{"id":425,"date":"2022-03-01T19:32:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T19:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/?p=425"},"modified":"2022-03-01T19:32:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T19:32:47","slug":"blog-post-6-wild-in-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/2022\/03\/01\/blog-post-6-wild-in-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog Post 6: “Wild” in Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In both Hemingway\u2019s The Good Lion<\/em> and Maurice Sendak\u2019s Where the Wild Things Are<\/em>, wildness is portrayed in the form of short stories which can be interpreted by both children and adults. In Hemingway\u2019s written piece, the theme of domestic vs wild is embedded through the tail of a \u201cgood lion\u201d who has a more sophisticated, civilized taste compared to the \u201cbad lions\u201d living in Africa who are deemed as savage. The first writer used the word \u201cwicked\u201d in describing the African lions who like to kill and eat animals\/humans rather than pasta and wine. In one instance, Hemingway describes the lioness \u201cwho was the wickedest of them all\u201d as a savage hunter with \u201cyellow eyes..[and] blood caked on her whiskers.\u201d These beastly characteristics \u201cfrightened the good lion very much\u201d and evoke the sense of fear from the audience regarding the bad lions. This use of descriptive imagery paints wickedness to be synonymous with untameness and savagery- something that is seen as less civilized compared to other beings. In similar light, Sendak uses the word \u201cwild\u201d to describe abnormal, strange beasts that the main character discovers after sailing to an imaginative place. The wild things \u201croared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth,\u201d depicting the savagery of the beasts the young boy had encountered. The repetition of the word \u201cterrible\u201d suggests that these beasts are not friendly, and things that should be feared. This use of the word \u201cwild\u201d in Where the Wild Things Are <\/em>is most similar to the uncivilized use of \u201cwicked\u201d in The Good Lion.<\/em> On the other hand, Sendak describes the young boy as a \u201cwild thing\u201d,\u00a0 in addition to the beasts, after causing trouble in his home. This use of the word takes on a meaning that is closer to a theme of good vs evil rather than domestic vs wild. In this case, a well-mannered child would be considered normal\/good whereas a child chasing the family dog or hammering holes into the wall (pictures from the book) would be described as \u201cwild\u201d and bad. This definition is slightly different than the savagery and uncivilized meanings \u201cwildness\u201d takes on in both short stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vivian Nguyen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In both Hemingway\u2019s The Good Lion and Maurice Sendak\u2019s Where the Wild Things Are, wildness is portrayed in the form of short stories which can be interpreted by both children and adults. In Hemingway\u2019s written piece, the theme of domestic … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-welcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}