The Development Of Children In Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are

When one thinks of a children's picture book, one usually thinks of bright colors and a story that involves a princess and a prince charming. One of the most classic children's books, Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, however, neither uses bright colors nor a traditional love story. Instead the readers meet a young boy, Max, who, when sent to his room without dinner, imagines a far off land. We meet his friends, "the wild things", and learn that Max is the "most wild thing of all". Those aforementioned trends are not the only aspects that set Where The Wild Things Are apart from other children's picture books. Its structure, plot, and message all

Children’s books have been a key aspect of childhood since we can remember. You were read to as a child and then learned to read those same books on your own as you grew up. The roles and norms that we learn growing up have a strong influence done by those that are in the children’s books we have read. Especially in children’s books, social constructionism takes a main role in the messages we are supposed to recognize and take from these books, as children.

Childhood is arguably the most exciting time of a person’s life. One has few responsibilities or cares, and the smallest events can seem monumentally thrilling. Often, people reflect on the memories of their youth with fondness and appreciation for the lessons they learned. Sarah Orne Jewett captures this essence perfectly in the excerpt from “A White Heron.” Jewett uses many literary devices, including diction, imagery, narrative pace, and point of view to immerse the reader in familiar feelings of nostalgia and wonder, and dramatize the plot.

When Max arrives in the land of wild things, the features of the monsters at first glance might seem scary and overpowering. The creatures are large and have sharp horns, claws, and teeth. However, upon closer examination, other details are noticed that make the wild things seem much more agreeable. The wild things are all smiling and one of the wild things actually has “human” feet and another has female human hair. The text also emphasizes the creatures’ agreeable nature when Max stares into their yellow eyes without blinking and tells them to “BE STILL!” They become frightened and make Max the king of all wild things. Their deference to Max is apparent in the illustrations—bowing, eyes gazing downward or closed, submissive posture. Max now has complete control and declares “let the wild rumpus start!” The wild things are obeying the commands of a child, just as Max had obeyed the commands of his mother when he was sent to bed without any supper. The book’s climax on the next few pages is exemplified by the use of full-page illustrations, without text, of Max and the wild things celebrating their “wildness” together. An activity for younger children could be to create their own “wild thing” mask or paper bag puppets using paper, scissors, yarn, eyes, etc.

Where the Wild Things Are, a children’s book written by Maurice Sendak, is not only directed to young children, but has an underlying message that is intended for older generations to receive. This message, only used to enhance the meaning of the story, describes the addiction for one to have power and be in control. As the story goes on, the realization sets in that maybe the desire for power is not the best, at all times. The use of oppression becomes evident in this story, through Max, the main character, as he strives to control everything around him. Maurice Sendak uses repetition and parallelism in the imagery and text of Where the Wild Things Are to show Max’s progression to assume power and eventually discard it.

“I’ll eat you up!” Where the Wild Things Are is an American movie released in 2009 that centres on Max, a rather mad young boy who in the end changes to become that of the ideal child. Through Max’s growth, Director Spike Jonze displays that different Transcendentalist tenets are still a valid aspect of our culture, and that writers such as Thoreau and Emerson still have their influence. Transcendentalists from the 1800s, such as those previously mentioned, have values generalized into living purely as who you are, and living simply. Where the Wild Things Are reproduces these Transcendentalist ideas into modern society: peace in nature, civil disobedience with free-thought, and the importance of self-reliance.

When readers read a story written by an author they will usually think that the author likes to read books and is what led the author to writing a book. William Goldman said, “As a child, I had no Interest in reading” (Goldman 3), this can lead readers to imagining the author as a young child rather than an adult not wanting to read a book. When Readers imagine the author as a young child the image imagined can give a better sense of how the author felt as a young child. The imagination of a child giving the reader a picture to think about is less complex than that of a adult giving a reader a picture to think about.

The article “Toddlers in Tiaras” by Skip Hollandsworth discusses the beauty pageant industry and its harmful effects in the young girls who participate. He gives many examples of beauty pageant contestants. He describes their appearances and attitudes which seem to match those of adult women. Specifically, he refers to 6-year-old Eden Wood who is commonly known from the reality television show Toddlers & Tiaras. The author describes how Eden’s personal stylist does her hair, makeup, and touches up her spray tanned body with bronzer before a pageant (Hollandsworth 490). I believe that the intended audience for this article is the mothers of these young girls and anyone in the public he can convince. Hollandsworth uses a couple aspects of Toulmin and they are rebuttal and qualifiers.

After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for

Firstly, the writer portrays the world of children through the first person narrative which encapsulates young Leo’s fresh, spontaneous optimism and hope towards the dawning of a new era, ‘My dreams for the twentieth century, and for myself, were coming true’(Chapter 1. p. 28). Therefore, this device allows the reader direct access to the intensity yet simplicity of a child’s point of view and enhances Leo’s personal

Children’s literature has existed for as long as there have been stories to be told to children. Stories, books, songs, poems are all made for children. Children’s literature does not have a definite definition of what it is; basically, it is anything a child reads (Lerer, 2008). Children begin to learn what reading and writing are used for before even knowing how the system works. Children recognise the function of written language by seeing examples of written language that are being used around them. Many children know the difference between reading and talking, they are aware that written language is used to do things in this world (Emitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff and Pollock, 2015). Quintilian, John Locke, Saint Augustine and Doctor Seuss speculated on the ways children learn the Australian language and learn about their lives from literature (Lerer, 2008). In fact, Lerer states that “the history of children’s literature is inseparable from the history of childhood, for the child was made through texts and tales he/she studied, heard and told back,” (2008, p.1). Children’s literature nurtures an understanding of narrative structures and visual images played in storytelling, this helps develop

Genie is a wild child who found in LA on 1970, she is a very extreme case of neglected the caretaking from adult. Her father believed she is retarder She spent her first thirteen years on tiding at the potty chair and still wearing diaper, she had never see, listen, being taught of anything in her life. For the past many years she had been isolation and lack of adult care make her the way she is right now.

The three titles of Maurice Sendak’s famous picture book trilogy, Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, and Outside Over There, name what Judith Butler calls “zones of uninhabitability,” places of abjection that form the borders of the self as both its constitutive outside and its intimate interior. These are dangerous places in the geography of childhood, places where the child’s very life and sense of self is threatened. More frightening still, they are present places, places that exist in the same time that the child inhabits, rather than the once upon a mythical time of fairy tales and legends. Hence they are places that beckon the

Children were not thought of in the past the way they are in the present. We should be grateful that we are in an era where the education and development of the child is a priority. Though the past relationship between children and literature was inhuman and nonexistant, it was a starting point in which we grew from. How can we see growth if we cannot look back at the past mistakes that were made? After reading the lecture I notice progression. While some modes are not still with us, other forms have taken its place. The Abandoning Mode Still takes place. Instead of wetnurses, there are nannies, and while foster families has not left Children's homes, and juvinile trainning schools have come

Children’s literature are saturated with animal stories as there is a thriving market in which majority of the bestselling children’s books incorporate anthropomorized characters, characters that are ascribed human attributes. However, the use of anthropomorphism has become a controversial device in the realm of children’s literature. The debate lies on the continuum of anthropomorphism being beneficial or detrimental to children’s’ learning. However, animal stories continue to populate children’s literature, making the incorporation of anthropomorized characters a marketable product. Yet, why has anthropomorphic literature proved to be so endearingly popular? What purpose do they serve, if any? The main objective of this prospectus is to explore the various children’s books that incorporate anthropomorphism in order to identify and understand the purpose of this device.