EDSE 328: Novel Interactive Notes
Alfred Tom
March 27, 2012
Interactive 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 ‘nogood-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 XRay 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 selfconfidence. 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).
18
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.
20
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.
Middle
As 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 greatgrandfather 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-greatgrandfather 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.