own mortality.  He understands it in a painfully evident way. Kevin knows he is going to die and nothing can save him. Just as his body will never grow, Kevin knows that his time is coming to an end.  In a very heroic manner, Kevin compels Max to write down their adventures.  Through this suggestion, Kevin is heroic.  He understands that the true heroes are ones who can be remembered even after they have passed.  Kevin understands that his own life can serve others in the form of hearing about the legend of the "quests."  Kevin pledges himself to something more than himself. In asking Max to write the story of "Freak the Mighty," Kevin demonstrates heroism. 

In a more subtle way, I would suggest that Kevin is a hero because he never surrenders his belief in how life should be as opposed to how it is.  A critical definition of heroism is this capacity for transformation.  The inspired hero sees what is and is able to transform it into what can or should be.  Kevin does this. He understands that his own physical capacity is limiting.  His heart and mind are active agents of change, even when his physicality lacks it. In his love for robotics and Arthurian legend, Kevin embraces this transformative quality. This ability to envision what can be from what is defines his heroism in characterization.  It is in this way where Kevin is a hero in how he views the world and his place in it.

Each time Max describes Freak in the beginning of Freak the Mighty, he refers to the intensity of Freak’s eyes, possibly to emphasize Freak’s determined spirit. Whatever Freak lacks in physical size, he makes up for it in personality.

Readers first get a glimpse of Freak when Max describes his daycare experience. He mentions that Freak’s physical differences weren’t quite as noticeable since everyone was small then: “He didn’t look so different back then, we were all of us pretty small, right?” (2).

One thing that did make him different, though, was the look in his fierce eyes. According to Max, they gave off a “don’t mess with me” kind of vibe. Even though Max was kicking everyone in daycare, he admitted to never kicking Freak.

This was the last time Max saw Freak until the third grade, but when he did see him again, Freak still had “death-ray eyes” (3).

This kid from Max’s childhood appears again, only this time, he’s moving into a house on the same street as Max. When Max sees Freak again, his physical differences are much more noticeable now than they were in daycare (8):

. . . there's this weird-looking little dude, he's got a normal-sized head, but the rest of him is shorter than a yardstick and kind of twisted in a way that means he can't stand up straight and makes his chest puff out, and he's waving his crutches around and yelling up at the movers.

His size might not be intimidating, but the look in his eye continues to catch Max’s attention. Once Freak notices Max looking on, he asks Max to identify himself in a way only Freak could. When Max didn’t answer, mostly due to shock, Freak told the “earthling” (Max) to die. Due to the look in his eye, Max literally thinks Freak hates him. He says, “The way he points that crutch is only part of it. You have to see the look in his eye. Man, that little dude really hates me. He wants me to die” (9).