Philnensia

Note: I posted this for the benefit of some students who would like to have an idea of the book before undertaking serious reading on this novel. Actually, I did this for a student of my sister’s, so the language of the summary, characterization, and other insights from the story has been adjusted to the lexical knowledge of a primary level pupil.

However, the literary value and merit of this novel did not escape my notice, hence, I also added a commentary at the end portion for the benefit of advanced readers.

Title: Holes
Author: Louis Sachar
Year published: 1998
Place of Publication: USASetting: The main setting of the story is in Camp Green Lake, an arid place in Texas where juvenile delinquents were sentenced for character building. It was a former settlement that was abandoned due to hot weather conditions.

Main Characters

Stanley Yelnats IV – He was punished for a crime he did not commit. He was a caring person who loved his parents. He was also brave when it came to helping his friend. He was frequently bullied and misunderstood. However, he was able to prove that he was truly a good person at heart.

The Warden/Ms. Walker – She was the descendant of the Walkers who killed Sam, the Negro onion peddler and later, his beloved Kate Barlow. She believed that Barlow had buried treasure in the dried lake, the stash of her years of being an outlaw. She used the boys in digging holes in the ground, hoping to find the treasure. She was ruthless and violent.

Zero/Hector Zeroni – He was a homeless Black boy who stole Clyde Livingston’s sneakers. He became Stanley’s friend. He learned reading from Stanley, while he helped him dig holes. Together they found Kate Barlow’s treasure which was actually the suitcase robbed from Stanley’s great great grandfather of the same name, which contained documents that made both of them wealthy.

Mr. Pedanski – He was one of the camp guidance counselors. He was kind to most of the campers but he subjected himself to the Warden’s ruthless schemes. He had degraded Zero often, and for that Zero hit him with a shovel in the face.

Mr. Sir – He was the camp guard who always ate sunflower seeds. He was indifferent to other people’s suffering, just like the Warden. The Warden scratched his face with poisonous nail polish, making his face swell and ache.

Ms. Morengo – She was Stanley’s lawyer who proved his innocence in the accusation and was able to have Stanley and Zero released out of Camp Green Lake. She was bright and a commanding personality.

Stanley’s Companions – They were Rex/X-ray, Alan/Squid, Theodore/Armpit, Jose/Magnet, Ricky/Zigzag, and Brian/Twitch. They welcomed Stanley into their group but eventually, Stanley had to put up with their bad attitudes and selfishness.

SUMMARY

Stanley came from a long line of Stanley Yelnats which seemed to have befallen under a curse originating from their Latvian forefather who reneged his oath to carry the Gypsy Madame Zeroni up a mountain. His had the worst misfortune of being accused of stealing a celebrity’s pair of sneakers and was sentenced to Camp Green Lake for behavioral adjustment. It was a desolate camp where poisonous lizards that could kill a person crawled in hiding places in the soil.

He soon discovered that he, along with the other boys, were sentenced for more hardship in the hot, dry place in Texas under the scheming and unscrupulous Warden. He learned that they were just used to find the buried treasure of the legendary Kissin’ Kate Barlow, the Texas Outlaw. His companions were also unruly and offensive, although they were the only gang he had. Eventually he found a friend in Zero/Hector, whom he taught how to read, and in return, helped him dig holes. This made the other boys envy them and tease them about it. It led to a riot.

He found an item that belonged to Kate Barlow and gave it to X-Ray, who then presented it to the Warden. This made the Warden supervise the digging herself, making Stanley realize that there might be treasure in his hole. Giving it to X-Ray, she thought it was around his hole. He kept this to himself.

Mr. Pedanski hurt Zero with his degrading remarks, angering Zero. He hit the counselor’s face with a shovel and fled toward the wilderness.

Stanley’s concern for Zero was too strong, that he escaped the camp and braved the hot dry lake in search of his friend. He found him at last, in the middle of dryness, and he had survived on hundred year old preserves found in a stranded boat used by Kate Barlow’s love, Sam, the onion peddler.

Remembering the family story of his great grandfather being robbed by Barlow and surviving in the desert by climbing “God’s thumb”, a mountain seen on the far horizon, they decided to hike toward it in the hopes of finding water. Zero got sick of the “Sploosh” preserves, and had to be carried up the mountain by Stanley. With the last of their strength and enduring all sorts of physical challenges, they reached the high mountain spring and found abundant onion plants that became their food. Here, Stanley hatched the plan to dig up Barlow’s treasure at the camp. After weeks at the spring, they packed onions and water, containers taken from camp and the boat, went down the mountain and reached camp in the evening, all in days travel, pausing to rest at the abandoned boat.

After locating Stanley’s hole and alternated digging, they hit pay dirt. They found a suitcase, but before they could know what’s inside, the Warden and her henchman had caught them. They were about to take the find, when poisonous lizards, coming from the hole that they dug, crawled all over Zero and Stanley. The Warden thought they would die because of the lizards, but they were left unharmed. The lizards didn’t bite people who ate too much onions. Because of the long wait lasting till daybreak, Stanley’s lawyer, Ms. Morengo, and the Attorney General of Texas were able to reach them on time.

Ms. Morengo had exonerated Stanley of the crime accused of him and had come to have him released from the camp but the Warden, eager to take Barlow’s treasure from him, had tried to detain him with false arguments. Ms. Morengo, with her legal expertise, saw through her machinations and, together with the Attorney General, placed the camp under strict government control, and they also freed the other boys from more digging. They finally released Stanley and Zero and were brought back to their families.

The suitcase, belonging to Stanley’s great grandfather, contained Barlow’s jewels and financial documents that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ms. Morengo took care of legalities, after which Stanley and Zero became rich inheritors. Finally, Stanley broke his family’s string of misfortunes, while Zero, with his share, was able to find his long lost mother. Through them, the “curse” was lifted, and Kate Barlow’s death was finally given justice.

MORAL LESSON – The main lesson in the story is that, despite of overwhelming odds, and as long as you know in your heart what you are doing is right, you must persevere in achieving what you are hoping and striving for, especially if it is for the sake of your family and friends.

FAVORITE QUOTATION – “I can fix that”. – Sam, the Negro onion peddler.

MY OWN ENDING – The story has ended with a happy conclusion expected for Stanley’s and Zero’s families, and I liked that ending for them. I think that an alternate ending for the other boys would be good. For example, instead of staying at Camp Green Lake, they could be relocated in a safer, more climatically better site where they could truly reform themselves into better persons. The Warden, Mr. Pedanski, and Mr. Sir should be sent to jail for their criminal actions towards the boys.

Commentary: I admire the way Sachar intertwined almost more three subplots in “Holes”: Causative to the main plot, he portrayed as essential and predisposing events first the family history of the Yelnats beginning in Latvia, and second, the legend of Kissin’ Kate Barlow, the famous outlaw in Texas.

The latter spoke of a curse, that the author seemed to discount at first, placing it side by side with the hard reality of the protagonist’s implied social disadvantage, but, as if to intrigue the reader at the end, still connected the inadvertent and coincidental fulfillment of the curse’s demand at the end, and then again, the author added with a glee unseen by us, maybe not. This is literary whimsicality that has entertaining and thought-provoking results as well.

I found the Legend of Outlaw Barlow romantic and feminist, and speaks about the arbitrariness, hence, fallibility, of human laws at the time, paired with the ultimate lawgiver and jailer in most people, the mind in consonance with the heart. For your benefit let me give you a precis of that subplot.

Kate Barlow was a schoolteacher in Green Lake, Texas who was wanted by Trout Walker, but she fell in love with the onion peddler/handyman/herbalist Sam, who was a Negro. Caught kissing in public, Sam was doomed to be punished for that, as stipulated by the racist laws of that time (1900’s). The townspeople threatened to lynch Sam, but he escaped with Kate. He was later shot and killed by Walker. Kate turned into the most feared highway/bank robber and killer in Texas, while Green Lake dried up and the town of the same name became abandoned.

She had held up Stanley’s Great-grandfather, at that time laden with financial documents of value. She had buried her stash in the lake. Jilted suitor Walker tried to get her to reveal the location of her treasure at gunpoint, but she died laughing after being bitten by a poison yellow spotted lizard. From then on, Walker’s descendants had dug holes, whence the title, in Green Lake, and the last Walker used juveniles serving time in its search, which included the descendant of Barlow’s rich victim, young Stanley Yelnat, who eventually found it, broke the curse, and ended his family’s economic bad luck.

I enjoyed reading it, and I hope you will too.