A Review of Rodman Philbrick’s Story “Freak the Mighty”

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick is about two boys, Kevin a.k.a. Freak and Max. Max is always putting himself down saying, Im a big, dumb, idiot. Then one day Freak comes along and Max finds fulfillment in him because he is a small, smart know-it-all, the exact opposite of himself. Max and Freak call themselves Freak the mighty because they think they are one person.

The story takes place in a present day small town in the U.S. The author chose this place probably because there are many types of people (rich and poor) to interact with. In one such incident Freak and Max fish a purse out of a sewer, then bring it to the New Testaments (the real name is the New Tenements), they meet one of Maxs fathers old friends, Iggy. Iggy tells Max and Freak all about Maxs dad.

The main characters are Kevin (a.k.a. Freak) and Maxwell. Kevin is a short, smart 12-year-old who treats his dictionary like a bible. Max, on the other hand, is a tall, dumb 13- year-old who doesnt really have any friends. Freak and Max are like two halves that make a whole.

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The theme is of the book is survival because Freak and Max have found a way to live in each other. The theme is made evident in such events as when Freak dies at the end of the book, Max goes crazy and breaks a window in the hospital. Another such event occurs when Max said that he would not go back to school without Freak.

There are two conflicts in the book. The first conflict is man versus himself; Max is always hearing his Grim (his grandfather) and Gram (his grandmother) say that he is starting to look like him (which is Kane or Maxs father). Max feels that he is not wanted because he looks so much like Kane, who is supposed to be in jail for killing Maxs mother, but he escaped.

The second conflict is man versus man. One time when Max was sitting down in the dungeon (which is his bedroom down in the cellar) Kane came in and kidnapped him! Kane dragged him all the way down to Iggys house at the new testaments. Iggy showed him a house where an old lady lived; she was on vacation so Iggy said they could stay there until she got back. They didnt stay there long though, Kane said they had to leave because the cops were after them. They ended up in the basement of an old burned down building.

In the end Freak came to the rescue with a water gun that supposedly had sulfuric acid in it, but it was just a mixture of spices from his house. He sprayed it in Kanes eyes to make him let go of Lorrettas (Iggys wife) neck. The cops came in and took Kane back into custody and the rest of them went home. Then on Freaks birthday he was rushed to the hospital and ended up dying. Max went back to school and everyone felt sorry for him. I dont think this was a very good ending because Freak died and nothing really changed.

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