Greg is the protagonist of the series, who depicts his misfortunes and inner thoughts through illustration. Like many kids his age, he is often selfish and seldom shows any remorse for his wrongdoings. His frustrations generally revolve around his family, friends, and schoolmates respectfully, particularly his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, is pretty much a unpopular loser. On several occasions throughout the course of the series, Greg finds himself in compromising situations that often end with him suffering the most from humiliation, even by the adults in his life, and especially from his older brother Rodrick. Greg loves video games and would rather spend his spare time playing them than engaging in any form of outdoor activity, albeit on numerous occasions he has been forced into giving them up by an aduis mother Susan) in order to take part in other activities, often against his will. Another key problem for Greg is his paranoia, especially after he has performed a wrongdoing of some sort and fears that somebody is going to attempt to seek vengeance or punishment on him for doing this, and sometimes he becomes paranoid over impossible things (such as fearing that his misplaced childhood doll will seek revenge on him for replacing it or that the killer in a horror movie will come for him), and his grasp on reality is not always the strongest. In Cabin Fever, he hung a tag on his parish's giving tree for himself requesting money and once shoveled the pathway to the Church in order to see if someone fulfilled his request, and this good deed was noted in the local newspaper since this enabled a soup kitchen to be opened in spite of the snow. Later, although Greg was not identified by the newspaper, he gave his identity away in a newspaper that he and Rowley attempted to publish themselves in order to receive the glory because of his deed. In rare cases like this, the books, in spite of showing his hardships, do give him some measure of peace through his friendship with Rowley, or a period of seclusion where he resolves to be luckier next time