Desiring Unfamiliarity or Driving Segregation? The Role of the Other in Peter and Wendy, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck Anonymous College

The mysterious and the unknown can be intriguing, but dangerous. The new can be compelling, but we are often wary of those not like us, whether this is due to previous experience and previously held ideals. J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy and Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck explore the notion of the other, or that which is not familiar to us, through the way that characters in the work react to one another based on their differences. Through each of these works, we see otherness balancing on a teetering scale. While the unknown is intriguing and desirable in some cases, it can also drive segregation and misunderstanding through the judgement of the other as evil. This creates an interesting dichotomy in which characters are drawn to things that are mysterious and intriguing due to their otherness, but are quick to judge those who are other in an undesirable way - but what separates the alluring other from the dubious other? To explore this dichotomy is to discover how otherness is interpreted by the characters in each narrative. For both authors, otherness is compelling to the beholder, as though the unknown has an allure that cannot be replaced with something known and familiar.

In...