Friendship

Friendship is a major theme in this novel as Greg discusses his friendship with Rowley quite a bit in his journal. While both Greg and Rowley had their good and bad qualities, Greg’s behavior was for the most part an example of bad friendship. Rowley was a much better friend than Greg deserved to have though Rowley had his shortcomings as well. Despite their disagreements, the boys managed to salvage their friendship at the conclusion of the novel.

Although Greg credited Rowley as being his best friend, Greg treated Rowley in a manner that was very critical and even cruel at some points. For instance, when Greg ranked the boys in his class on what he perceived was their popularity he put Rowley in the 150th spot. Apparently, Rowley was more popular than that as he not only had girls helping feed him when he...