Summary
One night, a young boy named Max makes mischief in a wolf suit. Although the writing itself does not specify, a series of illustrations depicts Max hammering a nail into a wall in order to string a curtain up, and also chasing a small white dog with a fork. In both images, he wears a wolf suit: a white, full-body garment with a bushy black tail and pointy ears emerging from the hood.
As a result of his mischief, Max's mother calls him "wild thing," but Max is not remorseful and retorts back, "I'll eat you up!" Max's mother sends him to bed without dinner.
Alone in his room, an illustration depicts Max still in his wolf suit, frowning over his shoulder at the shut door. But that night, a forest grows in Max's room. At first, the illustrations show trees filling the bedroom. But in the next image, Max's bedroom has virtually disappeared in lieu of a lush forest. Max appears pleased at this development, one wolf-suited foot hoisted up mid-movement and a hand to his mouth as he giggles with glee. The text confirms that Max's bedroom has transformed into a forest, and the subsequent illustration depicts Max prancing in front of the full moon in a forest complete with green trees and red, spiked vegetation.
An ocean appears next to the forest, along with a private boat with Max's name etched into the side of the hull. Max gets in and sails through time—days, weeks, even a year—encountering an ocean kraken along the way. When the boat arrives at the place where the wild things are, he is greeted by their terrible roars, teeth, eyes, and claws. The illustration depicts a variety of large creatures with a variety of hairstyles and faces. Although they are definitely monstrous, they appear smile at Max's arrival. Max tells them to be still and tames them with the trick of staring into their yellow eyes without blinking until they grow frightened. The wild things declare Max to be the most wild thing of all, and appoint him their king.
Now king of the wild things, Max declares the start of a "wild rumpus." The text ceases, but a series of illustrations shows the rumpus. First, Max and the wild things howl and dance at the full moon, similar to Max's first howl at the moon when his room had just transformed into the forest. In the next scene, it appears to be daytime as Max and the wild things hang from tree limbs. Most of them appear to have smiles on their faces, except two wild things who face off in the corner. In the next image, Max rides a wild thing's back, wearing a crown and wielding a scepter, as the wild things prance along in a line.
The next page, with both illustrations and text, shows the wild rumpus coming to a close. Max halts the shenanigans and sends the wild things to bed without supper. As they sit under their trees and nod off, Max becomes lonely. He starts to crave being somewhere where someone loves him "best of all"—presumably, back at home with his mother.
Then, from far away, Max smells good things to eat. That is the last straw for Max, and he gets in his boat to sail away. The wild things do not want him to leave and tell Max that they love him. Just as when Max first arrived, they roar and show their teeth and eyes and claws. But Max waves goodbye and sails through time again until he reaches his bedroom. At home, his supper is waiting for him, still hot.
Analysis
Max's solitary play at the start of Where the Wild Things Are, unusual for a boy of his age, provides a hint to the loneliness and emotional turmoil at the heart of the story. Max is alone for his evening of mischief-making, without friends or siblings. A father figure is also notably absent. Instead, the dynamic between Max and his mother takes center stage. Max's mother is the one to discipline him when he lashes out at her. These absences create an opportunity in the text for readers to pay attention to the loneliness that may be at the root of Max's mischief and misbehaving.
When Max conjures a world far away from his mother's discipline, Sendak weaves a masterful emotional journey into his experience. As if in direct answer to a silent plea to travel far, far away from his mother and his home, a private boat arrives. As he sails away, Max is the picture of contentment. A small smile plays on his lips; one hand rests on his hip and the other jauntily on the edge of the boat. The sky is bright with a hint of stormy weather, providing both security and thrill. And as he sails away through an undeterminable amount of time, Max gains distance from the scene of conflict. Sendak seems to be signaling the importance of getting some space from the emotions of an argument.
When Max finally arrives at the land of the wild things, they roar, gnash their teeth, roll their eyes, and show their claws. The wild things seem to be acting as physical incarnations of Max's most terrible feelings in response to the emotional turmoil of his home life. But although the peak of Max's anger has transported him to the wild things, the boat ride has given him some distance from those feelings. Now, he is prepared to fully engage with those terrible emotions. After a gleeful "wild rumpus" with the wild things, Max finds that his anger and fierce longing for escape subside. The wild things settle down for a night sleep, and Max becomes ready to go home to his mother and to his dinner. In this sense, the arc of "Where the Wild Things Are" suggests a lesson about the importance of engaging directly with emotions, even scary ones like anger.
But the wild things do not only represent the dark side of Max's emotions. Even as they gnash their teeth and display their fearful features, some of them seem to smile. They even appear gesture at Max with a friendly wave rather than a threatening shake of their claws. As their romp continues, the creatures' light-hearted facial expressions persist. They smile as they make their mischief, howling at the moon and hanging from the treetops. They even fall asleep easily when Max sends them to bed, looking almost cute beneath the treetops. By creating his wild things with a hint of lightheartedness, Sendak indicates that Max's terrible emotions are nothing to truly be afraid of.
