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What, exactly, is the task? How is it completed? What is the lesson?

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What, exactly, is the task? How is it completed? What is the lesson?

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Maurice Sendak provides the central character, Max, with the task of accepting his role within his household. In the beginning of the story, Max's mother is forced to show the structure of power within their home and withhold food after Max threatens to "eat [her] up"(Sendak 5). In his room, Max must understand his role as the child within his house as he dreams. Within his dream, Max is forced to hold the role of a parent and power over wild beings. Max begins to acknowledge the hardships that come with power and gains appreciation for his mother. Max completes his tasks within his imagination and returns to his household "where his supper was waiting for him" (Sendak 20), possessing a new maturity and understanding for his mother and his own role within his home. Sendak exposes the lesson of actions and their consequences as he concludes the story. Further, Max learns of the boundaries that must exist between parents and children to maintain a peaceful and safe environment. - Khamrynn S

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Who is the magical child? How is he different from other children? What are his magical qualities? Who is the magical child saving and from what? What is the lesson?

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Who is the magical child? How is he different from other children? What are his magical qualities? Who is the magical child saving and from what? What is the lesson?

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Max is the magical child in Sendak's writing.  He is different from other children because he is seen as the most wild thing out of everyone. Compared to everyone else, the magical qualities that distinguish him from the rest of the children are his abilities to lead the wild things and also understand his mother. The wild things see Max as their savior so they crown him the king of the wild things and look up to him.  From this, Sendak concretely establishes Max as the magical child as he takes up a leadership role. The wild things seemed to lack an authority figure before Max came around so it can be inferred that they want Max to be the authority figure to save them by keeping them under control.  The wild things need to be tamed but they are unable to be tamed themselves.  Sendak also illustrates this when Max is at home and being wild, so his mother has to "tame" him by sending him to "bed without eating anything" (Sendak 5).  The role of the magical child resonates with the role of a parent like Max's mother, because the wild things, like children, are wild and incapable of keeping themselves under control.  This relates children closely to the wild things in the story. Sendak emphasizes here how the magical child is responsible for being in charge of the wild things, which is figuratively shown through the mother and literally shown through Max who is made "king of all the wild things" ( Sendak 13). Max was able to get an understanding of the role his mother has in his own life on the land of the wild things. - Noah N

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Explain the concept of OTHER as it relates to this text. Look at this from multiple perspectives. How are OTHERS identified?

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Explain the concept of OTHER as it relates to this text. Look at this from multiple perspectives. How are OTHERS identified?

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Maurice Sendak includes the concept of OTHER in his text Where the Wild Things Are which is symbolized through a couple characters.  In the beginning of the book, Max's mother carries this position of the other in the way that she is not like Max, who is wild.  Max is wild as well as all the wild things he encounters, but the mother is never described as being wild. This separates  the mother from the rest of the characters because she is not like them. Through this, Sendak establishes how being wild is normal.  This translates to others, who aren't wild, are not normal.  The concept of other can also be applied to Max.  While Max is with the wild things, they regard him as the "most wild thing of all" (Sendak 12) and is praised by the monsters as a result. The monsters want to make him king as a result.  Both Max being the most wild one and the king makes him not like the monsters, and is instead an other.  While the monsters coexist with each other fine, Sendak reinforces the idea that Max is not like them when Max gets bored of being around the monsters and returns back home. Sendak exemplifies here how an other like Max cannot fit in with individuals that they do not fit in with, like the wild things.  Instead, Max feels more comfortable and not bored when around another other like his mother. - Noah N

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What is the food? What role does it play in the text? Think about the different types of food as they appear in the text.

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What is the food? What role does it play in the text? Think about the different types of food as they appear in the text.

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In the storybook "Where the Wild Things Are" Maurice Sendak illustrates the use of food throughout the text. Food is held over many characters heads as a source of power. In the beginning of the text Max's mom "sent [him] to bed without eating anything" (Sendak 3) as a punishment to his defiance. As a mother she felt threatened by his empty threat because she wants to validate her power over her son. Max later replicates this behavior and sends the "wild things" to bed without their supper. He wanted to feel that same power his mother felt. Max wanted control over something and to maybe see through his mother's eyes to understand her behavior. Although Max wanted to "eat [his mother] up" (Sendak 3) he does not have the authority to even eat without her permission. - Ella R

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Why does Max wear his wolf suit? What, really is the "wild rumpus"? Why do the wild things want to "eat him up"? So... he runs away and his mother leaves warm food? What? Make it make sense?

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Why does Max wear his wolf suit? What, really is the "wild rumpus"? Why do the wild things want to "eat him up"? So... he runs away and his mother leaves warm food? What? Make it make sense?

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Sendak exemplifies the idea of a pack mentality with Max and his wolf suit, and his primal grab for power being held by his mom. Wolves are described as complex and highly intelligent animals who are highly devoted to family, and Max exhibits this whenever he realizes that he wants to be where  someone "loved him best of all" (Sendak 30). He realizes after his grab at power from the "alpha" of his family fails, and after he himself goes through the same experience with the wild things, that he was in the wrong, and that he still needed his family and he is still dependent on them for protection and food. For Max the "wild rumpus" is in his dream, him as a parent and letting him and the "wild things" run wild. He realizes that he quickly gets tired of it, and that it isn't for him. He ends up doing the same as his mother, and sends them off to "bed without supper" (Sendak 29), and trying his best to tame the wild things. He realizes, being in the same position as his mother, that he isn't ready for this, and that he doesn't belong that high up in the power pyramid just yet. When the wild things then say they're going to "eat him up" they sound just like Max, and they quite literally are going to try to kill him in a sense since he's leaving them and not protecting them, basically not letting them have their way. His mother leaving him food is her offering to him, to try to get him to come back in a sense. She still retains her power, and wants to see him calm down, and realize his place, so while she held it over him earlier, she helps him realize his place by giving him his food while it is "still hot" (Sendak 37). Sendak officially cements Max's place in his "pack" or family. He's not ready to be a parent yet, and in a way he tamed himself for his own benefit and future. - Devin N