The Deep End

One of the main middle-grade messages of the novel is the theme of managing expectations, which shapes the emotional arc of the story. Every member of the Heffley family seems to have trouble managing their expectations of what is to come, but Greg and his mother seem especially prone to this character flaw. Before and during the vacation, Greg has visions of how things are going to be, and they never turn out the way he imagines. He pictures parasailing over the mountains with his family at the adventure park, but it turns out to be an overcrowded tourist destination filled with rowdy, inconsiderate people. Greg also envisions doing all sorts of activities that his mother simply won’t agree to because of Manny. He is thus left constantly disappointed. Part of Greg’s high expectations are the result of his strong imagination, and part of it is due to his naivety as a youth. He hears the name “Campers’ Eden” and assumes it must be a paradise; the picture on the sign confirms this. Greg handles his disappointment well despite all of this, and he always seems to bounce back quickly. When the family arrives, it is once again an overcrowded and underregulated disaster.

While Greg’s mom’s optimism is the power force behind the vacation, her relentless hope for a happy memory with her family puts the Heffleys in all sorts of undesirable situations. Her suggestion to take a camping trip when the family has no camping experience is the first problem, because the family is unprepared when a bear comes to camp. Later, the family is unprepared again when a skunk invades the camper. Greg’s mom is always pushing the family to get involved in social activities, and these usually don’t go the way that she or anyone else hopes. The pool party turns out to be a disaster and, by the end, even Greg’s mom is ready to go home. Greg points out that his mother seems to always be comparing her own family to the families she sees on social media, and this plays into Greg’s sense of inadequacy. He draws two pictures: one of a perfect family, and one of his own family attempting to be perfect and failing. Greg laments his mother’s high expectations, noting, “She brought her camera with her, and that always complicated things” (125). This is an oblique comment on the modern pressures that social media puts on parents and, by extension, children. Greg seems to see his own family from a realistic perspective, while his mother is always hoping for more than is possible. In the end, her optimism pays off when the family is able to spend two days without any other people around. Part of the meaningfulness of this family time is that Greg’s mother is no longer trying to live up to online expectations and is instead just enjoying private time with her family.