Holes - Stanley's Character
Holes is a novel written by Louis Sachar published in 1998. The story revolves around Stanley Yelnats. He is falsely accused of stealing a pair of trainers, which were donated by Clyde Livingston “Sweet Feet” to a homeless shelter. When Stanley goes to trial he is given a choice between prison or Camp Green Lake. In a hurried decision him and his family choose Camp Green Lake without knowing that this place is a living nightmare, where you are forced to dig a 5ft wide and 5ft deep hole every day. He was expected to do this with very little food and water. This camp was definitely no girl scout.
At the beginning of the novel Stanley is introduced as a very unpopular, overweight teenager who often teased about his size. In fact teachers sometimes made cruel comments without realizing it. Stanley was lonely and he didn’t have any friends and he used to get bullied all the time by a smaller person, Derrick Dunne, who used to torment him almost every day. Perhaps because of this and his weight he may have closed himself off to others or maybe it was his no-good-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather who made him friendless.
In Camp Green Lake Stanley had to endure a lot of pain and changes. After only digging one or two holes Stanley had extremely painful blisters, making it even harder to dig. However by doing this ever day made Stanley stronger than he was when he was a newcomer to the camp. During the time Stanley spent in Camp Green Lake he had begun to make friends, he realised this when the other boys in Tent D had accepted him into the group by giving him a nickname, Caveman. This referred to Stanley’s size rather than his personality. We first know this in the book when the boys stick up for him saying ‘you don’t want to mess with Caveman’, however Stanley later realises this, when they call him Caveman and ask when he’s coming for dinner. The thought that rushed through his head was ‘the lump wasn’t Caveman. He was.’ This must have made him feel welcome and
At the beginning of the novel Stanley is introduced as a very unpopular, overweight teenager who often teased about his size. In fact teachers sometimes made cruel comments without realizing it. Stanley was lonely and he didn’t have any friends and he used to get bullied all the time by a smaller person, Derrick Dunne, who used to torment him almost every day. Perhaps because of this and his weight he may have closed himself off to others or maybe it was his no-good-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather who made him friendless.
In Camp Green Lake Stanley had to endure a lot of pain and changes. After only digging one or two holes Stanley had extremely painful blisters, making it even harder to dig. However by doing this ever day made Stanley stronger than he was when he was a newcomer to the camp. During the time Stanley spent in Camp Green Lake he had begun to make friends, he realised this when the other boys in Tent D had accepted him into the group by giving him a nickname, Caveman. This referred to Stanley’s size rather than his personality. We first know this in the book when the boys stick up for him saying ‘you don’t want to mess with Caveman’, however Stanley later realises this, when they call him Caveman and ask when he’s coming for dinner. The thought that rushed through his head was ‘the lump wasn’t Caveman. He was.’ This must have made him feel welcome and