Please discuss Max's personality.

In Rodman Philbrick's novel Freak The Mighty, Maxwell Kane is the narrator. He is a quiet kid who lives in the basement of his grandparent's home. He is what most would consider a loner before he meets Kevin. He has a reading disability which is something Kevin helps him with. He has issues regarding his father, who is in jail for murdering Max's mother. Max has the size of his father but none of the rage or meanness. He is ashamed to be known as his son. He is afraid to discover the truth about his father and afraid that he may be like his father in some way. 
He is not like his father. In fact, Kevin calls him a "pacifist" at one point. When Max is confronted by bullies, he does not retaliate in any way. He embraces the role of Kevin's protector and enters Kevin's world in which the two boys are knights who right the wrongs they see in the world. 
Max is devastated when Kevin dies. The book is set up as a retrospective tribute to Kevin and how he changed Max's life for the better.