...but - a freak

The line that stood out most to me as I read this novel was the one found on page 188, "She would no longer be an extraordinary women, no more the Greatest aerialiste in the world but - a freak."

This line stood out as a very interesting line in the novel because it implies a different version of what we may consider a freak but leaves the word open for interpretation. Personally, Fevvers, would be labelled as a freak whether she was a fraud with fake wings or not. Either she was actually born with them and they do work and she is actually a freak like something we saw crafted in "Geek Love" or they are fake and she is a freak because, well she has fake wings.

It seems as if we can label these two cases physical and mental freakishness. Physical would apply to the case where her wings are real and Fevvers herself has been physically been born a freak. The mental style would be the situation in which they were not real and had been created in order to add to her performance. This to me would be labeled as mental because the person or character has crafted this idea, costume or persona in their mind expressing what they picture when they think of freak.

These styles do not just apply to Fevvers however and I think it applies to the people we see everyday in our lives. The term freak can mean so apply to many different things with varying degrees depending on how a person interprets the meaning. Some people see freaks as those people born with monstrous characteristics or deformities that would be under the physical side. Other people would disagree and just see this as unique and not really freakish. A freak could even be that guy who wears pink. A freak is the other category that you put people in when you are unsure what group they would belong too. Then again, I suppose it may be different for everyone.