We could find that Stanley says that he doesn’t want any trouble in the Chapter 30. On the basis of the saying of Stanley, we infer that there are two possible reasons why Stanley doesn’t fight back when Zigzag taunts him: Firstly, he is a person who tries not to get in trouble and pays deep regard to the opinions of the majority of the boys. Secondly, he is trying to form good friendships between the boys so he doesn’t want to damage it. If I were Stanley, I would do the same. A proverb has it, “Without a friend the world is a wilderness.” As the case stands, I think that I will do the same like Stanley because it’s important to maintain friendly
relations in a group.
Chapter 31
Q8: Why do you think Stanley not goes after Zero? Why does Stanley feel so angry with himself after Zero runs away?
“Stanley knows that if Zero could dig all day and still have the strength to learn, then he should have been able to dig all day and still have the strength to teach.”
From the statement of Chapter 31, we could find that the reasons why Stanley feels so angry with himself after Zero runs away is because Stanley reproaches himself for having let Zero dig part of his hole for him owing to his laziness. Therefore, Stanley wants to go out after Zero. But, Stanley doesn’t even though he is eager to go out after Zero. It is because Stanley knows that none of the other boys would help him dig Zero’s hole. For the reason, Stanley thinks that he needs to stay here and dig Zero’s hole until Zero comes back. Judging from the above, I think that the main reason why Stanley not goes after Zero is because Stanley is afraid that there is nobody would dig Zero’s hole if he goes out after Zero and finds him back.