Popular Culture

Legend, fiction, and motion pictures have helped create an exciting, romantic image of pirates. A typical pirate is portrayed as a fierce-looking man with a beard. He is sometimes handsomely dressed.  The pirate is a frequent figure in literature, especially in books written for children.  Perhaps the most famous fictional pirate is Long John Silver in R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper each wrote a novel entitled The Pirate, Charles Kingsley wrote of buccaneers in Westward Ho!, and Sir William Gilbert ridiculed pirate stories in his Pirates of Penzance.

Peter Pan - JM Barry

Peter Pan is about a boy who chose to  never grow up. He lived on the island of Never Land. One day he traveled to London to capture his missing shadow and met a girl named Wendy Darling. He taught her and her brothers John and Michael to fly.

Once they get to Never Land, Peter introduced Wendy to the Lost Boys as their new "mother". As a mother Wendy was responsible for telling stories and making sure that they are all clean. There was one problem though. Peter's fairy, Tinker Bell, had become jealous of Wendy and deliberately disobeyed Peter. He banished Tinker Bell for ever and she left and told Captain Hook, Peter's arch enemy, Peter's hideout. Hook then started to plot how to kill Peter Pan.

During this time Wendy wanted to go home and told Peter this. When he heard this he became angry. She and the lost boys left and on their way they were kidnapped by Captain Hook and his pirates. Hook then attempted to kill Peter by throwing a bomb into the hideout, but he survived.

 Peter now must rescue Wendy and the Lost Boys from the clutches of the evil Captain Hook. Will he save them? Find out by watching the movie or reading the book.

The Pirates of Penzance - Sir William Gilbert

The Pirates of Penzance is a story about a boy named Frederic who is forced into becoming a pirate. This band of pirates is different though. They refuse to harm or rob orphans. As you can probably guess, all of them victims say that they are orphans.

Treasure Island - R. L. Stevenson's

This story is about a boy named Jim Hawkins who became involved in pirates when he came across an old treasure map. He find this map when a sea dog died.

Jim gathers a crew with the help of people in high places. The crew is a "trustworthy" one and could be counted on to keep a secret. The crew is in fact a group of pirates who are after the treasure as well. This evil band of pirates is led by the cunning Long-John Silver.

Young Jim finds this out and tells the remaining faithful crew. The faithful crew must now escape the pirates, find the treasure and get home safe. Will they be able to do it? Will the pirates get the treasure? Find out by reading the book by Robert Louis Stevenson.