Freak the Mighty

Rod Philbrick's book Freak the Mighty took me a little by surprise, although I don't know that it should have.

Young adult coming of age fiction seems to be always either circular or linear. Either normalcy is returned or a journey begins. In Freak, both and neither happen. Max is the character who achieves a coming of age, and while he is at home throughout the majority of the text, his return to school and "normal" would make it seem to be a circular journey. But, Max is anything but normal at the end of the text. He is doing things that he would have never done before; he is beginning to learn things for himself. He has made a linear journey. But then, this is a coming of age text-- of course he has made a discovery about himself. If he hadn't, then the story wouldn't accomplish anything. One difference in this text is that Max's physical journey in no way parallels his psychological journey, and that confounds typical labels. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy must make a physical journey while she is discovering herself-- therefore, her journey is circular. Max on the other hand, always needs someone else's help to make any type of physical journey in the text. Freak tells him where to go while they are Freak the Mighty-- His dad tells him where to go when he is being kidnapped, and Freak is the one who saves him from a near death experience. Although Max is taking a journey with Freak, it isn't until Freak dies that Max truly matures. So, I guess if I have to choose a label, this text has a linear journey. The reader knows that Max has turned a corner and is ready to go on a quest, but the reader isn't sure if Max will successfully complete his quest alone.