Holes Summary: pp. 80-119
Stanley continues to dig holes at the camp. When he is writing a letter to his mother, Zero asks
Stanley to teach him how to read and write. Stanley refuses because he is so tired of digging. One day at the lake, Magnet steals a sack of sunflower seeds from Mr. Sir when he is filling canteens. The boys enjoy eating the sunflower seeds and pass the sack over each hole. Unfortunately, Mr. Sir returns to find the sack and sees it at Stanley’s hole. Stanley admits to stealing it and eating all the seeds by himself.
Mr. Sir takes Stanley to the Warden.
The Warden is mad at Mr. Sir, for bothering her. She scratches his face with her nails with rattlesnake venom. She doesn’t punish Stanley and tells him to go back to his hole. While he is walking back to his hole, he thinks about his great- grandfather who was robbed by Kate Barlow and survived for seventeen days in the desert, after finding refuge on God’s thumb. Walking to the hole, Stanley is surprised because his hole is almost finished. Zero has dug it for Stanley. Stanley decides to teach Zero how to read and write. Stanley finds that Zero learns very fast and is very good at math. They both make a deal to help each other to dig holes and learn alphabets.
A hundred year ago, Green Lake was a nice and peaceful place. There was a school teacher named Katherine Barlow who was pretty and famous for her fabulous spiced peaches. Everyone loved her especially young men. Trout Walker was one of them. He was stupid with smelly feet and was a son of the wealthiest man in the county. He asked Miss Katherine to go out but she turned him down.
Since Mr. Sir gets scratches on his face, he gets mad easily with the boys. When Mr. Sir drives the truck to fill canteens, Stanley gets no water. Mr. Sir pours it into the dirt, and Stanley doesn’t dare to say anything.
A hundred and ten years ago in Green Lake, there was a “Negro” man named Sam who grew onions to sell and claimed his onions could cure many diseases. Sam helped Miss Katherine to fix her school because it was damaged, and they fell in love. Hattie Parker caught them kissing on the street and she was very angry. The whole town was furious with that news. Trout Walker led the mob and came to Katherine’s school to destroy it. Katherine Barlow escaped and ran to ask the sheriff for help, but he told her to kiss him first. Miss Barlow ran to find Sam and told him to leave because the sheriff would hang him for kissing a white woman. Trout Walker’s motorized boat smashed into Sam’s boat and he was shot and killed. A few days later, Miss Barlow killed the sheriff and left him a kiss with a sign of red lipstick. Since then, there was no rain in the Green Lake and Kissin’ Kate Barlow became an outlaw.
People try to answer the question: Whom did God punish?
The next few days, Mr. Sir keeps not giving Stanley water, so he is always thirsty. The boys in tent D are mad at Stanley when they see him taking a break while Zero is digging Stanley’s hole. Zero is so happy when he finishes learning the alphabet and writes his nick name. He tells Stanley that his real name is Hector Zeroni.