FINAL DRAFT OF HOLES
Author: Billy Lau // Category:This is my final draft, and I accidentally editted over my old draft, so now my old draft is gone.
8. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
In the book Holes, by Louis Sachar, it talks about as boy name Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake because he was blamed for stealing shoes. Camp Green Lake is in the middle of a desert and is a juvenile camp for teenagers who have to dig holes. Stanley meets other boys in the camp and he is forced to dig a 5 foot hole everyday. In the middle of the story, Stanley finds out that the teenagers and him are not digging holes for character but they are searching for something. The campers that he meets at camp are very different and they each have unique personalities and characteristics. The characters are X-Ray, Squid, Magnet, Armpit, Zero, and Stanley.
A character in this book that really interests me is Zero. Stanley and Zero’s relationship differs from time to time. In the beginning, the relationship was less than friends. However, at the end, they are best friends that care for each other and help each other out. Zero's real name is not Zero, but Hector. He was named Zero by his cabin mates, and has been called that all his life. He is named this because he knows nothing. To his cabin mates, Zero is a nobody. But you can't blame a homeless orphan living on the streets to know how to read and write. In the book, it saids that Zero was left at a store by his mom one day and his mom never came back.
However, Zero may have gone through a lot of adversity, but he still is very smart and would stand up for himself anytime. In the beginning, he is portrayed as a small lonely kid who never talks and has a scowl on his face. In the middle, he meets Stanley and he starts talking again. Stanley figures out that he does not talk because he hates answering questions. Zero feels too ashamed to answer questions because other people will always mock and tease him.
One day, Zero can not stand Camp Green Lake so he runs away. However, he also says that he likes digging holes, and would dig half of Stanley's hole to get english and math lessons from Stanley. Stanley eventually figures out that he is really good in learning math, because of his speed. However, english seems to be a little harder for him. When Zero runs away, Stanley follows behind and finds Zero in a boat eating 100 years old peach juice. Zero is shown here that he is super giving because he gives the rest of his peaches drink to Stanley.
In the end, Zero begins to talk more to Stanley. Zero seems to trust Stanley a lot so he opens up for him. Zero shows his honest side and admits that he was the one who stole the shoes that Stanley got blamed for stealing.
"If Zero had just kept those shoes, then neither of them would be here right now."
That was the reason why Stanley was in Camp Green Lake.
Another character that really interests me is X-Ray. X-Ray is another juvenile at Green Lake Camp. He is the leader of his tent and he likes to boss everyone around. Everyone listens to what X-Ray has to say, even though he is the smallest and is black. This surprises Stanley because he grew up in a racist community and wonders why no one fights against him for power.
"X-Ray was always at the front of the line. Then came Armpit, Squid, Zigzag, Magnet, and Zero. Stanley got behind Zero." pg 50
During water break time, X-Ray has to make sure that everyone is in the correct order. He puts himself in front of everyone and Stanley last after Zero. X- Ray leads tent D, even though Mr. Pendanski is the real head of the tent. X-Ray is also the name giver for most people; he names Stanley, Caveman, and everyone starts calling him that from then on.
The Warden wants kids to dig holes, because she is looking for something valuable. X-Ray can barely see without his glasses, so he can not find anything valuable in his holes. He tells Stanley to give him whatever he finds, so X-Ray can take the day off. Stanley only agrees because he wants X-Ray to like him. X-Ray has his ways of staying at the head because he has many friends. Therefore, Stanley uses this and does nice things for X-Ray. In return, X-Ray stands up for Stanley whenever he gets picked on.
The Warden wants kids to dig holes, because she is looking for something valuable. X-Ray can barely see without his glasses, so he can not find anything valuable in his holes. He tells Stanley to give him whatever he finds, so X-Ray can take the day off. Stanley only agrees because he wants X-Ray to like him. X-Ray has his ways of staying at the head because he has many friends. Therefore, Stanley uses this and does nice things for X-Ray. In return, X-Ray stands up for Stanley whenever he gets picked on.
"Be cool, " said X-Ray. He put his hand on Stanley's shoulder. "You don't want to mess with the cave man," he warned. "The Caveman's cool," said Armpit. pg 44
However, one day Stanley becomes friends with Zero, and X-Ray does not like that. Sometimes, X-Ray is jealous of Stanley, because X-Ray wants more attention to him than to Stanley. X-Ray has no way of controlling this. In the end, I predict that X-Ray will stop helping Stanley, and the whole group will like Stanley more than X-Ray, and turn their back against him. In this novel there are barely any racism in it. The author states that everyone looks the same color after they have dug their hole. Digging holes makes all the campers equal and it is supposed to build character. The group is very diverse too with two Africans, two Latinos, and two Caucasians.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book because I was expecting a very childish story. However, I was blown backed by the amount of interest I have about this book as I continued reading. I could not put the book down , and I think I caught "holes" fever. Overall, this book is amazing, and I chose this question in particularly because I really liked how the author incorporated a different personality for each character. On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the best book ever and 1 being horrible, I think this deserved a 10.
The tricky thing about doing character analysis is that it is so easy to slip into PLOT SUMMARY instead. If you take a look at this you'll see that a great deal of what you've accomplished here is to retell the story, rather than dig deeper under the surface of the character(s). Analysis is about explaining what's under the surface...the things the author doesn't state directly but that you have to put together yourself and infer from the context. So I would say that although you've written an enthusiastic review and a good explanation of what the book is about, you haven't actually fulfilled the topic you chose for yourself in much depth.
Glad you dug it, though.