I found it very difficult to relate to any storybook character verbatim, though after some time and great deliberation I realized that I am most embodied by the character of peter pan as he was depicted by J.M. Barrie. Not because he could fly, or do any of the other amazing things that he did, but because of what he represents.
When I was in the ninth grade I was in the musical peter pan. It was a small production put on by my school. Both under funded and shorthanded for time, the director composed a short and sweet version that pleased the audience of overly proud mothers. In this play, I was a pirate. During the audition I had hoped for Pan, or Hook, or at least Smee, but was in the end given a small role of a pirate who had very few lines and minimal time on stage.
Initially I was frustrated, I felt that I should have a star role, later I realized that it was probably a good decision on the part of the director. As the opening night drew closer I became more and more nervous. Finally when the play opened I wished I had had fewer lines than I did.
Peter Pan was just a boy, but he was a boy who could fly, he could fight, and he could crow. He was the leader of the lost boys, a fighter of pirates, and was also capable of wooing both Tiger Lilly and Wendy. I was just a boy, but I was shy, and nervous. I could not fly, nor could I fight. And though I may have been able to crow, I would have never been able to muster the courage to do so.
Peter Pan embodies youth, courage, and for me an ideal. During that play my eyes were opened to these truths, and so I sought to change it, I wanted to be Pan. It took a long time, and a lot of work, along with being placed in situations in which I felt both uncomfortable and awkward for any change to come.
Now I am no longer a boy, but I am not quite a man. I am a leader, and I have learned to fight, and crow. Life is good, I live boldly. I am Pan
