Never Land
Barrie describes Never Land in detail, with attention to its natural and aesthetic details—"It is summer time on the trees and on the lagoon but winter on the river..."—but also leaves a great deal to the imagination. He writes, "What you see is the Never Land. You have often half seen it before, or even three-quarters, after the night-lights were lit, and you might then have beached your coracle on it if you had not always at the great moment fallen asleep. I dare say you have chucked things on to it, the things you can't find in the morning. In the daytime you think the Never Land is only make-believe, and so it is to the likes of you, but this is the Never Land come true. It is an open-air scene, a forest, with a beautiful lagoon beyond but not really far away, for the Never Land is very compact, not large and sprawly with tedious distances between one adventure and another, but nicely crammed." By describing the island in this way, he makes room for the reader or set designer's imagination.
The Darling House
The Darling family's house is also described with a great deal of room for the reader's imagination and personal projections. Barrie writes, "That is what we call the Darling house, but you may dump it down anywhere you like, and if you think it was your house you are very probably right. It wanders about London looking for anybody in need of it, like the little house in the Never Land." The house is described as a place that is recognizable to anyone, the very image of an archetypal "home."
Tinker Bell's Quarters
Barrie describes the Lost Boys' lair in great detail, and even goes into describing the quarters of Tinker Bell, the tiny fairy who accompanies Peter everywhere. He writes of her bed chamber, "At the back between two of the tree trunks is a grindstone, and near it is a lovely hole, the size of a band-box, with a gay curtain drawn across so that you cannot see what is inside. This is Tink's withdrawing-room and bed-chamber, and it is just as well that you cannot see inside, for it is so exquisite in its decoration and in the personal apparel spread out on the bed that you could scarcely resist making off with something."
The Mermaids' Lagoon
The lagoon is described as an idyllic if treacherous nautical hideaway. Barrie writes, "It is the end of a long playful day on the lagoon. The sun's rays have persuaded him to give them another five minutes, for one more race over the waters before he gathers them up and lets in the moon. There are many mermaids here, going plop-plop, and one might attempt to count the tails did they not flash and disappear so quickly. At times a lovely girl leaps in the air seeking to get rid of her excess of scales, which fall in a silver shower as she shakes them off. From the coral grottoes beneath the lagoon, where are the mermaids' bedchambers, comes fitful music."
