Currency's reversed marginal role in children's literature: Loans, debts, Mum Bucks and their subversion in Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Abstract

AbstractMonetary issues abound in the best‐seller graphic novel Diary of a Wimpy Kid, where Heffley, his little brother Manny, and his friend Rowley often try to borrow or use others' money, the failure of which often develops into stealth or abuse of money, not to mention Heffley's mom's failed effort of disciplining him by introducing Mum Bucks. Money plays the role of currency and is one of the regulating and most fundamental principles in the adult society. Those who disregard the commonly accepted way of the use of money are often marginalized or even become criminals. On the contrary, in the children's world, money is often marginalized and destabilized—it is not respected with reference to its proper function in the adult world and it is often abused, counterfeited, or denied, the degree of which often indicates the degree of maturity of the character. This article analyzes different characters' regards and uses of money in Diary of a Wimpy Kid in an attempt to reveal the marginalized or even destabilizing role money plays in the children's world. It argues that the least mature character holds the most careless attitude toward money and this behavior often upsets the more mature character, who to a certain extent has partly internalized the central role of money in the adult world. It is, therefore, not surprising that Heffley's mom's introduction of Mom Bucks fail to work in the end because it symbolizes adults' futile enforcement of the disciplinary power of money in the children's world where it is not recognized as such.