Where the Wild Things Are - Essay Example

Your Where the Wild Things Are Where the Wild Things Are is a children’s book written by Maurice Sendak. It was published in 1963 by Harper and Row. As of 2009, it has sold over ten million copies. It has won the Caldecott Medal which recognizes the best picture book for children in America annually. The book was not widely received at first. In fact, some libraries have banned it. Two years after its publication, though, the teachers noticed that the children love it, and decided to relax their views about the book. What makes the book controversial, or at least not well-received, is the subject of the book itself. The plot of the story centers on a little boy named Max. The first line (sentence) of the story goes, “The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another”. Because of this, Max’s mother got mad at Max and sent him to his room without supper. Max got mad and made his tent, chases his pet dog with a fork, etc. Anyway, he stays in his room and his room starts to change into a different world, a forest. Then a boat comes and he sailed (for more than a year) and to foreign places where it was inhabited by “wild things”. He tamed them by staring at their yellow eyes without blinking and they made him king. They enjoyed themselves, danced the wild rumpus and did what wild things do. This continued for a long time. The Max told the Wild Things to stop and they did. Max then realized that he was lonely and “wanted to be with someone who loved him best of all” and “smelled good things to eat”. Then the wild things persuade him to stay and be their king but Max said “No”. This time, the magic of taming the wild things vanished and they started to be wild things again and Max stepped into his boat and waved goodbye. Then he sailed for a long time again, for more than a year! And then the next scene goes back to his bedroom and then he sees his supper waiting for him, still hot. The book ends with Max smiling, grateful, as we presume that he went back home. The setting of the story is Max’s bedroom and the land of the wild things. However, one can argue that the land of the Wild Things is actually Max’s mind. It his is imagination. The whole story is echoing Freudian aspects. The child is quite angry at being told off by his mother so he makes up a world where he can be king and express his anger. Then these monsters are tamed. Then the child indulges with the monsters and then when he gets tired of the novelty, he quits them and goes back to the room. This time, the room is much bigger. The Freudian thing here is actually rooted on anger management where it was actually therapeutic for him to lash out his anger on his own and then returns to normalcy when it’s over. Anger here is represented by monsters. He tamed them by directly looking at them; it’s as if you can master your problems/emotions by dealing with them directly. It is actually an adult thing to do and realize. Max’s world at the start is small. The illustration is literally small too. As he gains control on his world and the monsters’ world, the illustrations get bigger as well. It even takes two pages in the middle of the book! This means that the world of Max’s, his imagination, is boundless. It is bigger, less bounded (it does not have margins!), prettier and more wonderful. However, back in his bedroom, after he leaves the monsters’ land, the world becomes small again, but it is not as small as his room before, but it has no borders now. This means that he grew, or at least his mind grew, as in he matured. This also reflects that his perspective grew, and his view of the world is bigger. He is a naughty child. He chases his pet dog with a fork and does mischievous things. He is what kids may relate too, as his mother also scolds him and grounds him. He knows that he can’t be mad at his mother because she is his mother. This is his source of frustration, and the readers (the children) can relate with this. This is what makes the story popular with the children. The major theme of the book is the growth that accompanies isolation. The children may not realize it as they are reading the book but they are getting the message that one does expand their experience (thereby learning) by exploring worlds, conquering fears and the things unknown. This may be done subconsciously as the child is too immature to realize this. There is also an element of growing up emotionally. The book is largely lonely it is theme, focusing on a child with imaginary monsters and kingdoms; a child whose mother cast in his bedroom for being mischievous. The child, deep in the story, realized that he can cause pain to others, especially the ones who care about him. He has the power to hurt the people he loves, and this makes up a conflict in him for sure, and he was so adult when he decided with resolute choice that he has to go home. Of course, adults might see him as a selfish little kid but really, he was a child, and is growing up so that makes him forgivable as a “selfish” being. Maurice Sendak is the writer and illustrator of the book. Back in the 60’s, this book is revolutionary as it broke the notion of children’s books being “nice” and tame. This, for that time, was… wild. It featured scary images of monsters, a “rebel” child and no adult in the story. The book illustrations are also dark. It is almost monochromatic. The dark illustrations, the monster subjects were deemed to be too mature for children at the time it was released, but right now, it isn’t so. In fact, the monsters are cute, in a weird way and it actually helps children in adapting and relating to “bad stuff” in their life. The illustration technique employed is cross-hatching, which lends to the darkness of the tone of the illustrations. The technique also conveys a bit of chaos, as the lines are a bit scraggly and messy, as a characteristic of cross-hatching. The illustrations are also silly sometimes, and life is silly sometimes too. The good thing about this book is that it does not only appeal to the child, but to the adult as well, in a matter of nine sentences. Everyone who reads this can relate, from the simplicity of venting out anger and realizing that being with people who love you are better than being alone. The book’s illustrations are great, complementing the theme and the dark story. The emotions, the conflict, the dynamics of the relationship of the characters are all relatable to readers, children or not. This makes for a very entertaining read, and this makes the book successful. Reference: Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Print. Read More