Choose a character and follow him/her throughout the novel.  Note any changes in the character that take place.  Explain the relevance of these changes to a theme presented in the novel.  Keep in mind the role of the character in this novel.  What is the character's purpose?

           Holes by Louis Sachar is a really interesting novel of crime, punishment and redemption. Stanley Yelnats the main character is unjustly sent to Camp Green Lake. His whole family, including himself, thinks it is the curse's fault, a curse that has been on his family for generations because his great, great grandfather stole a pig from a one-legged Gypsy. Camp Green Lake is a detention center for boys, where they build character by digging holes every day under the hot sun and every single hole must be five feet deep and five feet wide. During camp Stanley goes through many changes that helps him improve his character.
            Before going to camp Stanley is an outsider, unlucky, overweight, weak, slow, and quiet. In other words, he is a loser with low self-esteem who has no confidence in himself. For the same reason, he is always being teased by the kids from school. Nobody respects him, not even his teachers because sometimes they also make cruel comments about him without realizing it. He is a nobody. He doesn't have friends. His mother is his only friend and playmate. She is always giving him hope and for the same reason he depends a lot on her. He won't do anything without her. After being found guilty for stealing Clyde Livingston's shoes and being sent to camp, "He'd promised to write to her at least once a week" (7). He is mommy's little boy. All his memories include her. She is always doing everything with him. In a way, she doesn't let him grow up.
            His is also unlucky because bad things are always happening to him. When he finally thinks that his luck is changing, he gets arrested for a crime he has not committed. He has just walked out from under a freeway overpass when a pal r of shoes hit him on the head. Those shoes have been donated to charity, once belonging to a famous baseball player named Clyde Livingston. He is sent to Camp Green Lake, where his life changes completely. Destiny definitely works mysteriously when least expected, even when things are really wrong. Stanley thinks being sentenced to camp is a mistake, the fault of his great, great-grandfather's curse. In this camp Stanley has to work hard to earn his food, water, and bed.
            There is no lake at camp, just a dry, flat wasteland. For Stanley, however, Camp Green Lake is no wasteland. At this camp he develops his personality, gains self-esteem, and finds confidence, pride, and friendship. He finds all these qualities by digging holes. Camp Green Lake is full of hidden treasures and when Stanley finally leaves the camp he is rich in more than one way.
            Stanley finds treasure right from the moment he finishes his first hole. It takes him the whole day to dig it, but he does it. His pride is evident when the author writes, "He knew it was nothing to be proud of, but he felt proud nonetheless" (40). After digging his first hole, Stanley starts changing in other ways too. This accomplishment teaches Stanley to depend on himself for survival and see life differently as well as to do things by himself. It helps him start to grow up and become a young man.
            Stanley also finds friendship at Camp Green Lake. He develops a strong friendship with Zero. Zero is also at Camp Green Lake for stealing a pair of shoes. Both kids become friends because one's strengths is the other's weakness. They need each other to survive. Stanley knows how to read and write, but he has no physical strength. He is fat and weak. While, Zero is quick and strong, even though he does not know how to read and write. That's why they ask for each other's help. Zero promises to help Stanley dig part of his hole each day, so that Stanley saves some of his energy to teach him how to read. Then, Zero runs away from camp, which of course is a bad idea because he runs into the desert without any supplies. Of course, Stanley is not going to leave him alone to die in the desert, so he goes looking for him. He finds Zero really weak and sick. He even has to carry him up the mountain to save his life. They stay up in the mountains for a few days to gain some strength. Then, they return to camp. On the way back, both kids get really thirsty, but neither of them want to drink first, so they decide to drink at the same time. At this point the author illustrates that their friendship has grown really strong, that both kids mean a lot to each other, and that there is equality between them although one is white and the other is black does not bothers them at all. "When they did finally take a drink they agreed to do it at the same time" (191).
            Who would ever think that friendship was going to make Stanley and Zero heroes? Stanley is able to the curse when he learns the true meaning of friendship and equality. He finds a true friend who turns his life around. It is their friendship that lifts the ancient curse.  They learned that the mistakes of the past are the strengths of the future. That by making mistakes people grow strong. That's why Stanley's strength and future is his great, great- grandfather's mistake, which is to break his promise to Madame Zeroni. His great, great- grandfather is supposed to take her up a mountain to drink from a spring. Because he forgets, his whole family is cursed for generations.
            That's why when Stanley rescues Zero from dying in the desert the curse is lifted because Zero is a descendent of Madame Zeroni. What Stanley does is to carry Zero up the "Thumb of God" mountain. They are looking for water and the rock formation gives them hope, so they decide to see what is behind that mountain. Zero of course is too weak to climb because he has been in the desert for three days, so that's why Stanley helps him. He isn't going to let his friend die out there. He is willing to do whatever he can to save him and to his surprise there is water on top of the mountain. They even find onions, which of course save their lives later on when they dig their last hole and that's when they find the treasure.
            Stanley's curse and friendship help build his character. If he hadn't gone to the camp, he would have never met Zero. He found much wealth at Camp Green Lake. His personality, confidence, strength, pride, friendship, luck, respect, and a better attitude. Besides this wealth, he finds a suitcase with his family's contents valued for a million dollars. His father invents a powder for foot odor. His family's luck changes; things finally turn around and destiny once again proves that we are all here for a reason and the hard part is to figure out what that reason is.

Works Cited

Sachar, Louis. Holes. Ed. Louis Sachar. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1998.7,40 and 191.