James Matthew Barrie, author and playwright, is known for his works (Markgraf). One would assume that someone who wrote works so full of imagination and creativity would have the greatest happiness. This idea is not true in Barrie's case, but even though he had to face such a tragedy, his works are still mostly cheerful. James Matthew Barrie's strong themes combined with deep symbolism and irony are woven into his books and give each of his works a sense of magic and whimsical emotion, allowing Barrie to express the childhood he missed and which essentially desired. James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. His mother and father, David Barrie and Margaret Ogilvy, had ten children. Only seven of their children survived and Barrie was the youngest child (Billone ix). When Barrie was just seven years old, his brother David died in a skating accident. David was his mother's favorite son. David's death deeply saddened his mother, which led James to decide to try to take his brother's place. Although Barrie tried, his attempts were never successful. Barrie lost his own childhood because he tried to live his brother's (Dunbar 10-14). Thus, it seems that he spent the rest of his life, consciously or unconsciously, trying to regain it as revealed in his work. Barrie had simple beginnings, but was well educated. He attended the prestigious Dumfries Academy for five years. In 1882 he went to the University of Edinburgh and obtained a master's degree in English literature. Barrie began working for the Nottingham Journal in 1883 and then continued to work as a freelance journalist in 1885. Barrie published his first work, Better Dead, in 1887. This publication b...... middle of paper.... ..4. Print.Hunter, Lynette. "JM Barrie's Islands of Fantasy." Modern Drama 23.1 (March 1980): 65-74. Rpt. in twentieth-century literary criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. vol. 164. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Network. March 29, 2011.Markgraf, Carl. "The elusive Barrie." J.M. Barrie: An annotated secondary bibliography. Greensboro: ELT Press, 1989. vii-xiii. Rpt. in twentieth-century literary criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. vol. 164.Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Network. March 29, 2011.No, Alfred. "The boy who didn't want to grow up." The Bookman 29.171 (December 1905):107-115. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Gerard J. Senick. vol. 16.Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. Literature Resource Center. Network. March 29. 2011.