Both Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are depict an inherent struggle between childhood escapism and the desire to return home through their similar use of characterization and setting, and their different uses of rhetorical strategies. Mark Twain’s use of satire and Maurice Sendak’s use of child-like language effectively convey their themes whilst using the power of a child’s perspective. Where the Wild Things Are is a story of a child learning to accept the rules and structure of his home. Max learns that structure and order have their place. He learns that structure and order are only a part of his life, he sees that he can enjoy himself and play, but this time has to have rules. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the child escapes his “home,” because by accepting his “home,” he accepts the racist culture associated with it. The use of the child perspective is crucial to both stories, it adds an innocent maturation, which allows readers to learn through the characters’ experiences.
In both Where the Wild Things Are and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the characters and the setting work together to display an escapist aspect of childhood and evoke the idea of children as free-spirited individuals. The narrative structure in both books is focused on their respective child protagonists. This child-centered structure helps the authors convey the “innocent, wondering” child archetype, which is described as the innocence of a beginning point of life, and through their experiences they mature and form their own opinions and ideologies. The two children seek the wild and fantastical as opposed to the banality of convention. They are curious and have an urge to be freed from the pressures of society and the people around them. Max searches for freedom from his mother when she tries to suppress his “wild” nature. Max is unhappy with his structured home atmosphere, so he imagines a world where he can express his true feelings. This idea of finding himself by escaping his world shows the wondering, explorative child theme. Although Max believes himself to be wild and rebellious, when he arrives in a chaotic world, he comes to rule them with structure and tames the beasts. He usurps the parental role he tries to escape. Max’s adventure to the wild world allows him to understand his home and the necessity of order and structure. Huckleberry Finn also is a symbol of a freedom-searching childhood, this is shown through his adventures down the Mississippi river and through his interactions. His journey is an escape from his “home.” When meeting new people, Huck is quick to devise a story explaining his person and the reason for him being there. Huck is a curious, survivalist child. Most of what Huck does is to preserve himself. Max shows survivalist traits through his leadership of the “wild things.” When he arrives in “the place where the wild things are,” he quickly tames them and acts as their leader. Throughout the stories the children go on wild adventures, interacting with and affected by their surroundings. The setting in Mark Twain’s novel shows how brutal yet home-like nature and life on the river can be. When thinking about his new life on the river, Huck says “there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. you feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (Twain 134). Huck finds comfort in the solitude and openness of being outside.
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Huck’s journey is similar to Max’s wolf suit, as it allows Huck to be someone he is not, by being free and unknown, he is able to portray himself as a completely different person. When meeting new people, Huck often tries to disguise his childlike nature, he takes on a more mature role. For example, Huck dresses up as a girl when meeting a new person. In Where the Wild Things Are Max is seen travelling in his boat to a “wild” world, however he finds short-lived comfort. Max imagines a wild scenery, similar to his animal-like nature, however he realizes that he needs the civilization and comfort of being in a civilized home. Huckleberry Finn does not like civilization, in fact he escapes it every time it is proposed. In the beginning of the novel, he escapes the Widow Douglas’s civilized world, and in the last chapter, he said “aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before” (Twain 296). Each child learned something different from their time away from civilization, Huck embraced it, Max retreated.
Twain’s satiric novel, as told through the words of a child, is meant to bring attention to the racism of the time. By using a young narrator, Twain is able to teach readers the lessons that Huck learns, as he learns them. Because Huck is so young, his thoughts and criticisms are non-threatening. As Huck grows throughout the novel, he questions morality and racism. Huck experiences the “crisis of conscience,” where he has a moral dilemma when deciding whether or not to tell Miss Watson where Jim is or to keep helping him (Twain 222-223). He decides to keep helping him, because he sees Jim as a person instead of a slave, he reminisces about their adventures together and decides he is worth helping. This moral dilemma from an older narrator would not evoke the same feelings. Readers are able to feel a sense of innocence from Huck, an adult narrator would come off more serious and critical, which would not appeal to as large of an audience.
Sendak writes with child-like language to convey the theme of home being safe and a place of belonging and love. He writes his story in an entertaining way to appeal to children. Max imagines a fantastic world away from his frustrating, structured home. In this orderless, imaginary world, Max enforces structure and rules. When he realizes that he is lonely, he goes back to his room and has a sense of belonging. Max realizes his need for structure; he escapes to savagery, whereas Huck escapes from savagery. Both of these stories describe children coming of age and maturing through their experiences. Huck tries to defy the social norms, and he finds he belongs in the wild, free world. He does not belong in the community he was born into. This is another example of Twain using satire to criticize the world of that time; society was so broken this child has to live on his own and free instead of surrounded by the corrupt population. When Max tries to run from his normal life, he tries to recreate it by enforcing the structure he tried to escape.
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