Louis Sachar was born on March 20, 1954, in East Meadow, New York. He is an American author of children's books. Louis Sachar is best known for "Sideways Stories from Wayside School" book series and the 1998 novel "Holes ", for which he won the Newbery Medal and a National Book Award. Sachar and his parents moved to Tustin, California when he was nine years old. After graduating from high school he attended college at the University of California. While in college Sachar began working at Hillside Elementary School to earn college credit, which motivated him to write his first children's book, "Sideways Stories from Wayside School ".
In the books many of the characters are centered on children's who he taught about and the teacher is based on Sachar himself. Louis Sachar became lawyer after passing the bar exam in 1980. He became lawyer because he did not know if he would be able to support himself by writing children's books. "Holes" is Sachars most successful book and it has won numerous awards, among them as stated above the Newbery Medal, the Boston Globe- Horn Book Award, and a National Book Award.
Sachar is not completely sure where the inspiration for writing books comes from. Although his unendurably knowledge of the hot Texas summers did help to set the scene for Camp Green Lake. Many of his books, as well as "Holes", are about children who do not appropriate in or who have low self-confidence. Like the other books, the central character achieves self-confidence at the end of the book and makes friends in the process. Louis Sachar constantly revises his work three to four times before sending it to the publisher, and once again he habitually revises it.
Key facts
Title - Holes
Author- Louis Sachar
Time and place written - 1998, Texas
First publication - 1998
Publisher - Straus, Farrar Giroux
Type of work - Novel
Genre - Adventure novel/mystery
Language - English
Protagonist - Stanley Yelnats
Point of view - omniscient narrator
Foreshadow
Every time a part of the history is exposed, it foretells what will occur in the present day at Camp Green Lake. For example, the disclosure that the murder of Sam hints to Kate Barlow murdering the sheriff since she must react to her own loss which is followed by Hector "Zero" Zeroni striking Mr. Pendanski because he cannot handle more cruelty and mocking from Mr. Pendanski.
Setting (time/place)
Most of the story is written by the end of the 20th century, but there are certain flashbacks to the late 19th century and to the mid-19th century. Almost half of the story is centered on Green Lake, in Texas. The place is described to be located in the late 19th and 20th centuries. There are also short-lived flashbacks to acts in Latvia in the mid to the late 19th century.
Major conflict
Stanley must fight against the tough circumstances at Camp Green Lake to assert his independence and finally free his family and himself from the spell (No-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather) that has been placed upon them.
Tone
The narrator of "Holes" seems dependable but often exclaims irony or dark humor into the tale. Several assertions are made which demand the reader to make his or her personal conclusion about the topic. Sometimes the narrator breaks with the all-knowing narration to address the reader straight ahead and pose questions about the incidents in the book.
Tense
The tense often changes from the present in Stanley's own life, to flashbacks in the life of Stanley's great-great-grandfather, or to the life of Kate Barlow.
Rising action
Stanley's friendship with Zero estranges the other lads at the camp and that Zero digs part of Stanley's hole, makes the other boys envious. This will cause to rising tension among the boys, which gradually break out in a quarrel. The consequence of the fight gets Zero to course away from the camp, which cause Stanley to follow afterwards. Once they have escaped there is no way back and the two must make tangible decisions about their forthcoming plans.
Falling action
Stanley and Zero's elopement from the camp radically changes their plans. Both plots to expose Kate Barlow's treasure and elope with it, a strategy they never would have tried if they were not convinced that they could not return to Camp Green Lake.
Climax
When Stanley robs Mr. Sir's lorry and runs away he has reached the point of no return. He has run away and now his fate is with Zero, wherever it may take him.
Setting
This novel is taking place at a boy's juvenile custody center placed in the dried out area of an unreal lake in Texas. Nearly the whole story is set in modern time, at about end of the 1990s. The Town of Green Lake, which existed one hundred and ten years previously before the lake dried up, there are referred some flashbacks to this town. Southwest of Port Lavaca, in Texas we can find one of the biggest Green Lake, which is the actual Green Lake, but this real town of Green Lake was abandoned after the Civil War. Most of the story is written by the end of the 20th century, but there are certain flashbacks to the late 19th century and to the mid-19th century. Almost half of the story is centered on Green Lake, in Texas. The place is described to be located in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Summary
The novel is about a boy, Stanley Yelnats who has bad luck for the reason that a curse is placed on his great-great-grandfather. The camp Stanley is sent to (Camp Green Lake), is a juvenile detention camp, because of a crime he didn't commit. Every single day the main character and the other boys at the camp are squeezed to dig large holes in the dirt. Stanley finally realizes that they have to dig these holes since the Warden is looking for something. The storyteller links three various stories to expose why Stanley's family has a curse upon them and what the Warden are looking for. Among these three stories there is one main story and two retrospective stories which explain incidences in the main story. For example as stated above why the boys have to dig holes, why the Yelnats has a history of bad luck, how the biggest lake in Texas dried out etc.
List of characters
Major characters
Stanley Yelnats is the fifteen-year-old protagonist, the main character of the book. Stanley's family has a past of bad fortune, and in view of that, he is unfairly trapped of robbing, and is sent to the custody center, Camp Green Lake. Stanley is an overweight boy with low self-confidence, but after strike up a friendship with Zero and surviving the trials in and around Camp Green Lake; he leaves with massive physical and emotional strength.
Hector Zeroni (Zero) is another camper at the detention center and who came to be friends with Stanley Yelnats. He is a strong willed boy and he is the best digger. No matter what Zero is thought to be the stupid guy by the other boys and the guidance counselors. Actually Zero is very smart and quick with numbers, even though he has never been educated how to read. Madame Zeroni is Zeros great-great-great-grandma, the woman who put a curse on Zeros friend family.
Minor characters
Mr. Sir is the nasty, aggressive adviser at Camp Green Lake. He is mocking and cruel, and Mr. Sir always forewarns the lads that they are not at a "Girl Scout Camp."
Mr. Pendanski seems to be one of the nice counselors at the beginning, but he turns out to be mean and spirited. He rarely scoffs and criticizes Zero, and he often jokes that the holes might be burial chambers for Stanley and Zero.
(The Warden) She is hundred and one percent the symbol of cruel authority at Green Lake. Warden runs Camp Green Lake with extortions and rewards, she doesn't show any worry for the sorrow of others. Linda Walker and Charles are her grandparents, and however she says the boys are digging to “build character”, and that they truly dug for the treasure that her descendants never found.
X-Ray, Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, Magnetare some of the other lads at Camp Green Lake. They have established a random chain of command for the boys in Group D, with Zero at the bottom, and X-Ray at the top. They behave just like Warden, using threats and rewards as their system of control.
Elya Yelnats is Stanley's “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather”, and the reason why the family Yelnats has such bad luck. After becoming disappointed with the woman Elya believed he loved in Latvia, he moves to America, and accidentally breaks a promise he did to the gypsy, Madam Zeroni. Madame Zeroni then curses the Elya Yelnats family for generations to come.
Madame Zeroni is the one-footed gypsy who handed Elya a pig with which to gain the hand of his love. She swears he will gain Myra's hand by carrying Madame Zeroni to the top of a peak and sing her a cradlesong. When Elya later realizes that Myra is certainly as stupid as Madame Zeroni, he changes his thoughts and takes the first boat to America, unable to remember his promise to Madame Zeroni. Thereafter everybody in the Yelnat's family is thought to be Madame Zeroni's lullaby, and is cursed with a bad luck. Afterward we get the fact that the curse is broken for the reason of the bond between Stanley and Madame Zeroni's descendant, Zero (Hector Zeroni).
Conflict
The central character is Stanley, around whose trials the novel centers. "Holes" is exactly about how Stanley overcomes his problems, both those made inside of him and the ones changing him at Camp Green Lake. Day by day he gets more robust, mentally and emotionally, and develops a happy, self-assured young man.
The antagonist is not a single creature or an individual, but the critical circumstances and people at Camp Green Lake. In the beginning Stanley struggles to survive then finally to overcome the unfairness there, he achieves what he is looking for and breaks the family curse through his friendship with Zero, and their involvements together at Camp Green Lake.
Stanley finds Zero and their relationship is verified as they last together on “God's thumb”. Stanly's and Zeros comeback at Camp Green Lake intent on discovering Kissin' Kate Barlow's treasure and escape. There the friendship endures one last test as Stanley refuses to leave Camp Green Lake without Zero.
Themes
The main theme is how destiny and the past impact everyday life. Three stories from different times in history are shared in "Holes" to form onne storry and to creatte a thenme of the significance of history. The reader is given info from all three stories but Zero and Stanley merely know the history that has been transferred to them through aria and stories. Stanley and Zero are in order to realize that they know this same aria, but they do not know where the aria came from so they are not able to find out that their forebears came from the parallel town in Latvia. The survival of Stanley's great- grandfather on "God's thumb" and his story has been passed to Stanley, and this allows Stanley to make a scheme intended for survival when Zero and he run away from Green Lake.
Another strong theme is the benefits of forming friendship. The benefits of forming great friendships are certainly visible in "Holes". Stanley and Zero's friendship lead to their reciprocal strength and wealth. However he still faces hardship, once Stanley is sure in Zero's friendship he feels luckier thann he hass ever fellt in his life. Deceitful friennds who are only friendlly when they get paid for something they want, like Zigzag, are shown to be dangerous. Once Zigzag stops gettting benefits out of his friendship with Stanley, he becomes antagonistic towards him.
Mood
There is a mood of uproar and adversity in "Holes". The characters are frequently stressed with topics of which they do not have full experience. Elya Yelnats doesn't know how stupid the girl he loved is and it overwhelms him. Stanley doesn't know where the running shoe came from or what awaits him at the camp, but he must tolerate that miscarriage of righteousness. Zero submits to teasing and meanness from the other boys who actually don't know why he is silent and how smart he is. In each example, the way these people act is a source of confusion and then affliction. The changing of time used by the writer strengthens this frame of mind, as the reader always has more info than the characters.
v Overall analysis
Plot structure analysis
The contemporary day section of the story is told like an adventure. The historic sections are told like a folktale. Anyway when these sections come together, the novel changes into a puzzle, or a mystery novel. The reader is certainly not given all of the information required to crack the puzzle until the very end. Minor parts of the Yelnat's history and the history of Camp Green Lake are exposed bit by bit. The person who reads must be careful of the details of Stanley's action, Elya Yelnats' story as well as the strength of Sam's onions. This walk up and down technique allows the reader to make conclusions but does not confirm positive influences. For example, at the time the reader begins to doubt a connection between the Warden and Trout Walker or a connection between Madame Zeroni and Zero, the actual names of the characters aren't exposed yet so the bonds between past and present aren't shown so far.
Point of view
The omniscient narrator moves regularly through three dissimilar time periods. The speaker intertwines acts from 1800s Latvia, to late 1800s Texas, and from present-day Texas to make a larger story of legacy and destiny. However writing about the present-day the narrator mainly describes the actions, activities and thoughts of Stanley, who's the protagonist. The historic parts are described like sagas. The present day parts are described in light of Stanley's actions as well as his feelings. The storyteller gives the impression to know better than what he shares with the reader and applies dark humor and irony to share his idea, rarely addressing the reader straight to make the reader form suggestions before the details are completely clear.
Motifs and symbols
In "Holes", the characters' physical environs act as a metaphor for their sensitive conditions. Camp Green Lake is hot, hard, and dry. It is a physically hostile place to stay at and those who live there, live uncomfortable lives. The guidance counselors are terrible and the boys are rough and often unfriendly. The mountain that Stanley's great-great- grandfather and Stanley himself call God's thumb, however, is green and exuberant. Whenever Stanley is there he is free of external fears and he is very happy.
A motif, or idea that reappears throughout "Holes", is how the landscape have emotional impact on the characters at Camp Green Lake. The more the characters are out on the lakebed, the more deferred to madness they become. After prolonged digging in the vehement heat, the Warden jabs Armpit with a crotch and Zigzag attacks Stanley with a spade. As mentioned above the tough and harsh surroundings become a metaphor for the personality behavior of the characters.
Onions represent a positive and healing element in the book. Sam, who is black and a character of good will and experience, loves onions and assists to treat sick people with the onion cures that he makes. The onions help Zero and Stanley to recover their health and rest, it also helps them to avoid bites from the mortal yellow-spotted lizards that frequent the camp. The yellow-spotted lizards symbolize the deadly backgrounds of Camp Green Lake. They occupied the landscape after the lake dried up and they are a fatal threat to all human being at the camp.
Significance of names
Names have significance in the book, as for the title itself (Holes) describing several features of the novel. For example, the lads dig holes at the camp, there is a hole in Stanley's life before he came to Green Lake, and we have holes in the novel that the booklover need to fill in as the story grows. Furthermore, the double character names stand for two sides of every character's image. Stanley's "no-good-dirty-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather" is simply shortened to his great-grandfather, after it is clarified that he is no thief. The cute sounding name "Miss Katherine" changes to the daredevil sounding "Kissin' Kate Barlow" once her lifestyle changes from a teacher to bandit. All of the boys in the Group have actual names that "the general public will know them by" and their bad boy names that they hold on to be called at the camp. The opinion of each character that the storyteller expects to present is reflected in the characters' names.
This story was fantastic from the beginning to the end. Really breathtaking. I'll definitely check out this author's next book. Without reservation, and I heartily recommend this book. I read the story twice. It really fills me with hope for the characters.
