Transformation

In chapter 12, when the other kids tease Max for being slow under pressure, Kevin climbs up on his shoulders and announces that together they are “Freak the Mighty.” This explicit transformation is only one of many radical changes that occur throughout the novel. Some changes are only hypothetical or longed for, as when Freak, or Kevin, claims that his identity will be transplanted into an experimental bionic body.

Some changes are linguistic but symbolic: it matters that Max calls his grandparents “Grim” and “Gram.” This makes them sound flattened and cartoonish, like fairy-tale creatures with titles rather than names. Other changes begin as imaginary but become real, as when the boys go on the quests that Kevin guides. Some changes are only superficial—for example, when Max’s father, Kenny, claims to have found religion while in prison but remains a profoundly cold and disturbing figure. Some of these changes are physical. Max’s marked growth is commented on throughout the novel, and Kevin’s physical problems, though they come from a birth defect, are repeatedly boiled down to the idea that his insides are growing faster than his outsides. 

This entire novel, however, is a larger story of transformation—a tale of growth and becoming. Max is withdrawn and isolated when the book starts. Through his interactions with Kevin, he learns that he is much smarter than he thought and that people love him. Through the example of people like Iggy and Loretta (who can do the right thing even when they are scared), through his grandparents’ love, and through Kevin’s complete acceptance, Max grows up much healthier and much more whole. The book itself is evidence of this transformation. Before meeting Kevin, Max never would have written anything voluntarily. Afterward, he writes an entire book, just to memorialize his friend and tell their story. 

Love and Friendship

When Freak the Mighty starts, Max is in retreat from life. He is angry and thinks people do not really care about him. He speaks of “that year of the phony hugs.” He sees the negative in people because he thinks that people only see the negative in him. Despite this, Max is innately kind. When he sees Kevin’s toy stuck in a tree, he is moved to help him. Though Kevin has many reasons to be withdrawn—he is an incredibly smart boy with a birth defect that keeps him dwarfishly small—he responds in kind, and more.

As a result, Max blossoms. He is convinced he has no brain at all before he and Kevin become friends, but Kevin’s love transforms him. When his grandparents had taken him in and loved Max, he feared that the loss of Max’s mother (and their hatred of Max’s father) made it impossible for them to really love him. He did not let them, or his assigned helpers, like his reading-skills teacher, ever really do anything for him. Kevin, by contrast, simply ignored his protests, gave him gifts, a new name (Freak the Mighty), a new identity, and a connection to the world. The depth of their friendship can be seen in the fact that Kevin is willing to face a killer with just a squirt gun for Max and that Max is willing to literally punch through glass doors to try to get Kevin his bionic body.