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Freak the Mighty is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1993, it was followed by the novel Max the Mighty in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, developmentally disabled, but kind-hearted boy, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed "Freak", who is physically disabled but very intelligent.
Loretta remembers that Freak is Gwen’s son. Iggy kicks the boys out and they run home. The school year begins, and Max finds himself in the same class as Freak.
Though his real name is Kevin, Max usually refers to him as Freak. The boys become friends when Freak and his mom, Gwen, move in down the street. Freak is a shock for Max, both because Freak doesn’t treat Max with fear and suspicion and because Freak is extremely smart.
Explanation of the famous quotes in Freak the Mighty, including all important speeches, comments, quotations, and monologues.
- Overview
- Plot
- Characters
is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1993, it was followed by the novel Max the Mighty in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, very slow, but kind-hearted boy, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed "Freak", who is physically handicapped but very intelligent. Kevin is diagnosed with Morquio syndrome.
The novel was adapted for the screen under the title The Mighty by Charles Leavitt; the film was shot in Toronto, Canada and Cincinnati, Ohio, and directed by Peter Chelsom, and released in 1998.
The novel is set in a version of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the beginning of the book, Maxwell Kane is introduced as a young boy with low self-esteem. He lives with his grandfather, Grim, and grandmother, Gram. Max thinks of himself as a butthead. People are afraid of him because he looks like his father, Kenny "Killer" Kane, a convicted murderer. Max talks about meeting a boy named Kevin "Freak" Avery in daycare, who Max likes due to Kevin's leg braces and cruthces.
Kevin and his mother, Gwen "Guinevere" Avery move into the house next to Max's. Max and Freak slowly start to develop a friendship after Max saves Freak's ornithopter from a tree. At a 4th of July fireworks show, the duo are confronted by Tony "Blade" D and his goons. They are chased by Tony after Kevin roasts the former by calling him a cretin. They end up in a muddy milpond. Freak gets the attention of the cops, who drives off Blade's gang and takes the boys home. After this incident, Kevin starts riding on Max's shoulders. They begin to call themselves "Freak the Mighty". They go on adventures such as going to the hospital which Freak claims has a secret department called the "Bionics Department" which has had his brain CAT scanned to be fitted into a bionic body.
On one adventure they find a woman's purse in the sewer. They return it to the woman who is named Loretta Lee. She is the wife of Iggy Lee, boss of the Panheads, a motorcycle gang who "struck fear in everyone, even the cops", as Max puts it. Iggy says that the two of them once knew Max's father. They consider "having some fun" with the boys but don't because they are afraid that Max's father will get parole even though he's serving a life sentence. They also reveal that Kevin's father left once he heard that his son had a birth defect.
Freak chokes on some American chop suey at school and is taken to the hospital. Later, Grim reveals to Max that his father has been released from prison on parole. Throughout the story, it has been slowly revealed that Max's father killed his mother by strangling her, and that Grim and Gram dislike his father and are afraid of Max ending up like him. Grim threatens to buy a gun for the family's protection. Max is shocked and scared by the news of his father's parole. On Christmas Eve, Max is woken up by his father, Killer Kane, who has come to take him to train him to be his assistant. After Max is kidnapped by his father, the two walk to Iggy Lee's apartment in the Testaments.
Killer Kane is even bigger than Max and acts in a very threatening, intimidating manner towards everyone, including his son, whom he keeps tied up on a small chair. Killer Kane swears on a Bible that he did not murder Max's mother and calls himself "a man of God". On Christmas morning he leaves Max alone, tied up in a room in an old abandoned apartment. Loretta, shocked that Kane would do something like that to his own child, tries to help him escape. Killer Kane catches her and starts to strangle her. Max tries to get up and rips off the rope in which the chair has been attached. Max attempts to stop him and reveals that he witnessed his father kill his mother in the same fashion. Kane gives up on training Max to be his obedient assistant and tries to murder him by strangling him, like he did to Max's mother, but Freak arrives just in time and saves Max by squirting Kane with a squirt gun in the eye which he claims is filled with sulfuric acid when in fact, it is filled with soap, vinegar, and curry powder. The police are waiting outside, and Killer Kane is taken back to prison and has to serve out the rest of his original time plus ten years. Max has to testify against his father in court. Max really doesn't want to testify, but Killer Kane pleads guilty.
After having a seizure on his birthday, Freak is admitted into the hospital, where he gives Max a blank book, telling him to write the story of Freak the Mighty in it. Max returns to the hospital the next day to find that Freak died because his heart got too big for his body. Dr. Spivak, Kevin's doctor, reveals that Freak knew he was going to have a very short life, but he told Max he was going to get a bionic body because it would give Max hope. The Fair Gwen moves away, with a new man she is in love with, and Max misses Freak's funeral, staying in his room, the "down under" for months. Not even Grim or Gram can get him out, until Grim orders Max to return to school. One day, Max sees Loretta, who tells him "Doing nothing's a drag, kid", so Max writes all of the adventures he and Freak had, in honor of his best friend.
•Maxwell "Max" Kane is the main character and narrator of the story. He is described to be very big and have a striking resemblance to his father, Kenneth (Killer) Kane. In day care, Max earned the nickname "Kicker" because he had a thing of booting and kicking anyone who dared to touch him, when he was a child. Max lives with his grandparents, Grim and Gram, and usually stays in "The Down Under", a small room in the basement. He hates his father, whom he witnessed killing his mother, Annie. He becomes best friends with Freak, who customarily rides on his shoulders and acts as Max's surrogate "brain". Max becomes depressed after Freak dies, locking himself in The Down Under for days. He is also very insecure about himself. He usually calls himself a "butthead" and is never confident. Until Freak comes along Max cannot read or write.
•Kevin "Freak" Avery is the deuteragonist a crippled, blonde haired boy whom Max becomes best friends with. Kevin has Morquio syndrome, where the outside of his body cannot grow. He walks on crutches and wears a leg brace. He is a genius for his age and size and is cuttingly sarcastic. He carries a dictionary with him. He is interested in Robotics and the tales of King Arthur, to the extent of calling his mother Gwen "The Fair Gwen Of Air/Guinevere " and calling his adventures with Max "quests". Kevin looks forward to his surgery (which Max later finds out was a lie so Max wouldn't know the truth), in which he will gain a robot's body. Unexpectedly on his 13th birthday, Kevin has a seizure. In the hospital, he dies, because as his doctor puts it, "his heart became too big for his body". In the film, Kevin's last name was changed from Avery to Dillon.
•Grim is Maxwell's grandfather. He is usually pretty grim, thus explaining why Maxwell gave him the nickname, although in reality he is a pretty friendly person. He dislikes Max's father because of what he did to Grim's daughter, Annie. In the book, Grim decides to shoot Kenneth if he sets foot in the house, after hearing that Kenneth has been released from jail. At first, Grim feels sorry for Kevin, but later, he appreciates Kevin's abilities and intelligence.
•Gram is Maxwell's grandmother. Like her husband, she also dislikes Kenneth and misses her daughter, Annie. Gram is really kind and polite, careful not to hurt anyone's feelings. She protests against shooting Kenneth once Grim announces that he will do so.
•Gwen "Fair Gwen" Avery is Kevin's beautiful and kind mother. Kevin nicknames her "Fair Gwen" after King Arthur's beautiful wife, Fair Guinevere. After her son's death, Gwen moves to California and starts a relationship with a man named Rick.
•Kenneth "Kenny" David Kane (also known as Killer Kane) is the main antagonist of the book. He is Max's selfish and sociopathic father. He was sent to prison for strangling his wife to death. After his release from prison on parole, Kenny kidnaps Maxwell on Christmas Eve and takes him to Loretta and Iggy's apartment. Loretta Lee tries to save Max but ends up getting strangled by Kenneth, though she survives. Eventually Kevin rescues Max by spraying a mixture of soap, vinegar and curry powder in Kenny's eyes, which he claimed was sulfuric acid. In the end, Kenny is jailed and has to serve out the rest of his original sentence plus ten extra years.
Freak ’s mother; he often calls her “Fair Gwen of Air,” a play on Guinevere from the King Arthur legends. When Gwen was young, she was Max ’s mother, Annie ’s, best friend. She’s extremely… read analysis of Gwen.
People also ask
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The son of a famous serial killer, Max has a very large and wide-set frame, as well as a very similar face to his father, making the other kids scared of him. However, he is in actuality a very kind-hearted and sensitive boy who hates his father and the terrible deeds he has committed.
