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

These chapters introduce the art contest, which becomes a critical part of Nikki realizing who her true friends are and learning that popularity matters less than loyal friendship. Nikki is still at the beginning of her character arc in Chapter 9, shown by how she lets MacKenzie’s presence intimidate her out of signing up for the art contest. Nikki has attended art camp for several summers and took art classes at her last school, and even though she knows she’s talented, she’s too afraid to enter the contest in front of MacKenzie because she doesn’t want to be mocked. MacKenzie is convinced she’ll win because she’s popular, which foreshadows her ultimately losing the contest. Taken together, these events show that popularity is less important than either girl believes it to be, underscoring the theme of Expectations Versus Reality. In Chapter 15, Nikki gathers the courage to enter the contest, but she waits until MacKenzie leaves the office, showing that Nikki has grown a little but still has a lot to learn. After spying on MacKenzie, she can’t believe MacKenzie spies on her, which shows that she and MacKenzie are more alike than they are different, revealing the folly of Making Judgments Without Facts.

These chapters further explore The Volatile Emotional Lives of Teenagers, as seen when Nikki continues to let MacKenzie’s judgment define her. In Chapter 10, Nikki imagines a detailed scenario in which MacKenzie frames her for killing their French teacher, showing that Nikki gives MacKenzie far too much attention and credit. It’s likely MacKenzie doesn’t spare this much thought for Nikki, suggesting there is a power imbalance created by perceived popularity. Nikki’s desire to be popular makes her obsess over what MacKenzie and the popular kids think of her. By contrast, MacKenzie and the popular kids probably only ever think about Nikki in the moments they are making fun of her. In this way, popularity is a stand-in for confidence. MacKenzie and the popular kids are assured of their place in the school’s social hierarchy, and they don’t worry what others think. Nikki is desperately trying to climb the social ladder, and she is hyper-aware of everything she does and how her actions help or hinder her progress.

These chapters introduce Brandon (Nikki’s love interest) and Chloe and Zoey (Nikki’s true friends). Brandon is a stand-in for a typical middle-school crush. Nikki reads a lot into small gestures like Brandon taking her picture for the school newspaper. She wants to believe these things mean something, so she convinces herself there is something significant between Brandon and her. The lunch conversation between Nikki, Chloe, and Zoey further exemplifies the similarities between Nikki’s “unpopular” group and MacKenzie and the popular kids. Throughout the earlier chapters, MacKenzie has said mean things about Nikki, but here, Nikki, Chloe, and Zoey say mean things about MacKenzie, either not realizing or not acknowledging that they are acting the same way MacKenzie does. Popularity doesn’t make MacKenzie mean, and being mean is not acceptable, whether one is popular or not.

The birthday invitation incident in Chapter 13 shows how the perception of an event can influence us. Nikki believes MacKenzie is inviting her to a birthday party, and Nikki suddenly thinks she’s somehow won over MacKenzie, even though there’s been no evidence to support this. This reflects the complex line between Expectations Versus Reality: Nikki wants to believe MacKenzie has suddenly taken a liking to her, so she places more significance on the invitation than there is. Her desperate desire for MacKenzie’s acknowledgement and approval warps her perception of reality. MacKenzie doesn’t tell Nikki the invitation is for her, and Nikki reacts before she has all the information, which also shows the danger of Making Judgments Without Facts. If Nikki had waited to see why MacKenzie handed her the invitation, the following awkward situation could have been avoided.

Nikki again uses capitalization to show emphasis in these entries, reflecting The Volatile Emotional Lives of Teenagers. In Chapter 10, she puts “so unfair” in all caps to show just how unfair she thinks her pathetic life is. The use of capitals shows how strong Nikki’s perception of unfairness is. Nikki also uses all caps in Chapter 15 when she realizes MacKenzie has been spying on her. Here, the caps are an emphasis but also Nikki’s attempt to draw attention away from her own actions. By playing up how inappropriate MacKenzie’s spying is, Nikki is trying to prove to herself and anyone reading that MacKenzie is the problematic one, even though Nikki has done the exact same thing. Nikki says she’s going to enter the art contest to show off her “mad art skillz.” The phrase “mad skillz” is slang derived from the hip-hop culture of the mid-1990s, and its use here exemplifies Nikki’s sometimes blundering efforts to adopt an identity that her peers will deem “cool.”