he's just a boy pretending to be a wolf pretending to be a king. this is douglas' regretful observation of the wild things' newly founded king, max. while douglas would like play make-believe, keeping the status quo for carol's sake, he tries to quell his tempermental friend with a bit of truth. not having it, carol bursts into a fit of rage and is more than ready to eat the "terrible" king who, according to carol, failed to keep them safe and take care of them. echoing max's tantrum with his mother (with the caveat that max has never eaten anyone, just bitten), carol's emotions reach uncontrollable monstrously-sized proportions.
and so, max runs; away from danger and straight into the maternal body of k.w. (the main source of carol's emotional turmoil). its while hiding from carol inside k.w. that max comes to the conclusion he has to go home and be with his mom. max instinctually feels the need for domesticity: the comfort of family and warmth of loving parents. in a sense, max comes back down to size. he recedes from a world where even his wildest imaginations can't conquer the fear of growing up and finds solace in the tranquil housing of a mother's womb.
this fear of aging permeates max's physical and psychological space throughout the film. before he even gets to the island, max is confronted with examples of aging and, as is with most children, internalizes these modes of change into feeling. be they abstract thoughts (like the demise of the sun, among other human catastrophes) or visceral feelings (like the abandonment of a sister who's already grown up), max naturally wants to stabilize the disorder around him. hence his quest to establish order with the wild things. at one point he asks bob and terry (k.w.'s feathery friends) for some wisdom: "how do i make everyone o.k.?" all max is concerned about is the safety and happiness of his friends. to do it he imagines everything from a "sadness shield" to the "ultimate fort."
at home max uses his mom as his own sadness shield. she becomes his protective force when the raw energy of primary emotions like fear, anger, and sadness become to much to tackle alone. after max faces the learned truth that everything is fun and games til someone gets hurt (max under his igloo fort) his mom let's him know that she wouldv'e done something about it. likewise, when max is worried about his mom while she is fixing reports on her computer, she notices max's desire to be with her. from max's point of view (at her feet), she appears as a larger than life figure; surrounding him physically and emotionally. asking him to tell her a story, max authors a tale about a vampire who bit a building, lost his teeth, and was ostricized from his vampire friends because the teeth he lost weren't going to grow back. max's fear of aging is, as he confesses, a fear of leaving behind a time of baby teeth, childhood, and wild things.
