Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is a classic children’s book. This is a picture book and it is easy to read. Having finally read it as an adult, I have no idea why this book is so celebrated.
Where the Wild Things Are is about a boy, who was sent to bed by his mother without dinner, because he ran amuck around the house in a wolf suit. In other words, he was just acting like an animal. The boy’s bedroom disappeared and he was outside. He sailed in a boat to Where the Wild Things Are and he became their leader. They played like wild animals, but then the boy missed his mother and sailed home. His bedroom returned. The boy found his dinner in his room, which was still warm.
I read the story to a six-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy. We had a debate as to whether the little boy really travelled away from his home to a land of monsters or whether he was in his room the whole time and had dreamed or imagined the adventure in the land of monsters. The six-year-old girl was convinced he had travelled away from home to the land of monsters. I think the boy never left home. I think he just fell asleep and dreamed playing with monsters. That is why he did not hear or see his mother bringing a plate of food to his room. He woke up and found it still warm. The mother just needed him to take a time out and to calm down.
The pictures are interesting. I have never seen anything like it. Maurice Sendak drew the illustrations. They are not the most beautiful looking illustrations, but they are memorable for Sendak’s story.
Even though I was able to have a debate over the interpretation of this book with a six-year-old girl, I am really not excited about this book. It is not an ordinary children’s book. However, I think it is a children’s book for adults.
The themes about savagery and civilization is reminiscent of The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian story. Gilgamesh befriends a wild man, who behaved like an animal. When the wild man consumed bread and wine, the animals perceived him to be civilized and didn’t like him anymore. Consuming processed food such as bread and wine made the wild man different in the eyes of the animals. The story of the wild man within The Epic of Gilgamesh answers the question, “What makes humans civilized?”
In Sendak’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, the boy was wearing a wolf suit and behaving like an animal. His mother punished him by withholding dinner or cooked food. His room was taken over by a forest. The smell of cooked food brought him home to civilization. The forest retreated from his bedroom. The boy had returned to civilization. In Where the Wild Things Are as in the story of the wild man within The Epic of Gilgamesh, processed food is the symbol of civilization. In Sendak’s story, cooked food is what separates us from wild animals. A child, who has never read The Epic of Gilgamesh, might not interpret the themes as I have. Adults, who have read The Epic of Gilgamesh in college as I have, might not agree with my interpretations of the themes.
Though the children paid attention to my reading this book to them, it was not one of their favorites or mine. They did not ask me to read it to them numerous times as was the case with other picture books. Once was just enough. This is a serious story about a child, who was misbehaving and was punished. Also, this story is symbolic, defining what exactly makes us civilized or different from wild animals according to Maurice Sendak.
Reference
Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. New York: HarperCollins, 1963.
Sandars, N.K., ed. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972.
Links:
Where the Wild things Are at HarperCollins Site
Where the Wild Things Are on Amazon.com
Where the Wild Things Are on Barnes & Noble
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