We do not realize then that their repressive nature is the result of their own repression by internalized forces. This logical inconsistency on Max's part is an indication of the conflict going on inside him. His cathexis to the mother and all she represents is proving stronger than his cathexis to freedom. The wild things awake and have now introjected Max as an ego ideal, just as Max has introjected his mother. Clearly, to eat is to love.
All children wish for omnipotence, freedom, and revenge against repressive forces.
Society works through Sendak to keep him from ending the story with Max and the wild things leading a life of Edenic anarchy on the island. In addition, our own societal implants cause us to approve of the story as it is and cluck our tongues at the cuteness of it all. His is a particularly God-like position, and it is interesting to note that Christianity solves the problem of God's solitude by providing Him with a son and by positing the love between these two entities as a third entity, the Holy Spirit. Of course, God is not subject to repression and represses us, if at all, only to better or punish us. This is society's excuse for repression as well.