Relaying the full meaning of a story through words and pictures is sometimes difficult, especially in books that are written for children.  They are just learning to read and put the story together.  That is where the use of archetypes or cultural touchstones can be used to convey a greater meaning than just what is said on the printed and illustrated page.  Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak uses the archetypical stages of a hero to show its greater meaning.  The "Hero's Journey" was formulated and explained by Joseph Campbell in his 1948 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  Using the stages of hero development laid out by Campbell we can analyze Sendak's work.  We can see how Sendak's character Max goes from the ordinary world, through the extraordinary, and then back home, perhaps wiser.  

The story begins with a character named Max who is exploring his wild side.   He dresses in a wolf suit and his face displays anger and defiance.  Mischievous and bored, he is stands on two books while holding a large nail and an extremely large hammer.  He is using these tools to hang a line of blankets and create a dark space.   This is a symbol of how small he must feel and how bad he is trying to escape. The angry look on his face shows the reader that he is unhappy and ready to act like a wild thing.  On the next page with Max running after the dog with a fork in his hand and his claw extended outward to scare the dog.  This is “the ordinary world of the hero with its suffering, boredom and neurotic anguish.” In the background a picture is hanging on the wall and is a picture of a wild thing drawn by Max.  This is a symbol of how he feels inside.  

Nevertheless, this feeling of rage gets him sent to his room with no dinner because he couldn’t refrain from saying “I’ll eat you up.”  This is where the ordinary world changes and there is suffering of no dinner.  This can be seen in the illustrations by Max showing an expression of great attitude with his hand on his hip and a defiant facial expression as he looks at the door.  He is very angry and we begin to see his room transform into a fantasy forest.   

As Max’s bedroom transforms into a forest, he continues to act mischievous and looks quite pleased with his “wild self.”   Max crosses the threshold from his ordinary room into the forest that will lead him on his wild journey. Max sailed “night and day” in his own private boat.  The boat takes Max on the next stage of his journey, “a call to adventure when the ordinary world is no longer endurable and the hero is ripe for change.  It is in this boat that Max has his first encounter with a wild thing.  During this encounter, Max proves to himself that he can ward off the monsters.  However, the look on Max’s face shows that he is actually scared.  This is the stage in Max’s journey where he, “crosses the first threshold and begins to feel really weird, and gets very scared.”  He may be feeling as if this were a mistake until he reaches land and is greeted by a pack of wild things. These wild things did all they could to intimidate Max, but it did not work.  

It is in this next stage that Max “glimpses the dark side of his true, hidden self, the side he’s always denied for most of his life.”  Max realizes that he too is wild.  He does not fear these wild things, instead he sees himself as one of them.  The monsters are a representation of Max’s wild side.  Typically, children are afraid of monsters, so this is a good representation of Max’s fear to let loose his complete wild side. He believes that being wild is bad because he has been punished for this behavior by his parents.  However, once on the island, Max again uses the power of his wild side to awe and control these wild monsters.  The wild things “were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all.”  The picture lends to the text by showing the reader the fear and awe in the monsters towards Max.  

Next, the wild things make him “king of all the wild things” and the pictures show a proud, confident Max in control, with the monsters bowing at his feet, but his journey is not complete.  During this stage, he must “use those parts of his true self that terrorized him and shamed him before”, his wild side.  So he declares to the monsters, “Let the wild rumpus start!”  The illustrations depict the monsters and Max dancing and jumping under a full moon.  The full moon symbolizes the time most likely for things to act their wildest.  They continue on like this through the night and the next day and night.  Dancing and jumping around, climbing in trees, sharing the camaraderie of each other’s wildness.  This image is a representation of Max’s innermost desire to be wild and unruly, free to act and be a child without the rules and restrictions of adults.

Max has reached the next stage where he “attempts to use those parts of his true self that terrified and shamed him before.”  You can see the joy in Max's face as he howls at the moon, hangs from the tree branches, and being paraded on the shoulders of the wild things.  Max is now in full control of the wild things.  He stops the wildness and sends the wild things off to bed without supper, but they don't look angry like he did when his mom sent him to bed.  This is symbolic of the stage, “Reward for Seizing the Sword when the hero slowly discovers new passion and begins to feel a steady, daily glow from harnessing the power of his true self.”  However, this is quickly followed by the next stage, “The Road Back.”

Max realizes that being wild isn't all he wants.  He also misses something.  He decides that it is time to return home.  The wild things plead with him to not go!  "We'll eat you up- we love you so!"  Then they gnash their teeth, eyes, ears, claws.  This scene shows Max being happy, while the wild things are not.  He has discovered that he can be wild, but that sometimes it is important to follow the rules and behave.  He loves the wild things very much, but he is done being wild and is ready to return to where “someone loved him best of all.”  Max begins his voyage back.

Back in his room, it looks the same, but he doesn't.  His wild costume is coming off and he looks happy.  This is the last step in his “resurrection”, a return to the well-behaved Max.  He is ready to be back home and stop acting WILD.  He has returned to his home but also to the love of his mother.  Her love for him is shown by the supper she has left out, still warm.  The dinner is a symbol that even though he can sometimes be wild she still loves him.

from reality of misery without dinner  to escaping to fantasy world in the forest with wild things, Max realizes that though he would love the freedom to be wild, mischievous and in control of his environment, that in the end, it wasn’t what he expected.  Suddenly, the fantasy world of running around acting like monsters with no rules and boundaries isn’t as appealing to him.  Max is ready to return home where dinner is ready and warm and where he has the love of his mother.  This is detailed not only in the text, but also in his character’s transformation from the wolf suit and claws to a nice well behaved boy.  The hero’s journey is complete, with Max being back in the ordinary world, but he has grown internally over the course of his trip.  He is now content in his home and in his own skin.