HOLES BY LOUIS SACHER

OVERALL ANALYSES

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Stanley Yelnats

Stanley, the protagonist of the novel, is a friendless, self-conscious, overweight fifteen-year-old. He has constant bad luck that he blames on a curse that was brought upon the family by his great-great-grandfather. Stanley is wrongfully accused of stealing a pair of sneakers and is sent to a juvenile detention center that borders on the barbaric. While he is there he loses weight and develops physical strength by digging the required holes, five feet deep and five feet across, daily. He is given the nickname “Caveman” by the other inmates and for the first time in his life feels somewhat accepted by his peers. However, Stanley does not lose sight of the fact that the other boys have the potential for violence and does his best to stay on the good side of X-Ray, their leader.

At first Stanley bends to the cruelty around him and develops an emotional hardness, but then he befriends Zero, the least popular boy at Camp Green Lake, and finds an emotional strength that surpasses even his physical development. Soon he no longer concerns himself with the opinions of the other boys. He is even able to stand up to the authorities when he feels wronged. The power of his friendship with Zero helps Stanley discover his own courage, happiness and self-confidence. By the time he is released, Stanley has a new sense of himself and is no longer subject to the family curse.

Zero

Zero is a quiet, dark-skinned boy with a wide-mouthed smile. He was homeless before being sent to Camp Green Lake. The counselors and other inmates there feel that Zero is stupid and worthless and treat him cruelly. In reality, Zero is extremely smart, but uneducated. He and Stanley become friends when Stanley agrees to teach Zero how to read. As Zero describes the hard life he has had to his new friend, his amazing willpower and strength of character are revealed. (It is Zero who actually committed the theft for which Stanley was convicted, not because he is dishonest, but because he needed shoes.) The ridicule Zero bears at Camp Green Lake eventually becomes too much and Zero runs away. Stanley goes after him and they survive the desert together, cementing their friendship. The reader learns that Zero is the great-great-great-grandson of Madame Zeroni, the gypsy that cursed StanleyÂ’s great-great-grandfather, and it is through the boysÂ’ friendship that curse is undone.

PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

The present day parts of the story are narrated like an adventure. The historic parts are narrated like a folk take. However when the parts come together, Holes turns into a puzzle, or mystery book. The reader is never quite given all of the details needed to solve the puzzle until the very end. Small pieces of StanleyÂ’s family history and the history of Green Lake are revealed bit by bit. The reader must keep careful track of the details of StanleyÂ’s trial, Elya YelnatsÂ’ story and the powers of SamÂ’s onions. This pacing method allows the reader to make inferences but does not confirm positive connections. For example, when the reader begins to suspect a link between Zero and Madame Zeroni or a link between the Warden and Trout Walker, the real names of the characters are not yet revealed so the ties between past and present are not yet proven.

As the narrative shifts from present to distant past, back to present, then to recent past, etc. a linear story line cannot be maintained. Current events are described in chronological order, but do not necessarily correspond to the historic events described at the same time. Therefore, the tempo of the plot movement is slower for the first half of the novel. Then, as the pieces of history start to fall into place and the reader can see the relationship between past and present more clearly, the tempo speeds up. It is at these points that the narration changes to address the reader directly with instructions such as, “You make the decision: Whom did God punish?” and, “You will have to fill in the holes yourself.”

The irony and dark humor of the stories within the story finally come together making the point that although fate seemed always to be against Stanley, his convoluted history proves otherwise.

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS

Impact of Fate and History on Everyday Life

The events of the past one hundred fifty years have been setting the stage for a Yelnats and a Zeroni to be together again. Each time a Yelnats seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, a fateful turn of events makes it the right place at the right time. Though certain events may seem like mere coincidence, there are far too many “coincidences” in Holes to discount the hand of fate. If Stanley had not fallen into the mud on “God’s thumb” would he have found Sam’s onions (which cured Zero’s stomach and saved the boys from the yellow-spotted lizards)? If Kate Barlow had not robbed Stanley’s great-grandfather, would Camp Green Lake even exist? If Derrick Dunne had not taken Stanley’s notebook would the sneakers have landed on Stanley? If Stanley had been assigned to a different group at Camp Green Lake would he have met Zero? This combination of events is so unlikely that the only conclusion is that history has been manipulated by fate, to bring Stanley and Zero together where the water runs uphill, so a Yelnats could keep an age-old promise to a Zeroni.

Friendship

The value of loyal friendships is illustrated repeatedly in Holes. When Elya Yelnats betrays his friendship with Madame Zeroni, the trouble starts for the Yelnats family. When Stanley and ZeroÂ’s friendship leads to their mutual survival, the curse is broken. X-RayÂ’s brand of friendship, the false kind based on rewards and threats, earns alienation from Group D at the end of the story. Only true friendship, like the unselfish bond between Stanley and Zero, can earn freedom and fortune - not just physical freedom and material wealth, but emotional freedom, happiness, and self-satisfaction.

Compassion for Victims of Social Injustice/Misjudgment

Often in Holes, characters who are introduced with negative connotations evoke sympathy once the reader learns their stories. StanleyÂ’s no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather was actually a sincere man who was treated insensitively, and inadvertently broke a promise. He was not a thief. KissinÂ’ Kate Barlow, first introduced as a murderous outlaw, was a sweet, loving schoolteacher whose life was destroyed by the cruelty and violence of the townspeople. Though she becomes a criminal, the reader is sympathetic to her pain. Even Stanley and Zero are at first introduced as bad boys who have been sent to a detention center, but once again the false first impression that gains them societyÂ’s punishment, earns them compassion from the reader who knows the truth. Many social stereotypes that lead to injustice, for example that the inability to read signifies stupidity, or that if you tell the truth you will be treated fairly, are challenged once the victimsÂ’ stories are revealed.

POINT OF VIEW

StanleyÂ’s story is told by an omniscient narrator that is able to move back and forth between the events at Camp Green Lake, the story of Elya Yelnats in Latvia, and the stories of pre-drought Green Lake. The combination of stories creates the feeling that fate is at work, molding StanleyÂ’s destiny. The historic scenes are narrated like fables. The modern day scenes are narrated in light of StanleyÂ’s thoughts and actions. The narrator seems to know more than he shares with the reader and uses irony and dark humor to make his point, occasionally addressing the reader directly to make the reader form inferences before the facts are completely clear.