All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness.

[zxtonl]

All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness.


This is a sentence from "Peter Pan". How is this sentence grammatically structured? Thanks.

 

[Tdol]

Why don't you have a go first?

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum, zxtonl. :hi:

Please note that I have added the sentence you're asking us about to the main body of your post. Please don't just put the relevant sentence in the title.

 

[zxtonl]

All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness.


This is a sentence from "Peter Pan". How is this sentence grammatically structured? Thanks.

This sentence is beyond the grasp of my learner's mind. Let me try to rewrite it:

When he comes to you to be (a friend of) yours, all (that) he thinks (and that) he has right to is fairness.

But I don't think my understanding is right.

To give you a context, below is the whole paragraph:
Not the pain of this but its unfairness was what dazed Peter. It made him quite helpless. He could only stare, horrified. Every child is affected thus the first time he is treated unfairly. All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness. After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but will never afterwards be quite the same boy. No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter. He often met it, but he always forgot it. I suppose that was the real difference between him and all the rest.

 

[GoesStation]

I'm afraid there still isn't quite enough context to understand the sentence. What does this refer to in the first sentence?

If it's unfair treatment from a parent, then when he comes to you to be yours means "when he's born and becomes a member of your family".

 

[jutfrank]

Since this is from Peter Pan, I can't help thinking that with comes to you to be yours Barrie is talking not just about parentage but also about orphanage, both of which I've always considered to be themes of the story. Or perhaps it's meant even more widely, in reference to any adult that the child puts in a position of trust.

What does this refer to in the first sentence?

Peter is fighting Hook on the rocks. Peter gains the higher ground over Hook, and seeing that he has an unfair advantage, offers Hook a hand, to pull him up to an even level. At this honourable gesture, Hook bites Peter's hand!

(I know this book pretty well. I've even adapted and directed it as a stage play.)