Freak the Mighty

by

Rodman Philbrick

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

Loretta Lee Character Analysis

A woman who’s currently involved romantically with Iggy Lee. She was somehow involved with Kenny prior to his imprisonment. Though it’s unclear how old Loretta is, it’s likely that she was a peer of Annie and Gwen’s since she recognizes Freak as Gwen’s son and she has information about Freak’s absent father. She’s thin, blond, and constantly smoking. Her somewhat disheveled appearance frightens Max. Though Loretta appears to be the victim of Iggy’s controlling and potentially violent behavior, she also takes any opportunity she gets to try and assert her own power over others. For instance, she tries to encourage Iggy to beat Max up—something that would help her feel powerful. This all makes Loretta a scary figure in Max’s mind. Despite this, Loretta does attempt to rescue Max from Kenny after Kenny is released from prison and he kidnaps Max. Max stops Kenny from choking Loretta, and when he sees Kenny choke her, he begins to feel more warmly toward her; he makes sure that the cops rescue her when they rescue him from Kenny. Even though Max begins to recognize Loretta’s humanity at this point, he also knows that she’s not going to change substantially after what happened. When he runs into her a few months after Freak dies, she’s still smoking and she appears drunk, but she does give Max an important piece of advice: that doing nothing is a drag. This spurs Max to write Freak the Mighty’s story (the novel).

Loretta Lee Quotes in Freak the Mighty

The Freak the Mighty quotes below are all either spoken by Loretta Lee or refer to Loretta Lee. 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 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:
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

Loretta Lee Quotes in Freak the Mighty

The Freak the Mighty quotes below are all either spoken by Loretta Lee or refer to Loretta Lee. 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 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:
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: