Before diving deep into the question of Why is Max mute in ‘Max and Ruby’, I would want to highlight a couple of pointers:
- We are talking about three years old which is quite an age when Autism is mostly discovered among kids.
- The kind of distressing events Max has encountered as a kid is beyond acceptance, let it be his parent’s untimely death or the scandalized experience with his grandmother.
- Also, the fact that he survived that accident with a head injury.
The above-mentioned pointers might be a speculated fan theory or one of them might be the truth or all of them might end up being the reason why Max is mute. Let’s dive into the show a little more to break down the actual theory.
We have seen a lot happen with Max and Rudy in 17 years from when it first aired on television back in 2002 to when the last show aired in 2019. For all those who don’t know who Max and Ruby are and what the whole ‘Why is Max mute in Max and Ruby’ lemme walk you back through the timeline.
An animated cartoon version of the famous book of the same name, Max and Ruby is a Canadian Cartoon where Max the ‘main character’ of the story is a three-year-old bunny who lives along with his elder sister Ruby who is seven years old, and his grandmother, Max and Ruby’s parent’s die in a car accident where Max survives with a head injury and is now Ruby’s responsibility. Max by nature is very quiet (almost mute) yet troublesome whereas his sister Ruby is obsessively compulsive with a watchful eye on her brother. The show is all about the adventures of Max and Ruby.
Call them the fan theory/internet theory/my theory-
Theory no. 1 (Autism):
Autism is a cognitive disorder that subsidizes a child’s mental development which in turn affects their social abilities. 1 in 68 children is speculated to have Autism spectrum disorder, if this show is trying to touch various pain points of the current era then this might be one of the reasons why Max is mute.
Among the ocean of symptoms let they be it behavioral, cognitive, developmental (the capacity to learn and to talk), or psychological; not talking or delay in speech can be one of the most notable symptoms of Autism. This theory is not proof enough that all the children who start speaking a little later in life are not all necessarily autistic by nature, in Max’s case this is speculated to be one of the reasons.
Theory no. 2 (Accident, Head Injury, and Grandma Trauma):
- The first blown-back incident Max had to encounter was his parent’s accident, Max and his parents meet in a car accident where his parents die there, and then Max survives with a head injury. The head injury led to trauma or the trauma alone or the head injury alone might have led to a disability in talking, because in the later seasons probably as the trauma seizes down Max is shown speaking.
Although the incident might strongly not be a reason for his being mute, it left a hard impact on his head as he was shown playing with toy ambulances and police cars which were an obvious reminder of the accident. And then there is this whole Grandma Trauma showed, where Max was molested by his grandmother at an age where he was helpless and couldn’t voice it out left him with the only way in which he could deal with the situation by creating an imaginary Super Bunny who was the messiah in his life (I personally don’t believe this to be the fact, well this looks a lot like fan made parallel universe theory so let’s just dump it right there and then). But I still don’t see a reason why he would want to speak to anyone ever again, a three-year-old with already a horrendous past. I mean give him some time to at least breath.
Theory no. 3 (Oh come on chuck it he is a toddler):
- Let’s be honest he is a toddler, expect him to jump, expect him to be mischievous, expect him to have fun and live his life. Although it is worrisome for a three-year-old to be mute there are always exceptional cases. The fact that he and his sister have each other’s back and have learned to deal with their situations without their parent’s or any other elders’ intervention.
To strike off all the speculated fan theories Max the bunny finally starts speaking later in the show as the show progresses, which is a relief to most of his fans to hear him speak let it at least be his wee slang. There is never a fully concluded reason Why Max is a Mute in Max and Ruby until and unless the makers of the show reveal the real reason behind it.
