Isabelle Owen

6 English
Ms. Ma
Thursday, October 11th, 2018
Max’s Spirit and Kevin’s Plans
Freak the Mighty strikes back again to save the day. Freak the Mighty is a novel by the
motivational author Rodman Philbrick. The protagonist in the book is called Maxwell. His best
friend is called Kevin, who is very small. Together, they are Freak the Mighty.
Kevin, who is also known as “Freak”, loves to learn. He loves to read, write and solve
problems. He finds robotics interesting because of all the parts that put them together. He says to
Maxwell that knights are like old, old robots. Max says that robots don’t even exist, but, of
course, Kevin knows that this is wrong. He tells Max that computers are robots and that many
other things that work by electricity are robots.
Max is surprised by Kevin’s knowledge, and how he ​likes ​learning. Max does not like
school, because there are many people there, and Max hates it when people stare at him. He hates
going to public places and sleeps in a basement of his house. The reason Max does not like being
seen in public is because of his size. The people that take care of him are called Grim, and Gram.
They take care of him because his father had killed his mother. His father had been sent to prison
because of his crime.
The start of their journey shows them meeting each other, which, well, did not go so well.
Kevin had been driving some people crazy for some reason about his computer. Max and Kevin
see each other. Kevin walks towards him and says, “Identify yourself, earthling.” When Max
does not say anything, Kevin says that he will suffer the consequences if he continues to be
quiet. Still, Max does not say anything. So, Kevin says that he is going to kill him. Max becomes
afraid of him, even though Kevin is not actually going to. After this, they come to know each
other better and save each other, in many different places.

Max sees himself as someone who cannot learn, and someone who is large for his age.
People were afraid of him because of his size, so, he spent a lot of time alone. This meant that he
was a little antisocial. However, when he met Kevin, everything started to change. He had a
friend. He had someone that would look out for him. Kevin was different like Max. Whereas
Max was large, Kevin was tiny. Since Kevin could not walk properly, Max would lift him onto
his shoulders. Kevin always had ideas to get them out of trouble. One of his ideas occured on the
fourth of July when someone called Tony D. and his gang were trying to beat them up. The first
time they met them that day, a police car came whirring towards them so they fled. However,
after the fireworks, they met again, and Tony D. wanted revenge. He was about to kill them
when Kevin had an idea. He told Max to run into the millpond, and so Max did it. Max was
uneasy about this since he did not want to drown and die in the murky, muddy waters. Max
started to head into the pond, and, when the water reached up to his knees, Kevin told him to
stop. They looked over to where Tony D. and his gang were, and, since none of them were as tall
as Max, they could not get far enough. They had to pull Blade out since he got stuck in the mud
inside the pond. Even though Tony D. and his gang could not reach Freak the Mighty, they
thought of an alternative. They started to throw rocks at them. However, the rocks they were
trying to throw were too large. Soon, though, they realized this and started throwing smaller
rocks. Even though it seems like Freak the Mighty is doomed, police cars come and so Tony D.
and his gang run off: ““Officers!” Freak is shouting into the white light. “We request assistance!”
They finally have to use ropes to pull me out of there. Freak won’t let go, he stays right where he
is on top of my shoulders even when this cop in a boat tries to lift him off, and then we’re up on
the bank of the pond and everybody is being real nice and giving us blankets and Cokes and
saying they know all about Tony D., they’ll keep an eye on him, don’t you worry.”” (page 39.)
and so Freak the Mighty is okay.
The next part of adventure they have together is much different than the last one. Freak
wants to go on a treasure hunt to find… well… treasure. They fish out a wallet hidden in a storm
drain and it happens to belong to someone called Loretta Lee, who, Kevin calls her the damsel of
distress. Freak the Mighty goes off to return the wallet, and Loretta answers the door. She calls
someone called Iggy to come over to help her decide what to do with them. Iggy is not very nice
to them, but Freak the Mighty manages to escape and returns the wallet.
At Christmas, though, things start to get more interesting.
The day starts out normally, Kevin gets a cool gadget that looks like a jackknife, but it is
filled with little tools. Kevin gives Max an object the shape of a pyramid. When you press the
secret button, it flips over and then you can see the inside of the pyramid. So, as I said, the day
starts out normally. But, in the middle of the night, while Max is sleeping in the basement,
someone comes into his room and takes him away in the night: ““Don’t say a word, boy,” he
whispers. “Not a sound.” I try to move, try to shrink myself back into the bed, but the hand
follows me down. The hand is so hard and strong I can’t move, and it feels like my heart has
stopped beating, it’s waiting to see what will happen next. “I came back,” he says. “Like I
promised.”” (page 99.) This mysterious figure is his father, who Max believes killed his mother.
People in the book usually call him Killer Kane because of this.
Kane brings Max to Iggy and Loretta, and Max is surprised by how his father seems to
know them. After Kane tells Iggy and Loretta that he has Max, they take him somewhere else.
The place that they go to next is an old lady’s house, and it is filled with soggy furniture. After
they eat some leftover pizza, they move again because they do not want the police to catch them
inside the old lady’s place.
They head to a boarded-up building, and Kane ties up Max, saying that once Iggy sorts
things out they would be on their way. For example: ““I slip and start to fall, and then he’s
pulling back on the rope and I’m hanging there in the middle of the air with my feet skittering
and he’s going, “Easy does it, boy. We’ll take this one step at a time.” Finally, we get to the
bottom. There’s a little slant of light coming through the narrow cellar window, enough so we
can feel our way around all the burned junk that has fallen through the floor. “The
accommodations could be better,” he says. “I’ll grant you that. Soon as Iggy fixes things, we’ll
be on our way.”” (page 124.) Loretta sees Max tied up, and she feels bad for him. She tells Max
that it isn’t right for fathers to tie up their own son, and that Kane wasn’t the man she
remembered. But, while Loretta is untying him, Kane comes back, sees her, gets angry, and
starts choking her with his bare hands. Max is horrified, and, when things seem to be over, Freak
the Mighty strikes again.
Kevin comes in, holding a squirt gun. He sprays it in Kane’s eyes saying that it’s sulfuric
acid, and that it’s going to melt his eyes out. Really, though, it’s soap, vinegar and curry powder.
Since Kane’s eyes are stinging, he really thinks that it is sulfuric acid, and that his eyes are
melting out.
The police arrive, and Kane gets locked up, probably this time for good. But, Max is
devastated when he finds out the truth of a bionic improvement Kevin talked about.

Kevin is a kid who loves learning. One of his favorite subjects to learn about is King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Kevin tells Max that a knight’s suit of armor is like
an old robot. He is very fond of robots, and says to Max one day that, inside the research
building is a secret laboratory named the Experimental Bionics Unit. This place is trying to make
a new form of robot for human modification. Kevin says that he is going to be the first bionically
improved person. Kevin wants this, because of his small size. He wants to be able to run, and
walk properly. Max figures out how huge this is to him, and how much it means to him. Kevin
wants this secret to be kept in such a way that Max had to swear with his saliva. Kevin says that
it is the “same as blood, except without the red.”
One day, Kevin and Max are having a nice lunch with Grim, Gram and Gwen (the person
that looks after Kevin) Kevin has some American chop suey. Kevin likes calling it gruel, and so
Max always decides to tell him that it’s called American chop suey. Even though Kevin loves the
stuff, it does not like him: “When I come back, something is wrong. Freak’s face is all red and
swollen up and he’s making this huk-huk-huk noise. He can’t talk, all he can do is look at me
and try to say something with his eyes and then I’m running to the nurse. “Quick. He can’t
breathe! He can’t breathe!” (page 86.) Kevin is saved, and Max tells himself that if Kevin ever
tries to eat American chop suey again, he would dump it on his head.
After Kevin saves Max from Kane, he suffers from a seizure. He is taken to the hospital,
and Max gets worried after many days pass and Kevin still has not come out. He runs down the
hall into the medical research room, which is dark. Max finds a door that says no admittance, and
he tries to kick it and breakthrough. The police find him and put handcuffs on his wrists and
ankles. Max sees a doctor, called Dr. Spivak, and Max admits that Kevin believed her (Dr.
Spivak) about the special operation. “It was all a lie, wasn’t it?” I say. “You were telling him that
just so he wouldn’t be scared.” “You know better than that, Maxwell. You couldn’t lie to Kevin.
I tried a little fib on him when he was about seven years old, because I didn’t think a child could
handle the whole truth, and you know what he did? He looked up his disease in a medical
dictionary.” That’s when I know she’s telling the truth. Freak and his dictionary. “Kevin knew
from a very young age that he wasn’t going to have a very long life,” she says. “He knew it was
just a matter of time.” “So he was lying about getting a robot body?” Dr. Spivak is shaking her
head. “I don’t think it was a lie, Maxwell. I think he needed something to hope for and so he
invented this remarkable fantasy you describe. Don’t call it a lie. Kevin wasn’t a liar. “No,” I
say. “But what happened to him really?” “I could tell you all the medical terminology,” she says.
“But what finally happened is that his heart just got too big for his body.” (page 156-157.)

How did Kevin and Maxwell come together as Freak the Mighty?
By summarizing everything that happened, you can see how they were like the missing
parts of each other. They worked perfectly together when it came to saving one and another.
Kevin would always come up with a plan, and Max would raise Kevin’s spirits when he lifted
him up and onto his shoulders. Kevin has always wanted to just be normal, and Max gave him
that hope. He gave him life and energy. Kevin would unlock all of Max’s ideas, and that’s what
made them amazing. That’s what made them…
Freak the Mighty.