone kept it from being the beginning of a terrifying horror novel, and then barely.
posted by jamjam at 1:19 PM on December 27, 2015 [7 favorites]
I don't think it has to do with dirtiness at all. Peter Pan was written before there were glue sticks or cellophane tape. People used soap to make things stick together. At least that's what my mom (born in 1918) used to tell me.
posted by caryatid at 3:52 PM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by caryatid at 3:52 PM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
The glue stick was invented in 1969 so it seems safe to conclude that was not what Mr Barrie was referring to. I look forward to seeing if anyone understands the reference.
posted by wnissen at 7:14 PM on December 27, 2015
posted by wnissen at 7:14 PM on December 27, 2015
This is a really entertaining question. I've no relevant expertise (in either soap chemistry or literature) but it sure sounds from the context like the author thought using soap to stick things to other things wasn't crazy.
Google book searches do turn up a hand full of references to the use of soap as an adhesive for sticking playing cards together to perform card tricks, for sticking bird feathers together in Polynesia, etc. The bottom of this page is a patent that uses soap to adhere sheets of tin to a printing device. A recent novel set in 1904 mentions kites "made with cotton, thin sticks and newspaper stuck on with soap and spit", which is intriguing as a possible origin for Peter's choice. But, I'm surprised there are only a hand full of references if it was common knowledge.
A cursory look through both the wikipedia article on soap and this 1922 Soap Making Manual suggest that industrial soap was probably made using a "full boiled" or "hot process" and had less glycerin and excess fats than modern soaps. The manual also mentions both starch and gelatin as common filling materials. Starch, in particular, is described as the preferred additive in "cheaper toilet soaps" and "may be employed to as high a percentage as one-third the weight of the soap."
It doesn't seem crazy to suggest that soap in the early 1900s was a lot stickier than soap today, both because it didn't have extra glycerin in it and because it very likely had starch added to it. But, if so, I'm surprised there aren't more published references to using soap as an adhesive.
posted by eotvos at 11:50 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Google book searches do turn up a hand full of references to the use of soap as an adhesive for sticking playing cards together to perform card tricks, for sticking bird feathers together in Polynesia, etc. The bottom of this page is a patent that uses soap to adhere sheets of tin to a printing device. A recent novel set in 1904 mentions kites "made with cotton, thin sticks and newspaper stuck on with soap and spit", which is intriguing as a possible origin for Peter's choice. But, I'm surprised there are only a hand full of references if it was common knowledge.
A cursory look through both the wikipedia article on soap and this 1922 Soap Making Manual suggest that industrial soap was probably made using a "full boiled" or "hot process" and had less glycerin and excess fats than modern soaps. The manual also mentions both starch and gelatin as common filling materials. Starch, in particular, is described as the preferred additive in "cheaper toilet soaps" and "may be employed to as high a percentage as one-third the weight of the soap."
It doesn't seem crazy to suggest that soap in the early 1900s was a lot stickier than soap today, both because it didn't have extra glycerin in it and because it very likely had starch added to it. But, if so, I'm surprised there aren't more published references to using soap as an adhesive.
posted by eotvos at 11:50 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is way beanplating. Peter is supposed to be a total outsider to the culture and to everything that's homely and orderly. He doesn't know what soap does in the same way he doesn't know the difference between a kiss and a thimble or a button.
posted by booksandlibretti at 3:00 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by booksandlibretti at 3:00 PM on January 4, 2016
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posted by PJMoore at 9:30 AM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]