Tuesday, February 7, 2012

My journey narrative is Maurice Sendak's "Where The Wild Things Are". In this particular story, the geographical journey can be seen as a temporal journey Max goes to, meaning the time he spent in his room fantasizing. Within the A-B-A' structure, point A in the story is Max's house where he's being wild and where he returns after his "journey". Point B, the space of transformation, is Max's room which gradually turns into a forest and then into the the world all around.
A conflict in this story is, I think, between fantasy and reality in a way that represents the first steps coming out of childhood. In his house, at the beginning of the story, Max is not allowed to be as wild as he pleases and so he gets sent to his room. In the room, in the fantasy world he creates for himself, he gets to do as he pleases and go completely wild with the wild things. However, in this world Max still feels lonely despite the wild things. He wants to be somewhere where he is loved best, not somewhere where he is pretending, even if he is the king there. So he returns to his room to find his hot supper waiting for him.
Although Max could do whatever he desired in the space of transformation, in his fantasy world, he got bored and started missing his mom, and all the good things moms usually come with. Thus, within that space, he comes to the realization that there are some things that he shouldn't do, that is, be wild and impolite.
So he decides to return to his room, leaving the fantasy world behind him, perhaps even willing to be more careful when wild again.

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