Issues And Conflicts In The Book Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy kid is a very funny and humorous novel to read. Greg (the main actor) loves to rise to the top of the school and be a “cool kid”, popularity is the goal for Greg. His efforts to be a “cool kid” ends up backfiring. Greg thinks that popularity will earn him respect from his peers (mostly the girls). Greg undermines his relationships with his friends and parents.
This is particularly painful in its effects on his friendship with his best friend Rowley Jefferson, who always embarrasses Greg with his lack of concern about popularity, but then Greg comes to realize it’s essential to his life. Finally Greg learns that measures of social status or popularity can’t substitute for true friendship.Greg is a funny and at the same time an annoying character. He is the main character of the novel because he is always in every scene and is always in every scenario that happens throughout the book. Rodrick is also a character that gets featured a lot throughout the novel. Rodrick is a very annoying person to Greg and he is also very funny. Rodrick does a lot of pranks on Greg because they are brothers. Rodrick is a part of a band named Loded Diper. Rodrick is also the antagonist. Susan is still an important character to this novel but she is not featured a lot throughout the novel. Susan has two sons (Greg Heffley and Rodrick Heffley). Susan is married to Frank Heffley. She has a very short temper which was evident in one incident where Rodrick threw a party without his parent’s permission. Frank is an older man, therefore he doesn’t have much patience. One time Rodrick broke the bathroom door, and when he realized there was no lock on it, he got really mad at Rodrick so he made him go and purchase a new door. Frank is also a character who is important but doesn’t get featured that much throughout the novel. Throughout Diary of a Wimpy Kid “the third wheel”, the themes that get presented throughout the novel are, Bullying and Growing up.
In Greg’s middle school, deviation from social norms is often punished with bullying. One of Greg’s central aims is to avoid any behaviour that could make him a target for school bullies—like wearing the wrong clothes, being bad at sports, or having an embarrassing nickname. Ultimately, however, he chooses to protect his “uncool” best friend Rowley from school bullies when he takes responsibility for touching “the Cheese,” a mouldy bit of cheese left out on the school basketball court, exposing himself to the risk of social censure to protect his friend. In Diary of a Wimpy Kid, one of the main themes is growing up. When Greg realizes that puberty is a big thing for middle school kids growing up he does not want to grow up anymore. Before he thought it was cool to grow up, become a high school kid, be the person who threw all the cool parties and who was the coolest in the school. Now Greg wants to grow up but he does not want to experience puberty. ‘Rowley, when did you get that pimple on your forehead?!’ .
Greg had no idea what to think when he saw that pimple on his ex-best friend Rowley’s head. The main conflict in diary of a wimpy kid is that Greg kept on trying to be popular, but he is having a hard time doing it. The other problem in the book is during Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night, Greg and Rowley got ambushed by a group of teenagers.
