The Benefit of Friendship

After reading Holes I found that it was a very inspiring folk tale with many mysteries that tied together in the end. I valued the themes that Sachar wrote about because they are the values that many elementary students have. Students always want to fit in with everybody else, have nicknames for their best friends, and share their life stories without being judged. These are the main values that I found among the friendships at Camp Green Lake. The first value of fitting in with everyone else is very true for Stanley. As a heavyweight boy in middle school he was bullied around, made fun of and even his teachers make fun of him in class. “On his last day of school, his math teacher, Mrs. Bell, taught ratios. As an example, she chose the heaviest kid in the class and the lightest kid in the class, and had them weigh themselves. Stanley weighed three times as much as the other boy. Mrs. Bell wrote the ratio on the board, 3:1, unaware of how much embarrassment she had caused both of them” (7). Stanley is from a poor family and does not have many friends in his neighborhood either. As he later finds out, neither did any of the other campers. The one camper that Stanley becomes true friends with is Zero and by the end they have shared everything together. While the boys are at camp they have chosen nicknames for everyone. When Stanley arrives they all have nicknames because they’ve been there longer. The mother, Mr. Pandanski, introduces everyone by their real names and Stanley only uses their nicknames. Many of the boys received their nicknames from their crime, from something they had done in the camp, or because of their appearance. The boys nicknames were: Alan who was called Squid; Ray was called X-Ray because of his glasses; Barf Bag was Lewis because he constantly vomited in his bed, which smelt and Stanley now occupied it; Theodore was labeled Armpit; José was Magnet; Ricky was called Zig Zag because of the way he walked; Zero was Hector Zeroni from his