Freak the Mighty, the persona that Freak and Max create together, symbolizes the power of friendship to help people reach their potential and become better versions of themselves. As Freak the Mighty, Freak rides high on Max’s shoulders, giving him a previously unimaginable vantage point and giving Max the ability to “borrow” Freak’s brain. Because of this, both boys are able to experience things they never could before (unhindered mobility in Freak’s case, and intelligence, imagination, and pride in Max’s case) and thus their shared persona allows them to be better versions of themselves. Freak the Mighty, though relatively short-lived in real life (assuming the persona becomes impossible after Freak’s death), also gives Max and Freak a way to continue being their best selves after Freak’s death. Through Max’s choice to record Freak the Mighty’s story, Freak gets to live on forever exactly how he wanted to be remembered; while Max, through remembering all that Freak taught him, is able to accept his own intellect and imagination and to take pride in his identity and his abilities. Thus, Freak the Mighty is symbolic of friendship’s transformative power to change people for the better.
Freak the Mighty Quotes in Freak the Mighty
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.
I’m standing up straight, as tall as I can, and I’m marching exactly like he wants me to, right and left, backwards and forwards, and it’s like music or something, like I don’t even have to think about it, I just do it, and all those kids chanting our name [...]
The deal is, this is really two birthdays for the price of one, because Freak the Mighty is almost a year old.
[...] Freak says we can’t expect her to understand, because you can’t really get what it means to be Freak the Mighty unless you are Freak the Mighty.
“Don’t get me upset,” he warns. “I won’t have the time, so you’ll have to do it. Just write it all down like you’re talking. Put in all the fun we had, the cool things we did. Our adventures.”
“But you know I can’t write, Kevin.”
“It’s all in your head, Max, everything you can remember. Just tell the story of Freak the Mighty, no big deal.”
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.
Freak the Mighty Symbol Timeline in Freak the Mighty
