Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney Continued

Greg didn't change all that much as the book went on. As the school year progressed throughout the book I expected him to grow and show some maturity. However, he kept up his selfish, egocentric, self-absorbed attitude. He also showed zero empathy or willingness to cooperate with others.

A prime example of these attributes is when Greg and Rowley started working on the comics together. First Greg didn't let Rowley contribute to the comic and then when he gave in and let Rowley participate he bashed both his writing and drawing skills. (168-170) Continuing with the story of the comic strips, Greg did everything he could to get his way and become the school comic writer including hide other students' work. He has no problem lying if it means he gets his way. A good example of this is the incident when he walked home a group of kindergartners for Rowley and terrorized them with worms. Greg chooses not to speak up when Rowley gets in trouble for this because it would mean losing his hot chocolate privileges in the morning. It was only after his mom gave him advice to make right choices that he finally told Rowley what actually happened.

Another interesting thing from the last half of the book was the changing relationship between Rowley and Greg. In the first part of the book Rowley seemed to rely on Greg but towards the end of the book Rowley and Greg had a brief falling out. I don't think Rowley noticed how often Greg took advantage and bad-mouthed him, however, I think he realized Greg had crossed a line and was acting extremely selfish. It was interesting to see Greg become somewhat jealous of the new relationships Rowley was forming, even though Greg always talked so negatively and poorly of Rowley. "Ever since the worm incident, Rowley has been hanging out with Colin Lee every day after school. What really stinks is that Collin is supposed to be MY backup friend." (190) I don't think Greg would acknowledge how good of a friend and how much he appreciates Rowley. Although their relationship is somewhat jaded and at times unhealthy, I think they can help each other grow and become good people as they get older.

I really liked this book. While it is children's literature it was much deeper and thought provoking than I thought it would be.