What is the Down Under? Why does Max like it so much?

"The down under" is the basement room belonging to Max, the narrator in Rodman Philbrick's novel Freak the Mighty. It is introduced in the second chapter, titled "Up from the Down Under." This is a room that Max's grandfather, Grim, has built especially for Max. It is small, and the rooms are made out of cheap paneling, but Max likes it nonetheless because it is private. He thinks that if his room were upstairs,...

"The down under" is the basement room belonging to Max, the narrator in Rodman Philbrick's novel Freak the Mighty. It is introduced in the second chapter, titled "Up from the Down Under." This is a room that Max's grandfather, Grim, has built especially for Max. It is small, and the rooms are made out of cheap paneling, but Max likes it nonetheless because it is private. He thinks that if his room were upstairs, his grandmother, Gram, would check on him and bother him more often. It also serves as his refuge from the world around him.

From the beginning, Max lets readers understand that he does not really have friends and that a lot of times when he has to interact with other people—his peers or adults—he ends up getting in trouble. He feels that by isolating himself in "the down under" he is keeping himself safe from having to deal with the people upstairs and on the outside.