That Sendak chooses to use animals to trace these movements is instructive. The story’s narrative arc tracks the exploits of a boy who transforms himself into a hybrid creature, a wolf-man who enters into “uncivilized space” to reign over beasts.
Yet it is through this experience that Max-as-animal realizes that his true home is with other humans. He thus performs a second metamorphosis, one that brings him back, temporarily at least, into the realm of humanity. By making the conscious decision to accept his dinner, he displays a psychic integration and signals his willingness to agree to the demands that civilization places upon him.
Sendak’s exploration of identity formation through inter-species communication has a rich history in anthropological studies. It is through our reflections on animals, this research suggests, that we begin to formulate our understanding of humanity. Claude Lévi-Strauss’s seminal study of totemistic cultures makes precisely this point. After noting that clans typically associate themselves with animals, he observes that these associations have nothing to do with practical concerns, such as dietary needs. Rather, clans select certain animals as totems because they clarify relationships with their human neighbors: “natural species are chosen” he asserts, “not because they are ‘good to eat,’ but because they are ‘good to think’” (89).