Movies - Holes

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Holes (book)

	Movies - Holes

Holes is a Newbery Medal-winning novel by Louis Sachar. The book was adapted as an acclaimed film in 2003 by Walt Disney Pictures, though the screenplay was still written by Sachar.

The story's protagonist, Stanley Yelnats, is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers (which fell from the sky and hit him on the head) and sentenced to 18 months of service at Camp Green Lake in Texas. He attributes this to his family's old curse of bad luck. Green Lake has dried up 110 years ago, and each inmate at the juvenile correction facility must spend his day in the desert-like lake bed digging a hole that must be five feet deep and five feet in diameter. There was a sequel to Holes published in 2006, called Small Steps.

Plot

The backstory

The main plot of the book is closely tied to the backstory, which happened about 100 years ago. The backstory is gradually revealed as the novel goes on. The first main thread of the backstory is Stanley's great great grandfather Elya Yelnats and his son (mostly revealed while Stanley digs his first hole); the second is Kissin' Kate Barlow.

Elya Yelnats was originally from Latvia where he fell in love with Myra Menke. However, he could not compete with Igor Barkov, who offered a pig to Myra's father. Elya visited his friend, Madame Zeroni. She told him to take one of her small pigs. Each day he should carry it up a mountain, let it drink from a stream, and sing a particular song to it."'If only if only' the woodpecker sighs, 'the bark on the tree was as soft as the skies', the wolf sits below, hungry and lonely, he howls at the moon, 'if only if only'." Elya should continue to do this until Myra's birthday, and as he did so his pig would gradually get fatter until it weighed more than Igor's pig. Madame Zeroni, who was crippled, also requested that when Elya was done, he should do the same thing to her as to the pig—carry her up the mountain, let her drink from the stream, and sing the song. If he did not do this, he and his descendants would be cursed forever.

Elya obeyed Madame Zeroni's instructions. However, he skipped taking the pig up the mountain the last day—Myra's birthday. Thus, Elya's pig weighed the same as Igor's instead of weighing more. The decision fell to Myra. Elya was sure she would choose him, but when she proved indecisive, he grew disgusted and left. He boarded a ship to America. It was not until after this he realized he forgot to fulfill Madame Zeroni's request.

Elya got married in America; however, his life seemed to be plagued by all kinds of bad luck. He began to believe it was the curse. His wife named their son Stanley, because she noticed that was Yelnats backwards. This naming became a tradition, so that the Stanley in the main story line is actually Stanley Yelnats IV. Elya translated the song that he sang to the pig into English and it was passed from generation to generation.

Stanley Yelnats I became very wealthy on the stock market, seeming not to be affected by the curse. This did not last, as his entire fortune was stolen by the outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow. He was left wandering in the desert for three weeks. In his delirium he said he survived because "I found refuge on God's thumb." After his full recovery, he said he does not know what he meant by that.

The second thread concerns Katherine Barlow, the schoolteacher at the town of Green Lake. She was famous for her spiced peaches. There was a Negro in the town, an onion peddler named Sam. Katherine gave Sam some of her peaches in exchange for his fixing the school's roof, which leaked. There were other problems with the schoolhouse, and Katherine kept giving Sam peaches in exchange for fixing various things. Eventually he ran out of things to fix.

Katherine revealed that she had fallen in love with Sam, and they kissed. Unfortunately, they were seen. Since Sam was black and Katherine was white, the next day a mob formed. The mob destroyed the schoolhouse and wanted to have Sam hanged. Katherine vainly attempted to have the sheriff stop the mob, but he replied that Sam kissing Katherine had been illegal. Sam and Katherine attempted to escape in Sam's rowboat. However, they were pursued by a motor boat, which collided with Sam's boat and sunk it. Sam was shot and Katherine was rescued. Three days later Katherine killed the sheriff, and then kissed him. She became a notorious outlaw and was known as Kissin' Kate Barlow.

For the next twenty years Kate Barlow made many robberies (including that of Stanley I). Green Lake was struck with a drought on the day that Sam was killed. The lake dried up and the people abandoned the town. Kate's former lover found her and tried to force her to reveal where she has hidden her stolen goods. She refused, saying he can search forever without finding it. Her lover said that he will force her to tell, but then a deadly lizard bit her, and she died. The drought continued up to the time of the main story, and the descendents of Kate's former lover stayed at Green Lake searching for the treasure.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Holes (book) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Holes (book); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay