Conflict In Maurice Sendak's 'Where The Wild Things Are'

What if you could create your own world to avoid conflict in your life? In the story, Where the wild things are, that is exactly what Max is trying to do. When Max is sent to his room as a punishment for his behavior, he begins a journey to work through the conflict in his life that has just taken place. The story states Max was leaving his own world “He sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day” pg. 31 in order to escape his room and his punishment. Throughout the story the way his room looks is beginning to change. When he entered his room, it looked normal, however over the next several pages, it literally changes into a jungle. These changes truly give the impression that a lot of time has passed. It is said that

Maurice Sendak shares a lot of details with the reader, to help them see that Max is in a world of make believe:

At the beginning and the end of the adventure, he sails to and back from the land where the wild things are on an ocean that formed in his bedroom.

Throughout the adventure it seems Max is trying to work through his actions and what he did, in order to determine if he should change his behavior. He creates a game with the monsters, doing all the same things he was doing earlier in the evening before he got in trouble. It was interesting that he punished the Wild Things in the exact same way his mother punished him and sent them to bed without any supper. Pg. 29 Max is also beginning to realize what he did wrong when observing the monsters doing the same things. He seems to be learning throughout the adventure from his mistake. Sometimes we all do things we would like to take back or escape from. The story shows that Max is beginning to realize maybe his actions caused him to be sent to his room and punished. Max now wants to return back home to his family, his real reality. In the world he has created, it is a long and treacherous journey home. In order for him to take this trip, he must feel very special and connected to the people he’s trying to get back to. The world he created, has helped him work through his conflict, resolve the issues he was facing, helped him realize his family loves him and helped him realize that sometimes we all need to behave better. Sometimes we all need to look at things from another perspective. Max created his new world to do just that. In the new world, he was the king,