Sunday, October 4, 2009

In Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, why does Kevin call his mom "the Fair Gwen"?

Kevin's mom is a beautiful woman, and he calls her "the Fair Gwen" because "Gwen" is her first name, "fair" means "beautiful," and because "the Fair Gwen" was also the name of a famous queen from the legends of King Arthur.


You can find Kevin's eager, detailed explanation of all this in Chapter 4, specifically on page 17 in my copy of the novel. And you can find Max's description of Gwen's beauty in Chapter 2, on page 7--basically, he thinks she looks like a movie star even though she's sweaty and dressed kind of sloppy, since she's carrying all those moving boxes.


More specifically, Kevin has chosen this complimentary nickname for his mother because it reflects his own interest in the Arthurian legends. You know how Kevin loves knights, dragons, monsters, and especially quests? Referring to his mom as a lovely queen from the time of knights and quests is just one way that Kevin imaginatively colors his own world. It shows us how creative he is, which is good, but it also shows us that Kevin doesn't quite live in the real world, which is sad.

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