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In Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, what behavior earned Max the nickname "Kicker"? Why did he behave this way?

In Chapter One, Max discusses how he behaved in day-care the year that Grim and Gram took him under their legal guardianship. He felt like everyone was always trying to hug him, so he kicked people. He says that people gave him hugs like it was medicine that they felt he needed. He was also very angry, so his grandparents thought that if he was able to play with children his own age, then maybe he would make some friends and not feel angry anymore. Max elaborates by saying the following:



"Yeah, right! Instead, what happened, I invented games like kick-boxing and kick-knees and kick-faces and kick-teachers, and kick-the-other-little-day-care-critters, because I knew what a rotten lie that hug stuff was" (2).



It isn't until the end of the book that the reader finds out that Maxwell had actually seen his father kill his mother. This completely explains why such a young boy would not want hugs, and in fact, distrust them. In the beginning, though, the reader is left to infer that maybe he was just sad and angry that he had lost his mom. That is enough to make a child lose trust in people, but add to the reality that his father killed his mother and that creates deeper issues to be resolved. And it explains the kicking behavior.

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