48 pages • 1 hour read
Jeff KinneyDouble Down
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Media Fame
Kinney uses the motif of fame and notoriety as a motivating force in Greg’s life throughout the entire Wimpy Kid series to highlight the coming-of-age tropes of self-definition and self-discovery. Greg Heffley spends much of his time thinking about how to become famous and popular, and how that popularity would improve his life. Most of the trouble that Greg gets into is in pursuit of fame. Though Greg generally resists his parents’ attempts to encourage values of Perseverance and Commitment in him, he demonstrates unfailing commitment to his pursuit of fame and popularity. He executes a long and complicated plan to get into Mariana Mendoza’s Halloween party, and he puts a lot of effort into his horror movie until things start to fall apart, and it seems unlikely to deliver the notoriety Greg desires.
Ultimately, Greg is not truly all that interested in making a movie or having fun at a party with his best friend. He sees these activities as a vehicle for achieving significance that will earn him the respect of his peer group (in the case of the Halloween party) and validation from his parents (in the case of the movie). He does not “want to share credit on [the movie] since it was [his] idea” (196) and will not let Rowley Jefferson contribute to the script for fear that it will detract from his attempts at self-definition.
Greg’s pursuit of fame becomes ironic at the end of the book, when Rowley has an inadvertent moment of media attention after the fire department rescues him from the tree. Greg is annoyed that Rowley “hasn’t mentioned [his] name ONCE, even though [Greg] is the one who MADE him famous” (217). He thinks that Rowley is acting like “the world revolves around him” (217), which is what Greg claims to actually be true of himself in the opening chapter.
The Spineticklers Books
The Spineticklers books are an important symbol of inspiration for Greg, even though he finds them somewhat scary. They stimulate his imagination and inspire him to pursue his creativity on his own terms. Greg fantasizes about freezing his body for hundreds of years because of the plot of one of the books. He also wants to make a horror movie because he has spent so much time thinking about the Spineticklers series. Greg believes that if he becomes a famous director, his mother will be proud because she knows him to be a “smart kid with a good imagination” (113) and encourages him to utilize his creativity. Greg recognizes in the Spineticklers books, an opportunity to gain validation and affection from his mother.
Though the books are a source of inspiration, they do lose a bit of their shine when Greg finds out that the author, I. M. Spooky, does not actually exist—a discovery that further emphasizes the blurred line between Reality and Illusion. Mrs. Heffley explains to Greg that sometimes, “publishers create a fictional author and then hire a bunch of people to write books under that name” (82), and Greg is forced to engage with an illusion in which he has found meaningful inspiration.
The Aggressive Geese
The geese that terrorize the neighborhood are harbingers of chaos that foreshadow the book’s ending. They appear at several moments throughout Double Down, first destroying the Heffleys’ Halloween decorations, as well as chasing and threatening several characters. Greg’s parents have different views on the geese. Mrs. Heffley believes that the geese should be respected and left alone since they “have been flocking to these parts for thousands of years, and if anything, [humans are] the ones intruding on THEIR lives” (55). Mr. Heffley, however, wants to call Animal Control to get rid of the geese. This conflict between Mr. and Mrs. Heffley mirrors their conflict over Greg’s French horn, where Mrs. Heffley believes that Greg should be given the chance to prove himself, while Mr. Heffley is more dubious.
The chaos unleashed by the arrival of the geese at the end of the novel heightens the comedy of the final chapters. The geese, along with the cackling witch, the Halloween candy, and the scary movie tie together elements that have appeared throughout the book and deliver the final punchline of the story.
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By Jeff Kinney
