Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Freak the Mighty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship
The Power of Storytelling
Memory, Grief, and Trauma
Family Legacy vs. Individuality
Summary
Analysis
Max says that all that happened a year ago. He hid in the down under for days, so he missed Freak’s funeral and Gwen’s departure. Grim and Gram finally convinced Max to come out but for a long time, he felt deflated and didn’t care about anything. One day, not long before school started, Grim said that most people don’t have friends like Kevin, so Max should think of himself as lucky. Max scoffed, but he went back to school as Grim asked. At school, everyone felt sorry for Max. Even Tony D. offered his condolences, but Max blew up at him and he threatened to throw Tony D. into the millpond. Now, they’re enemies again as they should be.
The fact that Tony D. tried to be kind and offer his condolences suggests that Max’s fears and preconceptions color how Max sees Tony D.—he might not be the terrifying bully that Max made him out to be in earlier chapters. This speaks to the power of Max’s beliefs and memories to dictate how he feels about someone. It’s unthinkable to Max that Tony D. might be a decent person, and so Max simply does what he has to do to not engage with that possibility.
Themes
Over the winter, Max ran into Loretta Lee in the street. She smelled like alcohol and Max thinks that he never expected anything else. Loretta told Max that she just heard Gwen is in California with a new boyfriend whom she loves. She asked Max what he was doing, and Max told her the truth: nothing. Loretta looked at Max and she told him that nothing is a drag. Max thought about that all the way home, and that night he pulled out the pyramid box. He thought that he didn’t have a brain and that was the truth. However, Max started writing the truth down and he wrote for months. Now it’s spring, and Max feels pretty okay about remembering things. Now that he’s written a book, he thinks he might even read some.
Finally, Max is able to put everyone’s wisdom about the purpose of storytelling into practice by telling the story of Freak the Mighty. In particular, he makes it clear that this was a healing and cathartic exercise for him. This is because through telling his story, Max got to choose what parts of his memory to highlight—and which ones to omit, make up, or embellish. In addition, Max also gets to honor Freak’s memory by telling this story. In this sense, the story of Freak the Mighty can benefit others and help them find a sense of purpose—exactly what Freak would want his legacy to be.
Themes
