Identity and Individuality of Derivative Fictions -- continued

Wendy’s surprising impression of Hook when she saw him up close in this desperate situation is described in the following interesting description:

With ironical politeness Hook raised his hat to her, and, offering her his arm, escorted to the spot where the others were being gagged. He did it with such an air, he was so frightfully distingue, that she was too fascinated to cry out.


Even when the pirates violently drags the children out of the underground hideout, Hook treats Wendy, as a woman, with respect and due etiquette. The gesture of raising his hat and holding out his hand is so graceful that Wendy is involuntarily captivated. It is in this passage that Hook’s aristocratic qualities as an educated man that Peter does not own, are depicted.
In the movie Peter Pan, the scene of the first conflict between Wendy and the pirates, which is not described in the original story, is developed. When Hook’s henchman, Smee, is about to execute children in the basement of a pirate castle, a voice suddenly calls out from the darkness. It assumes the voice of their leader, Captain Hook.

Mr. Smee?／That you, captain?／Brimstone and gall, man. What do you think you’re doing?／But we put the children on the rope, captain, like you said.／Set them free!／Set them free!

The suspicious minions involuntarily ask back, but the captain’s instructions do not change.

What about your trap?／Set them free, or I’ll plunge my hook in you.

After the minions hurriedly untied the children’s ropes, another voice comes.

Mr. Smee?／Aye, captain.／Any sign of him?／No, captain.／Where are the children? ／It’s all right, captain, we let them go.／ You what?／We let them go.／ You let them go?

Then the mysterious voice from earlier echoes again. Hook asks the voice, somewhat upset. But the answer that came back stunned Hook.

Who are you, stranger?／I am James Hook,… captain of the Jolly Roger.／If you are Hook, then who am I?／You are a codfish.

The theme of the loss of self-identity faced by educated people with modern intellect, which was an important theme in the original Peter and Wendy, is also told in this film through a transformation description that swaps situations. Hook is taken aback by the unexpected turn of events, but using his intuition, which is befitting a pirate, which was supposed to be one of the personae of an artist dedicated to aesthetics, Hook overcomes the crisis of losing his ego in this scene. However, the process is highly suggestive, exposing the fatal limits of liberal arts that have eroded him, as well as the excellent artistic sensibility that was given to him.

Tell me, Hook, have you another name? ／Aye.／ Vegetable?／No.／Mineral?／No.／ Animal?／Yes.／Man?／No!／ Boy?／ Yes!／ Ordinary boy?／No!／Wonderful boy? ／Yes! Do you give up?／ Yes!／ I am…

Here, Hook, who is a quick thinker, comes up with the idea of a “guessing game” and succeeds in guiding Peter, who has no eyes for games, to sniff out his identity. In this way, Hook manages to avoid the trap set by Peter. Here, Captain Hook, an intelligent and capable strategist, asks a series of binary questions that come from a yes or no choice in an attempt to derive a unique truth based on the method of elimination. Hook’s choice of questions was based on Linnaeus’s taxonomy, which attempted to provide a general overview of the natural history of the world by classifying beings into three types: plants, animals, and minerals. This is the learning on which Hook’s thinking is based, and it is also the limitation of his artistic intuition. The method of narrowing down the only remaining correct answer from the total amount of data by sorting the result into yes or no for each trial and adding an operation to eliminate non-conformants from the total set according to a multiplier of 2 is equivalent to the methodical logical reasoning technique that uses modern computer arithmetic processing methods to obtain an arithmetic effect that replaces unorganized guessworks. Since the multiplier shows a huge value of numbers as it is repeated, if you can cleverly omit unnecessary questions, you can theoretically complete the desired inference with a surprisingly small number of trial steps. However, the highly methodical inference procedure chosen by Hook here, does not go beyond the limits of mechanical arithmetic processing methods, which must go through a certain number of interrogation processes. If you have a truly feminine intuition, which is Hook’s ideal, you should be able to arrive at the right answer at once by first coming up with the question, “Are you Peter Pan?”. For his arch enemy, Peter, the guessing game had to be like this.