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100 Years of Peter Pan
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We are told nothing of Tink's eating habits, but PP2's delightful observation that she was "inclined to embonpoint" suggests an incipient weight problem rather than the hourglass figure of Disney's animated pin-up. She is a curious mixture of the diminutive helpful fairy of Tudor England (although she mends other fairies' pots and kettles, not those of humans) and the fairy godmothers of eighteenth century French literature - she is "exquisitely gowned in a skeleton leaf" and her little boudoir is furnished with antiques: "Her couch was a genuine Queen Mab, with club legs," her chest of drawers "an authentic Charming the Sixth." (All PP2)
Although her heroic attempt to save Peter by drinking Hook's poison gives rise to one of the most famous scenes in British drama, Tink's ultimate fate is a sad one. She simply fades out of both the narrative and Peter's memory, and when Wendy pays her first "spring cleaning" visit one year after leaving Never Land she is surprised to find that he has completely forgotten that eccentric but loyal little being.
The unreliability and gradual weakening of memory crops up time and again in the story. The Lost Boys have only the vaguest memories of their parents and, after an unspecified time in the Never Land, Wendy and her brothers are having difficulty in remembering theirs - but it is the dread of being forgotten by Mr and Mrs Darling that eventually makes the children decide to return home. Wendy's naïve belief that the three of them will be able to return as adults and be warmly welcomed by their parents is undermined by Peter's words in PP2: "Wendy, you are wrong about mothers…I stayed away for moons and moons, and then I flew back, but the window was barred, for my mother had forgotten all about me and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed."
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In PP2 a horrible thought crosses Wendy's mind: "Perhaps Mother is in half-mourning by this time." Needless to say Mrs Darling has not forgotten her children, but Mr Darling's reaction to their loss is extraordinary. He blames himself for removing Nana from the nursery on that fateful night and has become a sort of Grief Celebrity, not only living in her kennel but being taken to and from the office in it (much to the delight of cheering crowds and autograph hunters). When he proudly tells his wife that he has "been put on a picture postcard" we fully share her concern at his attitude: "But it is a punishment, isn't it, George? You are sure you are not enjoying it?" (PP2)
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