Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life

Chapters 16 and 17 show that even seemingly terrible events may end well. In illustrating that things are not always as they appear, they also underscore the line between Expectations and Reality. Nikki believes that tripping and spilling her lunch in front of the entire cafeteria is the end of her social life and that everyone will think she’s a loser from now on. She is emotionally distraught, and rightfully so as the situation is a difficult one, but Chapter 17 shows how such an event can be resolved in a positive way. At first, Nikki thinks Brandon is going to take her picture for the school paper, thus immortalizing her humiliation. When he helps her up and offers her a napkin, Nikki is amazed that someone was nice to her, rather than enjoying her embarrassment. Nikki’s description of how it felt when his fingers brushed against hers shows a few things. First, it attests to Nikki’s flustered state. Second, it adds to Nikki’s personality and flair for the dramatic. Third, it is a humorous take on typical romance genre conventions. As soon as Brandon leaves, Nikki’s fluttery feelings dissolve, and when MacKenzie starts making fun of her again, Nikki’s bad feelings come back, which shows the power she allows others to have over her emotions. She could have kept Brandon’s kindness as evidence that not everyone thought she was a loser, but instead, she let MacKenzie get to her.

Chapter 19 is an example of how small things can seem like the end of the world, reinforcing the novel’s thematic interest in The Volatile Emotional Lives of Teenagers. Nikki is so concerned over a pimple that she goes to the trouble of making fake vomit to convince her parents that she’s too sick to go to school. Brandon may not have even noticed the pimple, and given the kindness he showed her in a far more embarrassing situation the day before, it seems unlikely that he would have reacted negatively. Nikki’s reaction to the pimple shows how easily the imagination—especially the teenage imagination—can turn a minor problem into a crisis. Nikki’s family provides a helpful counterexample when, finding the extra vomit concoction Nikki has accidentally left on the stove, they proceed to eat it. It may be that her family really is this dense and don’t make the connection. It may also be that they know what Nikki did and choose not to acknowledge it, minimizing drama rather than maximizing it as Nikki does.

The latter half of this section builds toward the book’s final conflict and resolution. Nikki’s possibly unfounded belief that MacKenzie intentionally switched the CDs in Chapter 22 intensifies the conflict between them, lending credence to the novel’s warning against Making Judgments Without Facts. Chloe and Zoey’s thwarted plan to get tattoos jumpstarts the chain of events leading to the art contest and the solidifying of their friendship with Nikki. Their anger over the tattoos causes the group to ignore their gym assignment, which in turn leads to Chloe and Zoey’s plan to run away. This prompts Nikki to come up with a way to make them stay by drawing temporary tattoos on their arms, and the after-effects of this plan are explored in the following chapters.

In Chapter 21, Nikki makes up a story about being allergic to tattoo ink to get out of getting a tattoo. Nikki is still in the midst of her character arc, and she hasn’t yet realized that she doesn’t have to lie to her friends to keep their friendship. She doesn’t want a reading tattoo because she thinks it would make her uncool, and she doesn’t want to tell Chloe and Zoey this because she wants them to think she’s cool. This paradox illustrates how concepts like “cool” or “dorky” take on different meanings in different social contexts. To Chloe and Zoey, the tattoos are both cool and a way to show off their love of the library and books, as well as what they hope will get them to New York. Nikki also wants to go to New York, but her fear of being judged for a tattoo about reading is greater than her desire to go on the trip.

While the events of Chapter 20 may seem somewhat disconnected from the rest of the story, Nikki’s kindness toward her hearing-impaired neighbor shows a different side of her personality than the one we’ve seen at school and illustrates the degree to which her overriding concern with popularity prevents her from being her true self. Away from MacKenzie and the popular crowd, Nikki is less concerned with how her actions look. It’s not necessarily cool to spend her time with her older neighbor, but she believes the hearing aid is important and so does her best to return it. As it turns out, the neighbor still struggles to hear even after the hearing aid is returned. This irony is presented as comic, but it also introduces a larger philosophical question about whether we should judge actions by their results or their intentions.