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Chapter 3
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
Freak is able to climb down the steps into the down under himself, though he’s out of breath at the bottom. He’s impressed that Max gets to live by himself and he settles himself on the foot of Max’s bed. Freak suggests that Gram must be Max’s grandmother and Grim must be Max’s grandfather—and Grim must be grim, given that Max calls him Grim. Freak starts to define several big words as he talks, but Max cuts Freak off and he insists that he knows what Freak means—even though he doesn’t. Max asks why Freak calls his mom “Fair Gwen of Air” and whether it’s a nickname. Freak tries not to laugh and he says it’s a play on Guinevere, the fair lady from the legend of King Arthur. He asks if Max knows about King Arthur. Max just knows of the flour brand, so he shrugs.
The way that Max allows Freak to do things for himself is important, as it shows that Max respects Freak’s dignity and individuality; he never looks at Freak as though Freak is incapable of doing things because of his hindered mobility. Freak does much the same thing for Max when he doesn’t laugh at Max’s questions. He knows Max wants to sound smart and engaged, and so he doesn’t make Max feel bad for asking questions. By being respectful in this way, the boys are able to nurture their budding friendship.
Themes
Freak explains that since his mom’s name is Gwen, he calls her the Fair Gwen sometimes. He says that way back when there were still monsters and dragons, King Arthur was a “wimpy little kid” who managed to pull a magic sword out of a big stone. This feat is what made him the first King of England. Max notes that Freak is really into the story and he explains to the reader that when Freak talks, it’s impossible to take one’s eyes off of him. Freak continues that Arthur married Guinevere and then got bored, so he invited knights to live in his castle and eat around a round table. They’d go on quests to slay dragons, monsters, and evil knights. Freak asks if Max knows what knights wore into battle. Wanting Freak to keep talking, Max asks Freak to tell him.
Freak’s interest in King Arthur, especially since he describes Arthur as a “wimpy little kid,” suggests that King Arthur is a symbol for Freak himself. Many people probably also see Freak as a wimpy kid who can’t do much—but like Arthur, Freak wants to be important, do great things, and find his place in history. Max’s respect for Freak’s story helps the two deepen their friendship. He knows that this is important to Freak, so he’s more than willing to listen and learn something new.
Themes
Freak seems to light up even more and he says that knights wore metal armor that protected them and made them invincible—they were the first human versions of robots. He marvels that hundreds of years before computers, people were already trying to make humans better. Max is confused, so Freak chuckles and he says that human bodies have limits—they get burned and bullets can hurt them. King Arthur, however, wanted to improve his men, so he “made them armor-plated” and he programmed them to do quests. Freak says that the knights were just like robots. Max admits that he thought robots just existed in movies, which makes Freak unspeakably angry. When Freak finally gets control of himself, he explains that robotics is a huge industry and that there are robots everywhere, even on the space shuttle.
King Arthur’s armor seems to help Freak to make sense of his own body and how he exists in relation to the world. Given that Freak needs the aid of crutches to get around, it’s likely that he sees his own mobility aids as a kind of “armor” that enables him to better navigate the world. As such, Max’s suggestion that robots aren’t real perhaps angers Freak because it implies there is no hope for more sophisticated options (like prosthetic body parts) that could aid Freak even further. Listening to Freak talk and learning about real robots, then, is a way for Max to honor the way that Freak thinks of himself.
Themes
Max says that he has seen the space shuttle robot on TV, but Freak just rolls his eyes and says that TV is the “opiate of the massives.” Max is confused again, but Freak explains that opiates are drugs and massive means large and heavy—so TV is “the drug of fat heads.” Max asks if Freak doesn’t have a TV, but Freak says he does. He needs it to watch Star Trek, but he also reads books so he can figure out what’s true. Max says nothing—he doesn’t want to explain that he’s learning disabled and that he hates reading. He acts excited when Freak offers to loan him books, and then they hear Gwen. When Max crawls out of the basement, Gwen looks terrified. Freak climbs out next, and Gwen grabs him and pulls him home in the wagon. Freak shrugs at Max, but Max knows that Gwen is scared of him.
Freak’s very serious deployment of “opiate of the massives” tells the reader that while Freak may be smart, he’s still an innocent kid—the phrase should read “opiate of the masses” in reference to the paraphrased Karl Marx quote, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” However, because Freak is the one telling the story, he can make whatever he wants true, and Max can remember it however he sees fit. Meanwhile, Max’s nonchalant insistence that Gwen is afraid of him suggests that Max is accustomed to adults treating him with fear and suspicion, something that certainly wears on his self-esteem and emotional wellbeing.
Themes
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