Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Status and Friendship
Ideals of Masculinity
Bullying
Independence and Growing Up
Summary
Analysis
Friday. Since the Safety Patrol incident, Rowley has been hanging out with Collin Lee every day after school instead of Greg. This particularly annoys Greg because “Collin is supposed to be MY backup friend.” Rowley and Collin have even taken to wearing matching “Best Friends” t-shirts and having sleepovers. Greg decides to try to find a new best friend to prove that two can play at the game, but the only person who comes to mind is Fregley. Greg tries to have a sleepover with Fregley, but this backfires when Greg finds that Fregley is even stranger at home. Fregley stabs a kite with a stick, steals Greg’s jelly beans, and chases him around with a booger on his finger. Greg eventually escapes Fregley’s house at 2:00 A.M., when he is sure that Rowley and Collin won’t see him leave.
Greg describes Collin as a “back-up friend,” so it is humiliating for him when Rowley begins to prefer the company of someone who Greg had considered socially beneath him. Indeed, Greg had rarely shown much respect for either Rowley or Collin, but now that they seem to be enjoying their own friendship without him, he begins to feel jealous. His efforts to show that he has other friend options are a dismal failure, suggesting that his friendship with Rowley was very significant in his life, although he tended to discount how much Rowley meant to him.
Themes
Monday. Greg claims that he is better off without having to carry around Rowley’s “dead weight,” socially. Looking through Rodrick’s old middle school yearbook, Greg sees superlatives like “Most Popular” and “Most Talented.” He decides that although this school year hasn’t exactly been all he hoped, he’ll “go out on a high note” if he can be voted a Class Favorite. He’ll also have eternal fame. After all, Greg adds, the winner of “Most Likely to Succeed” is still treated like “something special,” even though he dropped out of high school.
Greg claims that Rowley was dragging him down in the school’s social hierarchy. However, his distress at Rowley’s abandonment suggests that he did really care for him. He copes with his sadness and feelings of abandonment by embarking on a new project in pursuit of popularity—winning a superlative in the class yearbook—although past precedent indicates that this won’t be much of a success.
Themes
Wednesday. Greg admits that “Most Popular” is definitely out of his reach, so decides to go for “Class Clown.” He’s not exactly known for being funny at school, but thinks that one good prank should be able to put him over the top.
Greg’s belief that a single prank will win him a superlative in the yearbook suggests that he thinks popularity is a prize to be won, rather than a result of meaningful relationships with others.
Themes
