Patrick Dwyer

Where The Wild Things argon As humans we instinctively feel the need and desire to belong. When we truly belong to something we achieve a brain of acceptance, love and to stir upherness. Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is a childrens book that explores the concepts of be and in contrast, not belonging. It is a very simple story accompanied by large, rich pictures. The text and pictures equilibrate each other, each enriching the sense of alienation for the responder. goo is a mischievous young boy who displays aspects of childishness irritation and loneliness. He lives in a foundation with limited freedom as he is a child.It becomes clear to the responder through the positioning of the character on the page, the vector of the boys waste gaze as well as the neutral, b set ashore colours used that Max feels like he doesnt belong in the dry land he calls home. The pictures at the beginning of the story are quite an unengaging compared to the bright, richly textured p ages that follow. This sense of not belonging leads to Max fantasising and creating a whole new world within his imagination. In this world Max is king, there is no one to tell him what to do and how he must act. In this place Max is completely accepted and the most important part of the gaga things world.Max wears a wolf suit during the story, it shows the responder that Max is disguising who he really is and that the suit enables him to escape from reality. Whilst Max is wearing this suit he becomes a wild thing and he thinks that his behaviour is acceptable. Max is push button his family away, but he is also wishing to obtain a sense of belonging, love and acceptance. He finds this sense of belonging with his new wild friends. Throughout the text, the composer portrays a range of emotions felt by Max. He last gets what he wants, a place of unlimited freedom and acceptance, but still is not happy.He needs to be where someone loves him best of all. So he repays to the comfort a nd familiarity of his bedroom, where his mum had left his supper, still warm. inning is an important visual element of Where The Wild Things Are as Maxs imagination grows, the illustrations get larger until they fill the whole page. Early in the book, before Maxs imagination takes him to the land of the wild things, we see a hand drawn picture of a wild thing abeyance on his wall. He has thought about the wild things before and has been forming a plan in his mind.Max has practically felt like he doesnt belong and has imagined belonging somewhere else, in an imaginary world where he makes all the rules and is king. The text regularly refers to Max as king, but he doesnt appear to be enjoying his job much. He looks sad, bored and lonely and begins to long for his home, which is a place where he does belong. Where The Wild Things Are links quite closely to the set text Romulus, My Father. Both texts bring an informative tone and both contain the central theme of belonging. Both tex ts use imagery to catch up with the sense of not belonging, which then leads to belonging.In Where The Wild Things Are the lack of belonging is shown through Maxs escape from reality, but then the sense of belonging is shown through Maxs desire to return home, to which he realises is where he belongs. This links to the set text Romulus, My Father where the lack of belonging is shown through Romuluss inability to reduce the cultural barrier between him and the rest of the community, but then the sense of belonging is shown when the community look at how hard Romulus works and therefore appreciate him, in which he belongs. By Pat Dwyer