... great and refining and uplifting benefaction to this sordid and money-mad age; and the next best play is a long way behind- (qtd. in Jack 158). Tellingly, Twain's comment that Peter Pan is uplifting seems to depend on ignoring the fact that each of the "lost- boys is a baby ... and so all women within those communities became suspect (Clark 644). This hyper-vigilance gave rise to suspicion about female desire. Wrote Henry Mayhew in London Labour and the London Poor in 1862, " Literally, every woman who yields to her passions and loses her virtue is a prostitute'- (qtd. in Clark 642). .....

• Word Count: 7291
• Approx Pages: 29
• Grade Level: Undergraduate