Conflict And Plot In Rodman Philbrick's Freak The Mighty

Dharmik Sannapaneni

Ms.Facao

Period 1/2

25 January 2023

Conflict and Plot in Freak the Mighty

According to Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, "two are better than one if two act as one." In saying this, Krzyzewski means that if two people work together, they are more productive than if one person did something alone. This quote relates to the story, Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick because Freak and Max, the two main characters have very different but complementary disabilities and strengths. Their dynamic helps each other in what they lack. Max is very tall and strong but has a learning disability. On the other hand, Freak is a genius but has Morquio syndrome, which makes him short. In addition to his height, he can’t

In the text it states “for a long time it was him who did the talking. Except I had a way of saying things with my fist and my feet even before we became Freak the mighty.” (Philbrick 1). This evidence shows readers how the two of them worked together, and how their individuality was developed as well. This evidence proves the thesis as it tells us how they work their ability together making them the perfect person since one person did the talking and the other did it with body parts. In the text, it illustrates“There was this sucking sound as my feet come back up out of the mud and I stretch out as far as my feet will go… Freak is whistling and the cop car spotlight comes beaming around the pond until it settles at us.” (Philbrick pg. 37-39 )This evidence shows readers how the two of them used their power to escape from Tony D.'s gang, and also how that worked as well. This evidence proves the thesis as it tells us how they used their current circumstances there to make Tony.D and his gang run away. Max used his monstrous body to walk in the murky pond and Freak used his brain and voice to demand the police’s attention. Conclusively without a plot, the theme would not be

I say that because whenever one of them is in trouble they combine their strength to get out of situations. The only problem with that is that Max does not have mental strength and Freak doesn’t have muscle. All these instances show Rodman Philbrick highlighting the theme of external conflict bringing them together. Other characters don’t understand Freak or Max’s problems; they just judge them for what attributes they lack. There was one time when Max was abducted by Killer Kane and Freak came to save the day by tricking Killer Kane that there was acid in his gun, and he squirted it on his eye, tricking him that he will turn out to be blind because of it. Then he and Max escaped from the place with Max holding him in his arms and running as fast as he could. This was a situation where both combined the strength that they needed to escape. In this situation, Freak got the time and Max got the speed. Rodman Philbrick's trying to show the theme that working in a team is better than working alone with the plot. Let me ask you, would you work in a team and work better or work alone and might not have the same results? Any sane person would say they want to work as a team but then the problem of who your teammates are arises. When you find someone who can make up for the things you lack, then you can prosper even