Freak the Mighty

by

Rodman Philbrick

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Freak the Mighty makes teaching easy.

Kenny (Killer) Kane Character Analysis

Max’s father. Like Max, Kenny is extremely tall and wide, but unlike Max, Kenny is cruel and unfeeling—Grim refers to him as an “accident of nature.” Grim’s feelings are fueled by the fact that about a decade before the novel begins, Kenny murdered Annie, his wife and Max’s mother, with his bare hands. He’s in prison for this offense at the beginning of the novel, but since Max looks so much like Kenny, many people torment Max for looking like “Killer Kane.” Kenny’s terrifying effect on people, as well as his grasp of how to effectively use storytelling to get his way, comes to the forefront when Kenny is released from prison on parole. Kenny gets out in the first place because he’s able to convince the parole board that he reformed himself by discovering Christianity, though Grim and Gram understand that this is a manipulative lie. When Max hears that Kenny is getting out, he has a violent outburst that resembles a panic attack because he’s so terrified at the thought of having to see Kenny. This reaction isn’t unfounded: Kenny kidnaps Max out of his bed on Christmas Eve. The way that Max describes his experience of being kidnapped suggests that Kenny has the power to sap the hope and the light out of a room. He’s impossibly huge and impossibly strong and he gets whatever he wants. Though Kenny is capable of acting gently, he only does so when it suits him—and any gentle gestures inevitably hold a threat of violence. When Kenny does talk to Max about what happened to Annie, he cries and he crafts a compelling narrative of his supposedly wrongful conviction and subsequent redemption. When Kenny later tries to murder Loretta Lee in the exact same way he killed Annie for trying to rescue Max, however, Max understands that Kenny is still the violent and cruel man he’s always been. Ultimately, Freak’s ingenuity results in Kenny’s arrest, and Kenny eventually pleads guilty to the charges against him, meaning that he’ll be in prison for decades after the novel ends.

Kenny (Killer) Kane Quotes in Freak the Mighty

The Freak the Mighty quotes below are all either spoken by Kenny (Killer) Kane or refer to Kenny (Killer) Kane. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Friendship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

It’s more than just the way Maxwell resembles him, Grim says that night in the kitchen, the boy is like him, we’d better watch out, you never know what he might do while we’re sleeping. Like his father did. And Gram right away shushes him and says don’t ever say that, because little pictures have big ears, which makes me run to the mirror to see if it is my big ears made me look like Him.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Grim (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane, Gram, Annie
Page Number: 3-4
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

It’s real easy, he doesn’t weigh much and I’m pretty sure I remember looking back and seeing him up in the wagon happy as can be, like he’s really enjoying the ride and not embarrassed to have me pulling him around.

But like Freak says later in this book, you can remember anything, whether it happened or not.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

I shrug. Is it really such a big deal for a boy to look like his father? Which is typical butthead thinking, because of course it’s a big deal, if your father happens to be in prison. Which everybody in town knows about, it’s not like there’s any secret about what he did or why he’s there, except everybody acts like it should be a secret, and the bigger I grow and the more I look like my old man, the worse it gets.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Gwen, Annie
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Me rescuing Freak. What a joke, right? Except that’s how it must have looked from a distance, because they never knew it was Freak who rescued me—or his genius brain and my big dumb body.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Grim, Gram, Tony D.
Related Symbols: Freak the Mighty
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:

I go, “Thanks for the towel, Gram. And the ice cream. Could I have sugar in the coffee? Two teaspoons, please,” and Grim claps his hands together and he says, “Of course you can, son,” and it’s like woah! because he never calls me that. Always Max or Maxwell or “that boy.”

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Grim, Gram
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“It’s not me who had quite a day,” I say. “Kevin is the one. All he did was try and eat his lunch.”

Mrs. Addison gives me this look, and then she goes, “You’re going to be okay, Maxwell Kane. I’m sure of it now.”

She’s okay for a principal, but for some reason I still can’t make her understand that it’s not me who had a really bad Friday the Thirteenth.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Mrs. Addison (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

Gram says, “How can you tell such lies on Christmas Eve?”

“I’m telling tales, my dear, not lies. Lies are mean things, and tales are meant to entertain.”

Related Characters: Grim (speaker), Gram (speaker), Max Kane, Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Gwen, Annie
Related Symbols: King Arthur
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

The quiet is almost as big as he is. He’s as tall as me, only wider everywhere, and for some reason, maybe because we’re not far from Freak’s house, I’m thinking this weird thought: He doesn’t need a suit of armor.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane
Related Symbols: King Arthur
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

It’s like I’m trapped underwater or something, so weak and floaty I can’t hardly fight him, can’t pry his fingers loose from my mother’s neck. From Loretta’s neck. Because everything is mixed up and he’s doing the same thing to Loretta Lee he did to my mom, choking the life out of her, and he’s got that same cold killer look because he wants her to die, like he wanted Mom to die, and nothing else matters what he wants.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane, Loretta Lee, Annie
Page Number: 128-29
Explanation and Analysis:

“They never talk about it,” I say. “They don’t have to because I can’t ever forget it, no matter how much I try.”

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane, Grim, Gram, Annie
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

“The man is an accident of nature,” he says. “All you got from him is your looks and your size. You’ve got your mother’s heart, and that’s what counts.”

The weird I thing I keep thinking about, what if something happens when I get older and I turn out to be another accident of nature?

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Grim (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

So I wrote the unvanquished truth stuff down and then kept on going, for months and months, until it was spring again, and the world was really and truly green all over. By the time we got here, which I guess should be the end, I’m feeling okay about remembering things.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Loretta Lee, Annie
Related Symbols: Freak the Mighty
Page Number: 160
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Freak the Mighty LitChart as a printable PDF.
Freak the Mighty PDF

Kenny (Killer) Kane Quotes in Freak the Mighty

The Freak the Mighty quotes below are all either spoken by Kenny (Killer) Kane or refer to Kenny (Killer) Kane. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Friendship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

It’s more than just the way Maxwell resembles him, Grim says that night in the kitchen, the boy is like him, we’d better watch out, you never know what he might do while we’re sleeping. Like his father did. And Gram right away shushes him and says don’t ever say that, because little pictures have big ears, which makes me run to the mirror to see if it is my big ears made me look like Him.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Grim (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane, Gram, Annie
Page Number: 3-4
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

It’s real easy, he doesn’t weigh much and I’m pretty sure I remember looking back and seeing him up in the wagon happy as can be, like he’s really enjoying the ride and not embarrassed to have me pulling him around.

But like Freak says later in this book, you can remember anything, whether it happened or not.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

I shrug. Is it really such a big deal for a boy to look like his father? Which is typical butthead thinking, because of course it’s a big deal, if your father happens to be in prison. Which everybody in town knows about, it’s not like there’s any secret about what he did or why he’s there, except everybody acts like it should be a secret, and the bigger I grow and the more I look like my old man, the worse it gets.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Gwen, Annie
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Me rescuing Freak. What a joke, right? Except that’s how it must have looked from a distance, because they never knew it was Freak who rescued me—or his genius brain and my big dumb body.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Grim, Gram, Tony D.
Related Symbols: Freak the Mighty
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:

I go, “Thanks for the towel, Gram. And the ice cream. Could I have sugar in the coffee? Two teaspoons, please,” and Grim claps his hands together and he says, “Of course you can, son,” and it’s like woah! because he never calls me that. Always Max or Maxwell or “that boy.”

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Grim, Gram
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“It’s not me who had quite a day,” I say. “Kevin is the one. All he did was try and eat his lunch.”

Mrs. Addison gives me this look, and then she goes, “You’re going to be okay, Maxwell Kane. I’m sure of it now.”

She’s okay for a principal, but for some reason I still can’t make her understand that it’s not me who had a really bad Friday the Thirteenth.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Mrs. Addison (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

Gram says, “How can you tell such lies on Christmas Eve?”

“I’m telling tales, my dear, not lies. Lies are mean things, and tales are meant to entertain.”

Related Characters: Grim (speaker), Gram (speaker), Max Kane, Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Gwen, Annie
Related Symbols: King Arthur
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

The quiet is almost as big as he is. He’s as tall as me, only wider everywhere, and for some reason, maybe because we’re not far from Freak’s house, I’m thinking this weird thought: He doesn’t need a suit of armor.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane
Related Symbols: King Arthur
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

It’s like I’m trapped underwater or something, so weak and floaty I can’t hardly fight him, can’t pry his fingers loose from my mother’s neck. From Loretta’s neck. Because everything is mixed up and he’s doing the same thing to Loretta Lee he did to my mom, choking the life out of her, and he’s got that same cold killer look because he wants her to die, like he wanted Mom to die, and nothing else matters what he wants.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane, Loretta Lee, Annie
Page Number: 128-29
Explanation and Analysis:

“They never talk about it,” I say. “They don’t have to because I can’t ever forget it, no matter how much I try.”

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane, Grim, Gram, Annie
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

“The man is an accident of nature,” he says. “All you got from him is your looks and your size. You’ve got your mother’s heart, and that’s what counts.”

The weird I thing I keep thinking about, what if something happens when I get older and I turn out to be another accident of nature?

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Grim (speaker), Kenny (Killer) Kane
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

So I wrote the unvanquished truth stuff down and then kept on going, for months and months, until it was spring again, and the world was really and truly green all over. By the time we got here, which I guess should be the end, I’m feeling okay about remembering things.

Related Characters: Max Kane (speaker), Kevin/Freak, Kenny (Killer) Kane, Loretta Lee, Annie
Related Symbols: Freak the Mighty
Page Number: 160
Explanation and Analysis: