EDSE 328: Novel Interactive NotesAlfred TomMarch 27, 2012Interactive Notes: Holes by Louis Sachar

Beginning

Appearance, Traits, Idiosyncrasies: Stanley Yelnats is the protagonist in the novel “Holes” by

Louis Sachar. Within the first few chapters, Sachar does not paint a flattering portrait of our supposed

hero. Stanley “didn’t have any friends…he was overweight and the kids at his middles school often

teased him about his size. Even his teachers made cruel comments without realizing it” (pg. 7). Stanley

is actually the largest boy in his class and outsizes the smallest boy by a ratio of 3 to 1 (pg. 7), yet he still

finds himself bullied by a much smaller boy named Derrick Dunne (pg. 23). This intimates to the reader

that Stanley is not only unpopular but also does not command a lot of respect as even his teacher’s

unwittingly teased him. Stanley also tells the reader that “nobody believed him when he said he was

innocent” and now when he said he stole the shoes, “nobody believed him either” (pg. 22). Also, when

Stanley tried to complain about being bullied by Derrick Dunne, the teachers didn’t believe him because

they didn’t think someone so small could bully someone so much larger (pg. 23). Stanley couldn’t earn

any respect and was constantly written off. We also learn that Stanley is white (pg. 84) and this becomes

important when the race relations within Camp Green Lake devolve into infighting.

‘Holes’ does not actually give a lot of information on what Stanley looks like. We don’t learn of

his hair color, eye color, haircut or any other prominent physical characteristics (like freckles on the

Warden pg. 89, Zigzag being the “weirdest dude” Stanley had seen due to his ‘long skinny neck’, ‘wild

frizzy blond hair’ and ‘big round head’ pg. 37). What Holes does do is paint a very clear picture of the

kind of person Stanley is. Stanley, even with all the bad things happening in his life, remains an optimist

and the narrator admits as much: “If Stanley and his father weren’t always hopeful, then it wouldn’t hurt

so much every time their hopes were crushed” (pg. 9). Stanley, throughout the novel, expresses positive

thinking moving forward. Stanley had just been arrested for something he didn’t do and instead of

dwelling on that, he looks at the positives as he’ll be able to go to a camp (something he’d never done

prior) and possibly make some friends, and “at least he’d get to swim in the lake” (pg. 7).

Stanley entered Camp Green Lake hoping to make some friends and this shows Stanley’s need

and desire to find a place to fit in. Once he enters life in D Tent (the Tent he is assigned to life in Camp

Green Lake), Stanley quickly follows the customs: he learns to call everybody by their nicknames as he

deduced that it may be a sign of respect (“In a way, it made him feel a little bit better about having to

sleep in a cot that had been used by somebody named Barf Bag. Maybe it was a term of respect, pg. 20).

Stanley also followed their customs as after observing everybody spitting in their holes after they finished

digging, Stanley did the same (pg. 40). Stanley also deferred to X-Ray, the recognized leader/bully of D

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Tent, by promising to give him anything he found while digging. This is seen here: “The more he thought

about it, the more he was glad that he agreed to let X-Ray have anything he might find. If he was going to

survive at Camp Green Lake, it was far more important that X-Ray think he was a good guy than it was

for him to get one day off. Besides, he didn’t think expect to find anything anyway. There probably

wasn’t anything “of interest” out there, and even if there was, he’d never been what you would call

lucky,” (pg. 53). The last sentence about luck is another central tenet to Stanley’s character.

One of the important facets that are idiosyncratic of Stanley and the whole Yelnats family is their

belief or pseudo-belief in fate and the way it intertwines with the family curse inherited from their ‘no-

good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather’ (pg. 7). Whenever things go wrong, Stanley has

a tendency to blame that long dead, not-so-forgotten ancestor. The narrator writes, “Stanley and his

parents didn’t believe in curses, of course, but whenever anything went wrong, it felt good to be able to

blame someone. Things went wrong a lot. They always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong

time,” (pg. 8). While in the quotation, they profess they don’t believe in the curse, the repeated blaming

of Elya Yelnats (the no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather) seems to run contrary to

that belief. A humorous moment is when Mr. Pendanski, the camp counselor, is having a chat with all

the boys from D Tent and he tells them that they are all here on account of one person. Mr. Pendanski is

obviously referencing that each person can only blame themselves, but when he asks Stanley if he knows

who that person is, Stanley replies, “My no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.”

In two crucial moments that occur to Stanley, he chalks it up to being “in the wrong place at the

wrong time”. The first is when Clyde Livingston’s shoes hit him in the head which eventually led to his

incarceration (pg. 7) and the second is when Zigzag throws the seeds stolen from Mr. Sir at him which

spill all over the ground and result in Stanley being brought in front of the Warden for further questioning

(pg. 85). These two moments prove to be very fortuitous in the end as they lead Stanley to places and

events he would not have experienced otherwise. The first led him to being placed at Camp Green Lake

and the second brought him to the Warden where he figured out that the golden tube with the initials KB

was actually a lipstick container that may have belonged to Kissin’ Kate Barlow (pg. 99-100). This also

led to the beginnings of the friendship between Zero and Stanley. While Stanley had been sent to the

Warden, Zero took it upon himself to dig Stanley’s hole which was the beginning of their friendship:

“Then he turned to Zero, who had been quietly digging in his hole since Stanley’s return. Zero’s hole was

smaller than all the others,” (pg. 94).

To display Stanley’s optimism and belief in destiny, the narrator tells the reader that initially

Stanley had not thought of the shoes as hitting him in the head as a wrong place at the wrong time

moment. It was the opposite as Stanley seen it as the work of God or destiny: “He had just walked out

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from under a freeway overpass when the shoe hit him on the head…Stanley took it as some kind of sign.

His father had been trying to figure out a way to recycle old sneakers, and suddenly a pair of sneakers

fell on top of him, seemingly out of nowhere, like a gift from God…It was too much of a coincidence to be

a mere accident. Stanley had felt like he was holding destiny’s shoes” (pg. 24). Stanley held a lot of

stock in destiny and the idea of holding “Destiny’s shoes” supports that.

The Yelnats family “had always liked the fact that “Stanley Yelnats” was spelled the same

frontward and backward. So they kept naming their sons Stanley. Stanley was an only child, as was

every other Stanley Yelnats before him” (pg. 9). Even this small characteristic unique to the Yelnats

family hints at how they are all connected. It’s a hard to explain idea that maybe the end will take us back

to the beginning in reference to the name being spelt the same going forward and then backward. Our

hero is the fourth iteration of Stanley Yelnats.

There is a moment early in the novel where Stanley outlines that inventor’s, which his father

professed to be, need three characteristics to be successful: “intelligence, perseverance and a just a bit of

luck” (pg. 8). Stanley, it could be argued, possessed the first two. There are moments throughout his

story which he uses his intelligence to come out ahead. The perseverance is seen by the way he battles in

digging holes every day and even by not being a broken teenager by the time he arrives at Camp Green

Lake; after all, Stanley had suffered from what seemed like a lifetime of failure. These two traits sustain

Stanley and are instrumental in finally achieving success by the end of the novel; it also turns out that all

that bad luck was just fate’s way of lining up the stars.

Relationships with Others, Zero: The most important relationship in the novel is between Stanley and

Zero. They are both, respectively, the ancestors of Elya Yelnats and Madame Zeroni who are the original

deal makers. What’s interesting is that their relationship doesn’t blossom until midway through the novel.

In the beginning, Stanley just wants to fit in and curry favor with the power players in D Tent and since

Zero is at the bottom of that hierarchy, Stanley doesn’t pay him too much attention: “The truck stopped

and the boys lined up. They always lineup up in the same order, Stanley realized, no matter who got

there first. X-Ray was always at the front of the line. Then came Armpit, Squid, Zigzag, Magnet, and

Zero” (pg. 50). One of the reasons Zero is at the back of the line is because he tends to keep to himself

and not really bother with the politics of D Tent.

The most revealing interactions the two have in first third always occur when Stanley is either

writing to his mother or reading a letter from his mother. In the first interaction, Zero cryptically asks if

the shoes Stanley was accused of stealing had red XX’s on them (pg. 46). This foreshadows the fact that

it was actually Zero who stole the shoes and upon realizing they were valuable, left them on a car which

by acts of fate, luck or whatever – ended up hitting Stanley in the head. The second conversation occurs

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as Stanley laughs while reading a letter from his mother. Zero asks him what’s so funny and Stanley tries

to explain to Zero about fairy tales, nursery rhymes and Sesame Street to which “Zero stared blankly at

him”. Zero said that he’d never watched Sesame Street or heard about the little old lady who lived in a

shoe (pg. 75-76). These interactions while providing foreshadow, also simultaneously gets the reader to

start asking questions: How did Zero know about the red XX’s on the shoes? How does he not know

about nursery rhymes and Sesame Street? Zero’s curiosity of Stanley writing and reading his letters is

finally revealed in their third interaction when Zero confesses to Stanley that he doesn’t know how to read

and write (pg. 82). Zero then asks Stanley if he can teach him to read which is when Stanley refuses him.

The narrator reveals Stanley’s thinking: “After digging all day, he didn’t have the strength to try to teach

Zero to read and write. He needed to save his energy for the people who counted,” (pg. 82). It’s a heart

wrenching moment because Zero, who is either ignored or picked by everybody in the novel (in

particularly by Mr. Pendanski), is even let down by Stanley in this moment of vulnerability. Stanley had

observed that Zero was last in line and ignored, so he perceived Zero as someone not able to help him in

fitting in. Stanley reveals the way he feels about Zero in the following quotation: “He stopped writing as

Zero walked into the tent, then returned to his letter. He didn’t care what Zero thought. Zero was

nobody,” (pg. 81). The narrator tells the reader that “[Stanley’s] muscles and hands weren’t the only

parts of his body that had toughened over the past several weeks. His heart had hardened as well,” (pg.

82). Luckily for the reader, as well as for Stanley and Zero, Stanley makes up for this moment of

indiscretion soon afterward.

It is also interesting to note that Zero is the only character that is not differentiated by his

civilization name and Camp name: “The last boy either didn’t have a real name or else he didn’t have a

nickname. Both Mr. Pendanski and X-Ray called him Zero,” (pg. 19). Remember, Stanley found out

quickly that receiving a nickname was a sign of respect so this further showed Zero’s outsider status

which can partially explain Stanley’s willingness to treat him as badly as everyone else did.

Relationship with X-Ray: X-Ray aka Rex is the de facto leader of D Tent as evidenced by his number

one status in line ups (pg. 50). Also, X-Ray had preference to a specific shovel that only he could use

because he thought it was shorter than the others (pg. 27). The reason this was important was because the

boys had to shovel a hole as deep and as wide as their shovels. With X-Ray being the leader and

Stanley’s burning desire to fit in, he was careful not to displease him. This ended up paying off as it was

X-Ray and Armpit (essentially X-Ray’s second in command) who saved Stanley from a confrontation

with ‘the Lump’ and who talked about the ‘Caveman being cool’ and the ‘Caveman being one tough

dude’ (pg. 44). Stanley didn’t realize this until a little later but he was actually the Caveman that X-Ray

and Armpit had been talking about. At this point Stanley had been initiated into D Tent and was now part

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of the group. According to Stanley, nicknames were a sign of respect in this world so X-Ray bestowing

‘Caveman’ upon Stanley was a sign of acceptance. X-Ray also had a running joke with Stanley aka

Caveman by always saying that the next hole they were going to dig was the hardest.

Where Stanley really cemented his standing with X-Ray was when he gave X-Ray the golden

tube initialed K.B. The boys are told at the outset that they are digging holes to “build character” but they

are also told that if they are ever to find anything, “the Warden would like to know about it” (pg. 27).

Stanley ends up finding a fossil and brings it forward but is told by Mr. Pendanski that “the Warden isn’t

interested in fossils” (pg. 51). Afterwards, X-Ray asks Stanley to give him anything he finds: “I mean

why should you get a day off when you’ve only been here a couple of days? If anybody gets a day off, it

should be me. That’s only fair, right,” (pg. 53). Stanley reluctantly agrees but then lets the reader know

“it was far more important that X-Ray think he was a good guy than it was for him to get one day off,”

(pg. 53). When Stanley finds the golden tube he again reluctantly hands it over to X-Ray and gives him

the invaluable advice (as well as being important to the storyline) of waiting until the next day to get the

whole day off rather than a few hours off that afternoon (pg. 62). And Stanley’s reward: “When the water

truck came, Stanley started to take his place at the end of the line, but X-Ray told him to get behind

Magnet, in front of Zero. Stanley moved up one place in line,” (pg. 63). The last line of that quotation is

obviously double-edged as it means he literally moved up a spot as well as moving up a spot in rank or

standing. Also, X-Ray later calls Caveman “my man” and gets others to make room for him in the

Wreck/Rec room (pg. 73). In another moment, Armpit starts teasing Stanley about receiving a letter from

his mother but since he had earned X-Ray’s protection, X-Ray intervenes by saying, “Give him some

space. If Caveman doesn’t want to read it to us, he doesn’t have to. It’s probably from his girlfriend,”

(pg. 74).

This relationship though is not a true friendship and rather one of Stanley being a subordinate and

coming under X-Ray’s good graces and protection. This become clear later in the novel once Stanley

falls out of favor with X-Ray (by allowing Zero to help him dig his holes in exchange for teaching him to

read).

Relationship with Mr. Sir, Mr. Pendanski and the Warden: Mr. Sir is the first character we meet at

Camp Green Lake and from the outset he casts an imposing shadow as he is described as wearing a

cowboy hat and sunglasses and strictly tells Stanly that he must be spoken to only using Mr. Sir (pg. 13).

This strict usage of name, upon reflection, is his way of not allowing the Campers to give him a nickname

like the use of “Mom” for Mr. Pendanski. Mr. Sir also uses intimidation: 1) “I see you’re looking at my

gun. Don’t worry. I’m not going to shoot you. This is for the yellow-spotted lizards. I wouldn’t waste a

bullet on you.” 2) “Nobody runs away from here. We don’t need a fence. Know why? Because we’ve got

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the only water for a hundred miles. You want to run away? You’ll be buzzard food in three days.” 3)

“You thirsty? …Well, you better get used to it. You’re going to be thirsty for the next eighteen months,”

(pg. 14-15). This is how we are introduced to Mr. Sir and it sets the tone for life in Camp Green Lake.

Something about it just feels off and sinister. Mr. Sir doesn’t seem to care for the boys or their

rehabilitation. His relationship with Stanley is that there is no developed relationship. Camp Green Lake

is a juvenile prison so their relationship is that of prisoner and guard where the guard is scarier than the

inmates.

Mr. Sir from that auspicious introduction lurks in the background until about 1/3rd of the way

through ‘Holes’. This is when Stanley is caught in one of those wrong place, wrong time moments where

Mr. Sir’s stolen sunflower seeds are found in his possession. Stanley admits to stealing the sunflower

seeds so Mr. Sir takes him to see the Warden. Mr. Sir lets the Warden know that he thinks that Stanley is

just covering for X-Ray or somebody else in D Tent (pg. 89). The Warden though instead slaps Mr. Sir

telling him she doesn’t care about his sunflower seeds (pg. 91). This is when the Warden tells Stanley,

“He’s not going to die, unfortunately for you,” (pg. 91). Mr. Sir takes a bit of revenge on Stanley by not

supplying him with water, but what this exchange truly showed was the viciousness of the Warden and

her place as the unrivaled boss of Camp Green Lake.

Before even meeting the Warden, Stanley was scared of him/her (at this point he didn’t know if

the Warden was male or female) and he mentions that “if he could go his entire year and a half without

seeing the Warden, that would be fine with him,” (pg. 61). Of course the Warden ends lives up to

Stanley’s scariest imaginations of her. Stanley, and the reader, is finally introduced to the Warden after

X-Ray turns in the golden tube with the initials K.B. She surprises Stanley by knowing his name (his

camp name/Caveman). She then gets all the boys to start digging in the area where X-Ray supposedly

found the tube. Initially she seems okay supplying the boys with plenty of water and being supportive of

their digging efforts. At this point Stanley realizes for certain “they weren’t just digging to ‘build

character’. They were definitely looking for something. And whatever they were looking for, they were

looking for it in the wrong place” (pg. 71). So as the boys began digging in the wrong spot and not

finding anything, the Warden’s true colors begin to show themselves by demanding Mr. Sir to get the

boys to work quicker and then forcing them to dig later than everybody else (pg. 73-74). Eventually the

Warden loses all control and “jabbed at Armpit with her pitchfork, knocking him backward into the big

hole. The pitchfork left three holes in the front of his shirt, and three tiny spots of blood”. At this point,

it’s clear that the Warden doesn’t care about the boys and all she cares about is whatever the desert is

hiding from her. All the boys, including Stanley, are disposable and interchangeable parts that she is

using as her means to finding Kissin’ Kate Barlow’s treasure.

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The Warden is similar to Stanley in one important way: she is also the victim of a curse passed on

by her ancestors. Stanley’s is from Elya and the Warden’s is from her ancestors Trout Walker and his

wife, Linda Miller. Trout killed Kate’s lover Sam as well as Sam’s donkey, Mary Lou. Earlier in Kate’s

tale the Sheriff told her, “The law will punish Sam. And God will punish you,” (pg. 114). Sachar turns

this on its head by quickly stating the facts of Sam and Mary Lou’s murder and then concluding:

That all happened one hundred and ten years ago. Since then, not one drop of rain has fallen on Green Lake.

You make the decision: Whom did God punish? (pg. 115)

The last line is separated and gives the reader pause. This line isolation is a technique Sachar

uses to great effect in ‘Holes’ and in this instance, he asks the reader a question. The question is thought

provoking and again brings about ideas of fate. Stanley and the Warden are linked by it. The citizens of

Green Lake did something terrible and they were the ones punished for it, not Kate.

The drying up of the lake due to the hundred year drought ruined Trout. Trout with his wife,

Linda, eventually confront Kate and demand her to show them where she buried her loot. Kate responds

with this: “Go ahead and kill me, Trout. But I sure hope you like to dig. ‘Cause you’re going to be

digging for a long time. It’s a big vast wasteland out there. You, and your children, and their children,

can dig for the next hundred years and you’ll never find it,” (pg. 122). This is Kate’s dying curse on the

Walker’s and their progeny for the next hundred years which includes the Warden. So while the

Warden’s direct relationship with Stanley in the beginning is limited to her thinking about Stanley as

simply another lackey in her goal of finding Kate Barlow’s treasure, they do share some common

denominators of overlapping history, fate and curses.

While Mr. Sir and the Warden are easy to pinpoint in the villain category, Mr. Pendanski’s

motivations and goals are difficult to decipher. Mr. Pendanski, unlike Mr. Sir and the Warden, seems to

become fond and concerned about their well-being. He tells Stanley that he is going to help him turn his

life around (pg. 17). The boys even have a nickname Mr. Pendanski ‘Mom’, which seems quite

affectionate. Mr. Pendanski doesn’t play any games with Stanley and even checks up on Stanley during

his first dig as he had become worried Stanley had fainted (pg. 40). Stanley feels some kind of affection

for Mr. Pendanski also. This is shown by his desire “to not cause any trouble for Mr. Pendanski” when

the Warden asks Stanley when was the last time Mr. Pendanski had filled his canteen (pg. 67).

Mr. Pendanski is officially the camp counselor and there is a scene when he counsels all of D

Tent. In it, he asks them what they are planning on doing with their lives and probes about their hopes

and dreams. When X-Ray starts making fun of Magnet’s hopes, Mr. Pendanski intervenes by saying:

“You don’t know that. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. Nothing in life is easy. But that’s no reason

to give up. You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. After all, you only

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have one life, so you should make the most of it,” (pg. 57). Mr. Pendanski then tells Stanley that he has to

take responsibility for his mistakes and that it’s up to “each individual to fix their lives” (pg. 58). Mr.

Pendanski seems to be doing a good counseling job and then concludes with “You’re all special in your

own way. You’ve all got something to offer. You have to think about what you want to do, then do it.

Even you, Zero. You’re not completely worthless,” (pg. 58). Mr. Pendanski seems to treat all the boys

well except Zero, who he treats terribly. Earlier in the novel, when Mr. Pendanski is introducing the

boys he tells Stanley, “You know why his name’s Zero? Because there’s nothing inside his head,” (pg.

19). The dichotomy between Mr. Pendanski’s treatment of Zero and everybody else is stark and

confusing. Stanley likes Pendanski but his cruel treatment of Zero is disconcerting and should lead

readers to wonder about what his true character really is. An interesting and foreshadowing insight is

when X-Ray reveals to Stanley that Mr. Pendanski has a nickname: “It ain’t just a nickname. I can see

inside of you, Mom. You’ve got a big fat heart,” (pg. 19). This all sounds great until the reader learns that

X-Ray is as manipulative as the Warden and has the reputation of not being able to see all that well:

“[Stanley] decided not to mention the engraved design. Maybe nobody would notice it. He doubted X-

Ray could see it,” (pg. 62).

Likelihood of Success and Reflections and Speculation: ‘Holes’, in many ways, is a mystery. Sachar

designs this by slowly revealing pieces of information. You learn of the curse and then you learn of

Stanley’s family history. You learn about the outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow and then you’re introduced to

the friendly and beautiful Miss Katherine who by tragic events is turned into the feared outlaw. The boys

are told they dig holes to build character, but then it becomes clear that this is completely untrue. Sachar

never allows the reader to see the entire picture but rather slowly reveals bits and pieces; the reader does

not find out Zero’s name which is Hector Zeroni until halfway through the novel. This knowledge has

obvious implications on what it could mean about Stanley’s curse moving forward (pg. 119). This all

leads to the idea that through the first third of the book, the reader doesn’t really know what the exact

problem is: they’ll have vague ideas of destiny, Stanley’s family curse and question of how Kate Barlow

fits into all of this. The Warden as the true villain isn’t really clarified until she slaps Mr. Sir with her

rattlesnake venom infused fingernails. The structure of the novel is interesting because the reader doesn’t

really know where the story is going. However, during this time, the reader will presumably always be

asking questions and making predictions on where the story is headed and what kind of problems and

resolutions could arise.

While the reader may not know the central problem of the story in the beginning, the reader does

know Stanley possesses some skills that will come in handy. These would be is his intelligence and

perseverance. These factors as well as his general genial countenance are important going forward.

Stanley is a protagonist that the reader can easily root and he’s a classic underdog. The only time we are

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aggrieved at Stanley is when he refuses to help Zero with his reading but that is quickly reconciled. The

reader will begin to worry about him when they realize that the Warden is even worse than Mr. Sir which

stacks the odds against him. The reader will also be left to wonder just how this story will be resolved.

Upon reading the first third of the novel, the reader will be left with a laundry list of questions and

wondering how they will all be answered. The amazing thing is how nicely Sachar does tie up all the

story threads.

Symbols: The most important symbols directly relating to Stanley are the shoes and the holes. The shoes

are important because they are the embodiment of destiny. When Stanley is first hit with the shoes, he

sees them as a ‘gift from God’; his father had been working on a way to recycle old shoes and the

coincidence was too great to be simple chance (pg. 24). Then when things take a turn for the worse,

Stanley begins to see it through the prism of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather;

in other words, he is viewing destiny as bad luck and the manifestation of his family’s cursed fate. The

shoes are then brought up by Zero as he asked if they had red XX’s on them (pg. 46). The reader begins

asking questions of how Zero is connected. The answer is because their fates are intertwined and the

shoes were just another way of bringing them together. As Stanley mused, “It was too much a

coincidence to be a mere accident. Stanley had felt like he was holding destiny’s shoes,” (pg. 24). Read

another way and this quotation could be interpreted that Stanley held the shoes of destiny.

The name of the book is ‘Holes’ and the boys at Camp Green Lake spend most of their time

digging holes so the importance of holes is not subtle. The holes and the act of digging have a few

different meanings. The act of uncovering or digging is important to the book because it is a mystery

where the reader is actively trying to figure out what is truly going on and how everything and everyone

are connected. They are digging and trying to uncover the truth. The holes can also be seen as a

metaphor of the holes these kids have found themselves in. In particular, Stanley’s family is cursed with

bad luck and Stanley tends to find himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. This affliction has been

difficult for Stanley and is best symbolized by the following quotation: “He couldn’t do it. His arms were

too weak to lift his heavy body. He used his legs to help, but he just didn’t have any strength. He was

trapped in his hole,” (pg. 40). The words Sachar uses here are revealing. The use of his ‘heavy body’

and being ‘too weak’ to lift it could be thought of Stanley being beaten down by the body of his history

and his strength of mind dwindling. Due to this, he was ‘trapped in his hole’. Stanley felt trapped

literally and figuratively. It’s a revealing quotation that will be extrapolated and delved into further in the

passages section below. I’ll mention one quotation from much later on in the novel that makes the

symbolic and metaphorical importance of the hole clear and it said by Zero, who also finds himself in one

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of life’s holes: “When you spend your whole life living in a hole, the only way you can go is up,” (pg.

160).

The holes also symbolize the holes that these individuals have in their lives. Part Three of the

novel is titled ‘Filling in the Holes’ which denotes this idea and hints that Stanley and Zero have possibly

filled in those sections of their lives that were missing. In the beginning we learn that Stanley has no

friends and is hopeful to make new friends. We learn that Zero does not know how to read and that,

according to the Warden and her lackeys, “No one cares about Hector Zeroni,” (pg. 144). We have all

these questions as readers and we want those questions or holes filled.

Middle

Words/phrases that describe the protagonist: There really are no words or phrases that are introduced

in the middle of the book that hadn’t already been mentioned in the opening. Those words or phrases

being: destiny; wrong place at the wrong time; hopeful; holes; cursed or bad luck. These are ideas that

follow Stanley through the whole of the novel and words the reader thinks of conceptualizing Stanley.

Also, as I’ve stated earlier, there are almost no physical descriptions of Stanley other than him being

white, big and overweight. There are references to him becoming stronger but no direct descriptions of

how his body was changing; instead, Stanley talks in terms of what his stronger body is capable of. In a

way, the one phrase or word the writer seems to mention about Stanley is his growing strength and

capability: “He was a lot stronger than when he first arrived. His body had adjusted somewhat to the

heat and harsh conditions,” (pg. 131). There is also, “He gathered his strength and for a brief second

seemed to defy gravity…There was no way he could have done that a few months ago,” (pg. 166). It is a

sense of character growth and a burgeoning of inner and outer strength that is alluded to in these

moments.

Forces working in favor of Stanley: The great dichotomy of Stanley is his dual belief in his family’s

curse as well as a sense of destiny. The curse, we would assume, would be a force working against

Stanley and that his sense of destiny would be a force working in favor of Stanley. However, this

conception of curse and destiny only becomes clear with hindsight. Since I know what the end of the

novel brings, I know destiny was working in favor of Stanley. However, we have to see this force as the

way Stanley saw the shoes midway through the story and that is that Stanley thought they were destiny up

until he was arrested and sent to Camp Green Lake. At that moment, it had suddenly become another

case of wrong place, wrong time.

Stanley’s sense of history did aid him in his story. Stanley was familiar with the story of Kate

Barlow so he was able to correctly guess that the K.B. on the golden tube was in reference to Kissin’ Kate

11

Barlow (pg. 99-100). Upon seeing God’s Thumb during the storm, he quickly attached what he saw to

the story about his great-grandfather and his ability to survive following his robbery at the hands of Kate

Barlow (pg. 128-129). Stanley was also whip-smart by being able to make these connections and

realizing that something was amiss at Camp Green Lake. Stanley’s never-dying optimism was also

crucial in his success. Rationality would have said that Zero would have died in the desert after a few

days but he still felt compelled to go after him (pg. 143). Upon finding Zero, Stanley and Zero decide to

head to God’s Thumb because maybe, just maybe, God’s Thumb is a ‘natural water tower’ (pg. 143).

Then once they are safe on God’s Thumb, he starts thinking about what the Warden is looking for and

how he uncovered the golden tube. Stanley has one of those self-chats that ‘Holes’ is littered with:

You’re crazy! He told himself. Besides, just because he found a lipstick container with K B on it, that didn’t mean there was treasure buried there.

It was crazy. It was all part of his crazy feeling of happiness.Or maybe it was destiny. (pg. 188)

Stanley following this self-discussion wakes up Zero and asks him if he wants to dig one more

hole. So we Stanley’s optimism as well as his sense of destiny.

The other major force working in favor of Stanley has indirectly been mentioned and that is the

person of Zero. Zero is the game changer that makes Stanley do all these things irrational acts that may

have been uncharacteristic of him. It is their relationship and friendship that Stanley is able to draw

strength from. Zero is also bright, hard working and mathematically brilliant which become qualities that

Stanley leans on. Another place Stanley draws strength from is the everyday digging itself. The digging

makes Stanley stronger and is a direct analogy to Elya carrying the pig every day to become stronger.

The carrying of the pig was preparation for Elya to be able to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain to

drink from the water that ran uphill (pg. 30-31). As it turned out, the shoveling of a hole everyday gave

Stanley the strength to carry Zero up the mountain where they would both drink from the water that ran

uphill (pg. 170).

Forces working against Stanley: The forces working against Stanley are legion. Mr. Sir upon being

scratched by the Warden seemingly makes it his life’s goal to make Stanley’s as miserable as possible.

Mr. Sir stops providing him with water on his water runs and possibly even attempts to poison him (pg.

116-118). The Warden in her attack on Stanley foreseen Mr. Sir’s eventual behavior by her cryptic

comment, “He’s not going to die. Unfortunately for you,” (pg. 91). From this comment, one could

surmise that she hit Mr. Sir for her own satisfaction but also did so with the knowledge that Mr. Sir would

take out his vengeance on Stanley. The Warden didn’t care about anybody and she certainly wasn’t going

to take it easy on Stanley.

12

Also, once Zero starts helping Stanley dig his holes, everybody from D-Tent (other than Zero)

turns on him with X-Ray leading the charge. X-Ray quickly forgets about Stanley’s gift of the golden

tube and starts insinuating that Stanley is racist (pg. 116). As we know, X-Ray is the leader of D-Tent so

as soon as he makes a victim out of Stanley, the rest follow. This is expanded upon further below in the

D-Tent section of what others think of Stanley.

Another major obstacle to Stanley’s success is his own self-doubt. Stanley struggles with self-

confidence. In different portions of the novel, he refers to himself as defective, unlucky and unliked, even

by himself (pg. 27, 160, 186). Stanley is constantly in argument with himself about what is and isn’t

possible and about what he should do. Tied into this self-doubt is Stanley’s subconscious belief in the

curse that has followed his family for five generations. Stanley has had a built in excuse for failing his

whole life and invoked it from time to time.

Along with battling other persons and himself, Stanley is also battling the environment. The area

around Camp Green Lake is a desert with no water for miles, as Mr. Sir so helpfully pointed out (pg. 15).

It had also gotten ‘unbearably humid’ and “it was almost as if the temperature had gotten so hot that air

itself was sweating,” (pg. 128). Along with the hot desert, Stanley and Zero also had to deal with the

animals that came with the desert: scorpions, rattlesnakes and the yellow-spotted-lizards. All three were

poisonous and hazardous to one’s health.

What other characters think of Stanley: ‘Holes’ is told from a limited omniscient point of view in

which the reader is allowed only into the thoughts of Stanley so what the other characters think can only

be inferred through their actions and dialogue.

Zero: The most important relationship in ‘Holes’ is between Zero and Stanley. In the first section, there

relationship involved around cryptic questions by Zero which resulted in Zero asking Stanley to teach him

how to read. In the middle section of the novel, this is remedied by Zero digging Stanley’s hole while

Stanley was taken, by Mr. Sir, to the Warden in regards to the Sunflower seed incident (pg. 86-94).

When Stanley asks Zero why he started digging his hole, Zero responds with, “You didn’t steal the

sunflower seeds.” Stanley then tells Zero that neither did he. Zero takes a moment before replying, “You

didn’t steal the sneakers,” (pg. 96). This dialogue begins their relationship. After this, Stanley agrees to

teach Zero to read in exchange for Zero helping him dig his hole. The two come to care about each other

and when Zero escapes into the desert after striking Mr. Pendanski with the shovel, Stanley goes after him

after some soul searching. When Stanley does find Zero, Zero shares the last of his supplies willingly

(what Zero terms ‘Sploosh’ which were Miss Katherine’s canned peaches that she had given to Sam, pg.

155-156). Zero in sharing his meager supplies shows his care and consideration for Stanley.

13

Zero refuses to go back to the Camp as he had already stated that he was done digging holes (pg.

139). Stanley then convinces him to head to God’s Thumb. Stanley warns Zero that he isn’t exactly

lucky, to which an unworried Zero replies, “When you spend your whole life living in a whole, the only

way you can go is up,” (pg. 160). The significance cannot be understated here as Zero is essentially

placing his life in Stanley’s hands – and Stanley’s hands were taking them on out on a hunch about a dead

ancestors story about a refuge on God’s Thumb. This shows Zero unwavering trust in Stanley.

Mr. Sir: Mr. Sir, during the Sunflower incident, does something many people in Stanley’s life had done

which is not believe what he was saying – but in this case, he was right. Stanley was telling him that he

had stolen the seeds when the readers know he hadn’t and was covering for Magnet. Mr. Sir sees through

this deception and asserts that Stanley did not steal the sunflower seeds and is covering for somebody,

likely X-Ray (pg. 89). In the end, this ends badly for Mr. Sir as the Warden makes it perfectly clear she

doesn’t care about the inner workings of the Camp as long as her holes get dug. The Warden slaps Mr.

Sir across the face. Mr. Sir is not able to retaliate against the Warden so he decides to take his

humiliation out on Stanley. After this, Mr. Sir during his water runs does not fill up Stanley’s canteen

(pg. 116). Then on the occasion he does fill up Stanley’s canteen, Mr. Sir goes “around the side of the

truck and into the cab, where he couldn’t be seen…A short while later, Mr. Sir came out of the truck and

handed Stanley his canteen. It was still full,” (pg. 118). Now it’s up for debate what Mr. Sir did to the

canteen but it was probably not good. Stanley smartly dumped the contents of the canteen before

drinking it. Mr. Sir with his behavior displayed his growing hatred of Stanley. While he had never

treated any of the boys well, he had generally treated them equally unwell but because of what Stanley

witnessed in front of the Warden, Mr. Sir decides to take out his anger against Stanley.

Mr. Pendanski: The narrator informs the reader, “Mr. Pendanski was obviously aware of what Mr. Sir

was doing, because he always gave Stanley a little extra. He’d fill Stanley’s canteen, then let Stanley take

a long drink, then top it off for him,” (pg. 117). From this it seems Mr. Pendanski shows some concern

about Stanley. He is aware enough to give him extra water but is nor able or not willing to fully intervene

and prevent Mr. Sir from dehydrating Stanley.

Stanley probably thought highly of Mr. Pendanski but that eventually changed. When the boys at

D-Tent started turning on Stanley for allowing Zero to dig his holes, Zigzag eventually crossed the line

and attacked Stanley. When Mr. Pendanski intervened, he turned to Stanley and said, “Go ahead,

Stanley. Hit him back. You’re bigger,” (pg. 135). At this point, Stanley or the reader doesn’t know what

to think of Mr. Pendanski. He had always been cruel to Zero but this is the first time his true colors begin

to show. It’s tough to gauge what Mr. Pendanski thinks of Stanley but it doesn’t seem that he actively

dislikes Stanley. His active encouragement to allow Stanley to defend himself lends credence to the idea

14

that maybe Mr. Pendanski had a soft spot for Stanley. In the end, it didn’t really matter because Stanley

lost all respect for him.

D-Tent: What had started out as Stanley feeling good about his place in D-Tent, ended up souring quite

quickly once Zero began digging part of Stanley’s holes. X-Ray, as he is wont to do, began the isolation

of Stanley by commenting to Armpit, “Same old story, ain’t it, Armpit? The white boy sits around while

the black boy does all the work. Ain’t that right, Caveman?” (pg. 117, X-Ray and Armpit are black, as is

Zero). X-Ray, as leader of D-Tent, may have felt threatened by the friendship or alliance and worked

quickly to make it seem unnatural or racist. The tactic worked as Zigzag, a white kid, sarcastically asked,

“Come on, Caveman. Be a pal. Let me dig your hole,” (pg. 133). Zigzag then offered his place in line

(out of animosity not generosity). X-Ray kept the pressure on Stanley by allowing him to go to the front

of the line and commenting, “You’re insulting him, Zig. Why should Caveman take your place, when he

deserves to be at the very front? He’s better than all of us. Aren’t you, Cavemen?” (pg. 133) X-Ray

through this maneuver had successfully turned D-Tent against Stanley. Stanley was no longer under his

protection and was fair game. Zigzag took full advantage as he attacked Stanley.

D-Tent exiled Stanley quickly with X-Ray invoking the race card to great effect. X-Ray may

have felt his control threatened or maybe he did just think that Stanley felt he was better than everybody

else. Nonetheless, Stanley was left isolated as everyone in D-Tent had rejected him for the time being.

Stanley was left with Zero as his only friend and Zero had just run off into the hot, arid desert without his

canteen (pg. 139).

Warden: When Mr. Sir tried to solicit the help of the Warden to try to pressure Stanley into giving up

who really stole his sunflower seeds, the Warden scratched Mr. Sir with her poisoned fingernails; she also

confessed that she really didn’t care about his sunflower seeds (pg. 91). The Warden essentially doesn’t

care about anyone and is simply obsessed with finding Kate Barlow’s treasure. When she is brought in to

arbiter the fights among D-Tent, the Warden doesn’t care that Stanley is teaching Zero how to read and

she decrees that no one is to dig anyone else’s holes and that there should be no more reading lessons (pg.

138). The Warden has stayed true to form and displayed her utter lack of humanity and common decency

and kept her one goal, finding the treasure, as her top priority. She doesn’t think anything of Stanley or

anyone else at the Camp as they are all just means for her end.

How Stanley conceives of himself: Stanley makes a joke 46 days into the novel that the “forty-fifth hole

is the hardest” (he did not dig a hole the first day) but then followed that up with: “But that really wasn’t

true, and he knew it. He was a lot stronger than when he first arrived. His body had adjusted somewhat

to the heat and the harsh conditions,” (pg. 131). This gives the reader insight that Stanley feels himself

getting stronger and physically changing – he’s not as weak as when he first showed up at Camp.

15

Stanley also retains the belief that he may be cursed as after he convinces Zero to head for God’s

Thumb, he confesses, “I’m not exactly the luckiest guy in the world,” (pg. 160). This anecdote denotes

that Stanley is still worried about his family’s curse and the implications it may have on their survival. It

doesn’t seem to faze Zero though as so the two soldier on.

Earlier in the novel, there is a revealing look into Stanley’s self-loathing: “He glanced helplessly

at the shovel. It wasn’t defective. He was defective,” (pg. 27). Stanley felt helpless and incapable but as

time passed, this slowly changed. We see a little into this evolution after Zero has left the camp: “Stanley

angrily dug his shovel into the dirt. He was angry at everyone...But mostly he was angry at himself. He

knew he never should have let Zero dig part of his hole for him. He still could have taught him to read. If

Zero could dig all day and still have the strength to learn, then he should be have been able to dig all day

and still have the strength to teach,” (pg. 141). In this excerpt, we notice Stanley’s growing awareness

that he is in control of his life and is able to affect change. Stanley is realizing he is capable of so much

more as he should have the strength to do multiple things.

The growing belief of strength is further touched upon as they ascend the mountain to reach

God’s Thumb: “He gathered his strength and for a brief second seemed to defy gravity as he took a quick

step up the wall and, with Zero’s help, pulled himself the rest of the way over the ledge. He caught his

breath. There was no way he could have done that a few months ago,” (pg. 166). Stanley realizes that he

has changed from the boy who showed up at Camp Green Lake.

Foreshadow: Louis Sachar has separated ‘Holes’ into three different parts and Part Two is titled ‘The

Last Hole’ and begins with the following: “There was a change in the weather. For the worse,” (pg.

127). It’s not subtle and it is ominous of the impending events that will affect Stanley, but even before

the reader can give pause to these thoughts, Sachar follows it up with: “The horizon lit up with a huge

web of lightning. In that split second Stanley thought he saw an unusual rock formation on top of one of

those mountain peaks. The peak looked to him exactly like a giant fist, with the thumb sticking straight

up. Then it was gone,” (pg. 128). This is the famed God’s Thumb (famed in Stanley’s family anyways)

where the original Stanley Yelnats first found refuge after being robbed by Kate Barlow. Sachar is

dropping hints and starting to make connections between Stanley’s family, the area and Kate Barlow.

Stanley starts making these connections himself: “It was possible, he realized, that he was somewhere

near where Kate Barlow had robbed his great-grandfather. If that was really her lipstick tube he’d

found, then she must have lived somewhere around here,” (pg. 132). This is a very important reveal as it

links the area with the history of Stanley and Kate Barlow. Also if the reader remembers the secret Sam

told Kate then it has even greater implication to the Yelnats family: “It was easier to talk to [Sam] when

he was working on the windows. He told her about his secret onion field on the other side of the lake,

16

“where onions grow all year round, and the water runs uphill,”” (pg. 110). The water reference is

directly related to the story of Elya and Madame Zeroni where Elya was to carry the pig up the mountain

and let it drink from where “there is a stream where the water runs uphill” (pg. 30-31). So the reader can

now surmise with this knowledge that not only is God’s Thumb nearby, but also a stream where the water

runs uphill. This information combined with the reveal that Zero’s real name is Hector Zeroni (pg. 119)

can lead the reader to think that all these storylines and family histories were going to collide. To

paraphrase Stanley, this wasn’t mere coincidence, this was destiny.

The event the storm foreshadowed was Zero fleeing from Camp Green Lake. Stanley’s deal with

Zero to teach him to read was done in exchange for Zero giving Stanley help digging his hole. This

didn’t sit well with the other boys of D Tent including X-Ray. This ended up causing a fight with Zero

jumping to Stanley’s aide which resulted in Mr. Pendanski breaking up that fight and giving Zero his

shovel back while saying, “Here, take it, Zero. It’s all you’ve ever be good for,” (pg. 139). Zero

responds by crushing Mr. Pendanski with the shovel and then exiling himself into the desert without his

canteen. Stanley’s observation of Zero’s forgotten canteen was not a stray one and hints at Zero’s

upcoming misfortune. Stanley’s resulting pursuit of Zero is then foreshadowed by his argument with

himself about God’s Thumb being a possible ‘natural water tower’ and that Zero’s survival wasn’t

‘impossible’ (pg. 143). Then Sachar introduces Zero’s replacement at D Tent as boy named Twitch who

steals car because of a compulsion or twitch – so it goes without saying that when Stanley is worried

about Zero not having water he notices that Mr. Sir drives a truck with a water tank on the back – and, he

left the keys in the ignition which gives Stanley the twitch. This episode leads to Stanley fleeing into the

desert (without the truck as he drove that straight into a hole) to hopefully find Zero.

One of the central themes of ‘Holes’ is destiny, so foreshadow plays a huge role in setting up how

these seemingly unrelated events, people and ideas come together to show the manifestation of destiny.

There is a method to Sachar’s madness and it works. In a sense, the beginning and middle of the novel

are just one large foreshadow to Stanley carrying Zero up the mountain and fulfilling the deal made

between Madame Zeroni and Elya Yelnats. But then the other pieces start to fall into place, Kissin’ Kate

robbing Stanley’s great-grandfather and why Zero was making odd comments about ‘Satan-lee’ and

asking Stanley if his last name was his first named spelled backwards (pg. 212-213). At the end, Zero

was trying to read the nameplate on the suitcase they had uncovered which turned out to say Stanley

Yelnats.

Point of View: The story ‘Holes’ is told through a limited omniscient point of view. The only mind we

are allowed insight to is that of Stanley’s. However, during the flashback moments detailing Kate’s

history, there are small moments where we are allowed into her thoughts and feelings (“Miss Katherine

17

sat alone in the classroom and wondered if she had lost track of the day of the week. Perhaps it was

Saturday. It wouldn’t have surprised. Her brain and heart had been spinning ever since Sam kissed

her,” pg. 112). It’s an interesting choice by Sachar.

For the exception of the flashbacks, the story is always presented with Stanley present. We are

never privy to any scenes that don’t include Stanley and because of that, ‘Holes’ is reminiscent of a first

person narrative. Everything that happens in ‘Holes’ is filtered through Stanley and as the story

progresses, we are allowed further access into his thought process. We see how he is thinking and feeling

as well as what he struggles with. There are many times in the narration, where we see Stanley argue

with himself; sometimes this argument is between rationality/self-preservation and hopefulness. It’s an

interesting narrative structure that really gives the reader a true idea of who Stanley really is:

Stanley wondered if Mr. Sir had left the keys in the ignition.He slowly backed away from the line, then circled over to the side of the truck. He looked

through the window. The keys were there, dangling in the ignition.Stanley felt his fingers start to twitch.He took a deep breath to steady himself and tried to think clearly. He had never driven before.But how hard could it be?This is really crazy, he told himself. Whatever he did, he knew he’d have to do it quickly, before

Mr. Sir noticed.It’s too late, he told himself. Zero couldn’t have survived.But what if it wasn’t too late? (pg. 147, italics are Sachar’s)

This quotation is also similar to the one selected below in the passages section (pg. 143) as

Stanley is again battling with his desire to go after Zero versus the common sense that it’s already too

late. He comes off as a reluctant hero who has come to really care about his friend Zero. He knows that

the chances of survival are low but his general predisposition to be hopeful and optimistic always seems

to shine through.

While I’ve noted that the third person point of view is limited to Stanley, there is a reason Sachar

did not choose first person and it is likely because of the amount of exposition and flashbacks that are

integral in telling this story. The stories of Elya and Kate would have to be implemented differently if

Stanley’s story was in the first person. Also, without the third person point of view we wouldn’t get the

informative expository narrator providing interesting and insightful background: “The campers are

forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs to the Warden. The Warden owns the shade. Out on the

lake, rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade under rocks and in the holes dug by the campers…If you get

bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard, you might as well go into the shade of the oak trees and lie in the

hammock. There is nothing anyone can do to you anymore,” (pg. 3-4).

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There are a few moments where the narrator speaks directly to the reader including one of my

favorite lines of the story: “You make the decision. Whom did God punish?” (pg. 115). These moments

are done often to clarify theme or focus the reader’s attention to something important. They are done

purposefully and with intent.

End

Stanley’s Change: In a few ways, Stanley does not change much in characteristics from the beginning

until the end of the novel. He still is an optimist, he still has perseverance, he’s still as smart at the end as

he was at the beginning and he’s still what one would consider a good person. What has changed is that

Stanley is stronger now – physically and mentally. The digging of holes strengthened his body and made

him capable of things he never would have been able to do prior to coming to Camp Green Lake (“There

was no way he could have done that a few months ago,” pg. 166). As for the mental part, Stanley had

been a pushover before Camp Green Lake. Derrick Dunne, a boy a fraction of his size had bullied him

and Stanley had allowed it – he wasn’t willing to protect himself; however, it is stated that Stanley did tell

the teachers that Derrick was bullying him and they still did not act (pg. 23). Then during his time at D

Tent, Stanley accepts X-Ray as leader and promises to give him anything he finds (pg. 52-53). In the end,

Stanley finally takes a stand and it’s not for himself but rather for Zero. Zero is finally the friend that

Stanley had always wanted. Stanley, instead of bowing to the bullying and pressures of others, decides to

steal a truck (though that did fail spectacularly) and heads out into the desert to search for Zero (pg. 150).

Upon finding Zero and making it to the refuge of God’s Thumb, Stanley is able to reflect on his journey:

“Stanley lay awake staring up at the star filled sky. He was too happy to fall asleep…It occurred to him

that he couldn’t remember the last time he felt happiness…Before that he’d been unhappy at school,

where he had no friends, and bullies like Derrick Dunne picked on him. No one liked him, and the truth

was, he didn’t especially like himself. He liked himself now,” (pg. 186). Stanley has matured and found

happiness. The journey wasn’t over as they were still technically stranded but at that point it had all been

worth it.

Stanley and Zero eventually do head back to Camp Green Lake as Stanley was determined to dig

up what the Warden had been looking for. When the two do uncover Kate Barlow’s treasure, Zero

exclaims to Stanley, “You did it,” which Stanley corrects to, “We did it,” (pg. 202). While destiny has

been one of the central themes of the novel, this is another important theme and it is that of friendship.

The truth is Stanley or Zero could not have succeeded without the other. It was the strength of that

relationship that allowed them to conquer all the obstacles thrown in their way. This isn’t lost on Stanley

as near the conclusion of the novel, Stanley has been granted his freedom. His family’s lawyer, Ms.

Morengo, had shown up and decreed that he was free to go. Stanley, though, refused to go as he was

19

worried about what would happen to Zero once they left. Stanley tells Ms. Morengo and the Attorney

General that, “They’ll kill him,” (pg. 219). He stands his ground and eventually Ms. Morengo asks for

Zero’s file which the Warden could not produce; she had deleted it when Zero had fled so she could deny

he had ever been at the Camp as they assumed he was going to die (pg. 143-144). Zero is able to leave

with Stanley under the care of Ms. Morengo.

The effect Stanley had on the world: Sachar’s third part of the novel is titled ‘Filling in the holes’ and it

begins with this: “Stanley’s mother insists that there was never a curse. She even doubts whether

Stanley’s great-great-grandfather really stole a pig. The reader might find it interesting, however, that

Stanley’s father invented his cure for foot odor the day after the great-great-grandson of Elya Yelnats

carried the great-great-great grandson of Madame Zeroni,” (pg. 229). Sachar is telling the reader that

the curse had been broken and had ended over a hundred years of failure for theYelnats family. Stanley

had done this with Zero’s help.

The second paragraph outlines how the Warden, Ms. Walker, “had to sell the land which had

been in her family for generations,” (pg. 229). So the Walker curse, in a way, had been broken also.

There was no more treasure to look for and the Warden had given up the land which meant there was

going to be no more boys she could terrorize by forcing them to dig holes for the supposed purpose of

‘building character’. Camp Green Lake would be no more. However, even before the Camp was closed,

Stanley and Zero were able to break the spell of despair that hung over Camp Green Lake. When the

other boys found out that Zero and Stanley had made it, they all came over and offered them

congratulations; Zigzag apologized for his earlier transgressions and Squid asked Stanley for a favor:

“Call my mom for me, okay? Tell her…Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her Alan said he was sorry,” (pg.

221). The constructions that had kept the order in Camp Green Lake had fallen. X-Ray who was guilty

of using a system of rewards and punishments similar to the Warden to maintain his place at the top of the

hierarchy did not come to congratulate Zero and Stanley for surviving: “X-Ray was the only one who

didn’t come over. Stanley saw him hang back behind the others a moment, then return to the Wreck

Room,” (pg. 221). X-Ray’s reign over D Tent was over. The boys no longer felt the need to retain their

Camp names. Mr. Pendanski had even told the boys that they didn’t have to dig any more holes (pg.

221). It was a new world.

Also, the contents of Stanley Yelnats the First’s suitcase made Zero and Stanley “less than a

million dollars” (pg. 230). With that money, Zero was able to reunite with his lost mother and fill in his

missing hole. So the effect Stanley’s journey had was significant and ended two curses that spanned over

a century each.

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The ironies of Stanley’s journey: There are instances, big and small, of Sachar using irony to tell the

story. At the beginning of the story, Stanley partially blames the series of events that transpired on

Derrick Dunne. Derrick had taken Stanley’s notebook and dumped it into the boys’ washroom which

made Stanley miss the bus and forced him to walk home where the shoes fatefully hit him in the head (pg.

23). It’s pretty clear that Stanley does not have a lot of love for Derrick nor should he, but the ironic twist

is that it is Derrick’s testimony that clears Stanley’s name of wrongdoing. Derrick testified that Stanley

was “fishing” his notebook out of the washroom around 3:20 which meant Stanley would not have been

able to steal the shoes as they were taken before 3:15.

I have stated earlier that both Stanley and the Warden are victims or descendants of family curses

but what pushes this into irony territory is that it has pitted Stanley as the protagonist and the Warden as

the antagonist. They have handled their curses differently, the Warden has become consumed with her

family’s burden to find Kate Barlow’s treasure while Stanley’s family does its best to ignore their curse

and still remain hopeful. They are similar but mirror opposites in terms of their nature.

Stanley is told to dig holes at Camp Green Lake because it “builds character”, but the readers and

Stanley come to realize that this is false (pg. 71). The real reason the boys are digging is to find Kate

Barlow’s missing treasure. However, because of digging holes every day, Stanley becomes stronger and

it is the reason he is able to carry Zero up the mountain. In some way, it did build character. The digging

of the hole every day is reminiscent of Madame Zeroni telling Elya Yelnats to carry the piglet every day

which will make Elya grow stronger (pg. 31). The diggings of the holes are Stanley’s trials and because

of it he is successful in ending the Yelnats curse.

Miss Katherine’s story is also laced with irony. When Kate goes to the Sheriff to ask for help

when they are destroying her school, the Sheriff instead asks for a kiss. Kate refuses and the Sheriff

responds, “The law will punish Sam. And God will punish you,” (pg. 114). Sachar reveals the irony by

explaining that the town was ruined due to the drought that coincided with Sam’s murder and Sachar asks

the reader: “You make the decision. Whom did God punish?” (pg. 115). Three days after Sam’s death,

Katherine returned to the Sherriff and shot him dead. After this, she applied some red lipstick and gave

the Sheriff the kiss he had asked for thus transforming Miss Katherine into the ‘feared outlaw’ Kissin’

Kate Barlow (pg. 115).

The End: Louis Sachar ends the novel by linking all the disparate storylines together: Elya, Madame

Zeroni, Kissin’ Kate Barlow, Trout Walker, Stanley Yelnats the First, the Warden, Zero and Stanley. He

threads all of these clues and stories together into a very cohesive and entertaining conclusion. It is

credible, effective and satisfying. This is a story about destiny and friendship and those two themes are

crucial in the ending. There is no deux ex machina conclusion and rather the way things are resolved

21

were hinted at and foreshadowed. We understand how Kate robbing Stanley Yelnats the First is related to

the Warden and her curse passed down from Trout Walker. The reader understands the importance of

Stanley’s knowledge of how the first Stanley survived at God’s Thumb and its implications on the life of

our Stanley. It really is a masterful work of storytelling. It is one of those works you can take to students

and explain how when an author writes, they write with a purpose. Those unique descriptions of ‘water

that runs uphill’, ‘God’s thumb’ and how even the names of people have implications is all observable

(Kissin’ Kate Barlow, K.B., Zero vs. Hector Zeroni, Stanley Yelnats I, II, III and IV).

‘Holes’ is an intricate story. One of the central reasons for this is because of its theme of destiny

and trying to impart onto the reader the idea that everything happens for a reason. The ending is sappy

and over the top but when put in contrast with what they went through, Stanley, Zero and the whole

Yelnats family needed to be rewarded for their multi-generational curse that was not born of malice but

rather a broken heart (Elya went to America because Myra had not chosen him outright over Igor; he was

so dismayed by the event that he forgot about his promise to Madame Zeroni, pg. 35-37).

Passages

He put his hands on the rim and tried to pull himself up.He couldn’t do it. His arms were too weak to lift his heavy body.He used his legs to help but he just didn’t have any strength. He was trapped in his hole. It was

almost funny, but he wasn’t in the mood to laugh…Using his shovel, he dug two footholds in the hole wall. He climbed out to see Mr. Pendanski

walking over to him.“I was afraid you’d fainted,” Mr. Pendanski said. “You wouldn’t have been the first.”“I’m finished," Stanley said, putting his blood-spotted cap back on his head.“All right!” said Mr. Pendanski, raising his hand for a high five, but Stanley ignored it. He

didn’t have the strength.Mr. Pendanski lowered his hand and looked down at Stanley’s hole. “Well done," he said. “You

want a ride back?”Stanley shook his head. “I’ll walk.”Mr. Pendanski climbed back into the truck without filling Stanley’s canteen. Stanley waited for

him to drive away, then took another look into his hole. He knew it was nothing to be proud of, but he felt proud nonetheless.

He sucked up his last bit of saliva and spat. (pg. 40)

This is an interesting passage for a variety of reasons. The most important is the pride that

Stanley feels in completing his first hole. He knows it’s not something to be proud of but he is anyway.

It intimates to the reader just how incapable Stanley felt about himself prior to coming to Camp Green

Lake. For Stanley to be proud of digging a hole tells the reader that this is a teenager who has not

experienced a lot of success in his life. This is a kid with no friends, who is overweight and can’t pull

himself out of a hole of his own creation (literally and metaphorically). The hole Stanley is stuck in is a

symbol of the hole he is stuck in in his life. Stanley doesn’t have the strength to pull himself out and if it

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wasn’t for his ability to use his intelligence to dig footholds, he would have been stuck there indefinitely.

The line he was “trapped in his hole” transfers easily to the way Stanley felt about his life as he was

trapped there too. The idea of being trapped could be interpreted in a few different ways – is Stanley

trapped because of all the bad luck he and his family is burdened with or is he trapped by his unhappiness

and lack of friends.

The fact that Stanley was too weak to pull himself out is also important. It becomes clear by the

end of the novel that Stanley became strong and lost weight because of digging all those holes. It was

through those trials that he was physically able to carry Zero up the hill to drink the ‘water that runs

uphill’ which mirrors the story of Elya and carrying the pig up the mountain. Elya grew stronger every

day too but he didn’t carry out the pact he promised with Madame Zeroni – it was up to Stanley to

complete it.

The line by Mr. Pendanski that he “wouldn’t have been the first” to pass out is another hint to the

reader that something is terribly wrong with what is going on in Camp Green Lake. Sachar, throughout

the novel, gives readers information that prompts questions. In the first chapter, the narrator writes about

a camper allowing himself to be bitten to avoid work (pg. 4).

Finally, the passage ends with Stanley spitting into the hole which is something he observed

every other boy do once they had completed their hole. The way I interpreted was that this was a show of

Stanley’s desire to ‘fit in’ – to be like everyone else. At the beginning of the novel, Stanley, in his

blissful ignorance of the Camp, had hoped to make friends their or to at least go swimming in the Green

Lake (of course, there turned out to be no lake or anything that was particularly green, pg. 7, 10).

However, this spitting in the hole like every other boy just showed Stanley’s continuing endeavor to fit in

and to find a place for himself where he could be happy and have friends. Also, his perceiving of every

other kid spitting into their holes upon completion further displayed his observational abilities.

In the passage, we also see that self-talk that Stanley finds himself in. Stanley knows that

rationally, there should be no pride in digging a hole but it didn’t matter because he still felt it. This is a

technique Sachar uses from time to time to show Stanley’s nature: that of wonder and optimism vs.

rationale.

MiddleAs he dug, he kept a constant watchout for Zero, but never saw him. Once again, he considered

going out on the lake to look for him, but he began to realize that it was already too late.His only hope was that Zero had found God’s thumb on his own. It wasn’t impossible. His great-

grandfather had found it. For some reason his great-grandfather had felt the urge to climb to the top of that mountain. Maybe Zero would feel the same urge.

If it was the same mountain. If water was still there.He tried to convince himself it wasn’t impossible. There had been a storm just a few days ago.

Maybe Big Thumb was actually some kind of natural water tower that caught and stored the rain.

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It wasn’t impossible. (pg. 143)

This passage occurs after Zero has fled the camp following hitting Mr. Pendanski with a shovel.

The first passage and this second passage do one thing in common that Sachar does occasionally

throughout the novel and that is to end a section of storytelling with a single sentence paragraph closer. It

also seems that in all these occasions it’s a reference to theme or foreshadow or an especially revealing

look at a character. In this passage, it ends with “it wasn’t impossible” and alludes to the fact that Stanley

still hasn’t given up on Zero and has made a subconscious decision to go try and save him. It also shows

Stanley’s unwavering hopefulness. In the passage he both argues that it may be too late but that it is also

not impossible that Zero has survived this long out in the desert. His rationality believes that Zero is done

for but he still thinks that there’s just a chance, even a small one, that he is still alive. By the end of the

passage, the reader knows what Stanley has decided. In the first passage, Stanley spits into his hole

which denotes his desire to fit in (everybody else spat in their holes). This is also a one sentence closer

and displays an act of initiation to gain acceptance into D Tent (He sucked up his last bit of saliva and

spat, pg. 40). Some other single sentence closers are: “And hardly anything was green” (an irony in

reference to the Camp’s name and an allusion that not everything is as it seems, pg. 10); “Stanley moved

up one place in line,” (Stanley moving up in status, pg. 63); “Kate Barlow died laughing,” (this shows

that Kate wanted to die and left a parting curse on Trout that they will never be able to find her stolen

loot, pg. 123); “Soon they were walking in the long thin shadow of the thumb,” (God’s thumb had been

referenced throughout and now that they were on their way, puts into prominent position the idea of

destiny and fate, pg. 166); and “You will have to fill the holes yourself,” (the context of this phrase

meaning you will have to fill in the missing parts of the story yourself, this is Sachar’s tongue in cheek

way of hinting at the multiple meanings of holes and its major role as a symbol, pg. 233). There is also

the passage dealt with earlier: You make the decision: Whom did God punish? (pg. 115). All these lines

are revealing and are loaded with meaning or insight and Sachar purposefully isolates them to let the

reader know that this is something that they should notice.

This passage also makes references to Stanley’s family and the urge of his great-grandfather to

head towards God’s thumb which again makes the reader consider the idea of fate or destiny. The

involvement and repeated mention of Stanley’s family forces the reader to ask questions of how they are

all connected and how everything fits in the larger puzzle. His great-grandfather felt the urge

inexplicably so maybe Zero will now head towards God’s thumb feeling that same urge. Even the term

God’s thumb hints at the existence and possible intervention of a higher power.

This passage also simply shows how much Stanley has come to care for Zero. He was told at the

beginning by Mr. Sir that it was basically suicide to head out there as there wasn’t water “for a hundred

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miles” (pg. 15) but by the end of it, he has convinced himself that there’s still a chance. Stanley has

decided that Zero’s life is worth fighting for.

End: The next passage occurs after the Stanley and Zero have reached God’s thumb and have discovered water and Sam’s beloved onions.

Two nights later, Stanley lay awake staring up at the star filled sky. He was too happy to fall asleep.

He knew he had no reason to be happy. He had heard or read somewhere that right before a person freezes to death, he suddenly feels nice and warm. He wondered if perhaps he was experiencing something like that.

It occurred to him that he couldn’t remember the last time he felt happiness. It wasn’t just being sent to Camp Green Lake that had made his life miserable. Before that he’d been unhappy at school, where he had no friends, and bullies like Derrick Dunne picked on him. No one liked him, and the truth was, he didn’t especially like himself.

He liked himself now.He wondered if he was delirious… (Skip a few paragraphs)…As Stanley stared at the glittering night sky, he thought there was no place he would rather be.

He was glad Zero put the shoes on the parked car. He was glad they fell from the overpass and hit him on the head.

When the shoes first fell from the sky, he remembered thinking that destiny had struck him. Now, he thought so again. It was more than a coincidence. It had to be destiny.

Maybe they wouldn’t have to return to Camp Green Lake, he thought. Maybe they could make it past the camp, then follow the dirt road back to civilization. (pg.186-187)

This extended passage happens near the end of the novel where Stanley has a moment on which

to reflect on his trials and is able to tell the reader explicitly his own sense of character growth. The

narrator and Stanley had intimated to the reader that Stanley had never been happy with his life prior to

the Camp with stories of bullying and having no friends but it is not openly stated until here. Stanley also

relays to the reader that he didn’t really like himself but he likes himself now. It’s easy to read that

paragraph and simply accept that Stanley is happy because he says he is. However, if one thinks about all

the things he’s been through: being wrongly accused, digging holes every day, being bullied and assaulted

by various people at the camp; one can suddenly question why he’s happy. So what good things have

happened to Stanley? Well, he sort of found a place to fit in, even if it was only for a brief time but the

most important thing he found was a true friend. A friend whose life he had saved. In the first passage,

Stanley was proud of a hole he dug, so it’s pretty simple to imagine the emotions he would have

experienced upon finding his dehydrated friend and carrying him up the mountain and essentially saving

his life – he also broke the family curse unknowingly in the process (in fact, when Stanley went down the

mountain to retrieve the shovel, he couldn’t believe the distance he had climbed to carry Zero up the hill,

181).

We are also able to see reflections of Stanley’s personality that have been present throughout the

novel: sense of optimism, intelligence and recognition of fate and the role it plays. You see Stanley’s

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optimism in thinking that they’ll survive their current predicament. Zero and he are stranded at the top a

mountain in the middle of a desert and Stanley thinks about how happy he is and how they’ll be able to

skirt the Camp and reach civilization. He never gets upset or angry with Zero for being the one who stole

Clyde Livingston’s shoes and is instead ‘glad’ that it happened the way it did. Stanley also displays his

intelligence by referring to something read regarding the experiences people have before they freeze to

death. He uses this knowledge to possibly explain why he felt inexplicably happy. It’s similar to the

earlier passage where he was proud of digging his hole even though it probably was not something to be

proud of. Nonetheless, it is another show of Stanley’s intelligence and skills of perception. Throughout

the novel, Stanley is constantly making observations and putting pieces together. He figured out

what/who the KB meant on the golden tube, he questioned the stated reason for digging holes, he

observed that Zero had left his canteen at Camp Green Lake when he fled after hitting Mr. Pendanski and

he noticed the vegetation at God's Thumb was evidence of the presence of water. He put the pieces

together which were instrumental in resolving the problems he faced along the way.

The most important take away from this passage though, is Stanley’s thoughts on destiny. Fate

and destiny are obvious themes of ‘Holes’ and from the very beginning of the novel, Stanley speaks of

fate and destiny. I’ve already mentioned how the shoes are kind of the embodiment of destiny in this

novel. The shoes link Zero and Stanley. These shoes seem to have a habit of bringing people together.

On page 7, he talks about the moment that got him arrested as being “in the wrong place, at the wrong

time”. The family curse and the blaming of their no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-

grandfather for all the wrong places and wrong times is a continuation of their bad luck or inopportune

fate. Now, upon reflection, Stanley sees the moment of the shoes hitting him in the head as destiny – as

something that was fated and supposed to happen. He is correct of course, as the trials of Zero and

Stanley fulfilled the deal first bartered by their long dead ancestors about the Yelnats carrying the Zeroni

to the top of the mountain where the ‘water ran uphill’. Stanley is starting to embrace his destiny and

shun the curse.