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Schule > Englisch > "Holes" von Louis Sachar - summary, analysis, characters

"Holes" von Louis Sachar

1 Summary Holes

The novel Holes written by Louis Sachar deals with a boy called Stanley Yelnats who was sent to Camp Green Lake. It is a Camp in the desert where youngsters are sent to instead of goingt to prison. They have to dig Holes to built their characters. One day there is a big fight in the Camp and a boy named Zero goes out into the desert. Stanley follows him, because he wants to rescue him. He finds him in a hole and both of them go up to a mountain, where they find water and onions. When they are strong enough, they go back to the Camp, where Stanleys lawyer waits for them. She knows that Stanley isn’t guilty and takes both boys back home.

2 Setting and function

There are two different times in the book. One time is the present, where the story about Stanley Yenats and his summer, Hector Zeroni and Camp Green Lake takes place. The other time plays 100 years ago in the Wild West in the town of Green Lake round the Green Lake. The author starts in the present and switches between both times.The story ends in the present. Both times are very important for the reader to understand the relationship between the actors in the present and in the past.

3 Main characters

One of the main character is Stanley Yelnats named Caveman in the Camp, who is an overweight and unpopular boy when he came to Camp Green Lake. He is shy, insecure and doesn’t know what to do but it changes when he gets the apprecication of the other boys. Stanley has more self-confidence and is stronger when he leaves Camp Green Lake.
Another person is Hector Zeroni named Zero. He is the smallest kid, but the fastest digger of Holes in the Camp. He never talks and doesn’t know how to read and write, but Stanley teaches him. Zero is Stanley’s closest friend. These characters live in the present.
There is Kate Barlow, one of the famous thieves, who lived at Green Lake, She was hidden a treasure at Green Lake, which the Warden searches. The Warden is a woman, who is the only person in the camp who knows the treasure. Her parents tell her the story of Kate Barlow.

4 Basic conflict

The basic conflict of the novel is the relationship between the actors and how they change. Stanley and his family believes in a curse of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-gradfather and have no luck. Bur Stanley breaks the curse and he and his whole family have luck. Stanley learns a lot about friendchip and himself in the camp. He makes a lot of friend in the camp but first he has to learn a lot. Every boy is different from the others and he has to find that out. But later, when Stanley knows the boys he is happy because they respect him. Stanley feels that group D is his family and dreams that they all go to Derrick Dunne and beat him up, because of all the cruel and bad things which Derrick did to Stanley. Derrick is a worse boy at his school, who did worse things with Stanley. Stanley becomes more self-confident and though. He has to submit, but after that the boys accept him.

5 Them of the novel

One them of the novel is finding Kathrine Barlows treasure, which she hides in the desert. That is the reason why the boys have to dig the Holes. The Warden and the parents of the Warden search the treasure since 100 years. Another important them is the development of the relationchip between Stanley and Zero. It is interesting to see how it changes. At the beginning they don’t talk to each other, but when Zero helps Stanley to dig his hole, while Stanley is at the Warden, Stanley changes his opinion about Zero and teaches him to learn the abc. Stanley is very sad when Zero runs away and follows him. They survive the desert and become good friends. And it deals with a social conflict, the mobbing in the USA, which contains the laws and the judge.

6 Structure of the novel

The narrator of the novel "Holes” is the omniscient third person narrator. He knows the story in the past and the story in the present. He describe the feelings of the persons and knows a lot of backrounds from Green Lake. The author writes the story from Stanley’s side. He knows all facts about Stanley and follows him and his way through the story. The author switches between the past and the present and has a special look at Stanley’s family.

7 Symbols

The onions are play a big role in the novel. You can find them in the past and in the present. Sam has an onion field, which helps the whole town to be healthy.The onions helped the men by the rattlesnake hunting in the past.Zero and Stanley can’t survive without onions. And later, the onions rescue Stanley’s and Zero’s life, because the yellow- spotted lizards don’t like onionblood and both boys have eaten so much onions, that they smell like an onion. The onions are like a lifeguard for the people in the novel and it is a connection between the present and the past, too.

8 What does the titlt mean?

The title "Holes” stand for the Holes which the boys have to dig every day in Camp Green Lake. The Warden tell them, they have to do it, because it is good to build their characters, but that is not the truth. They have to dig them, because the Warden searches the treasure of Katherine Barlow. But there is an other reason why this book calls Holes. There are a lot of Holes in the book. The whole book is filled with Holes, but at the end most of them are filled in. First you don’t know why Camp Green Lake existe, but in the end puzzel is comlete and you know that the Warden searches the treasure. But there are a lot of Holes which don’t fill in and you have to make your own thoughts.

9 Short apprecication

I like the book, because it is very interesting. The author writes with simple words and the book is easy to read. You can understand everything in the context. The plot and the characters are interesting and modern. It is easy to identify yourself with one of the characters. I would recommend the book everyone, who is interesting in an exciting story. I really enjoy reading the book, because it is not a second boring.

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