Holes By Louis Sachar Essay

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The book Holes by Louis Sachar is about Stanley Yelnat, a kid with a lot of bad luck. Stanley is convicted of a crime he did not commit. He is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp in the desert that has no lake. Stanley’s bad luck lands him at the camp and he feels that he carries a curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. Stanley and the other boys at the camp are forced to dig large holes in the dirt every day to 'build character' according to the Warden. Stanley begins to think that they are not digging holes to ‘build character’, but rather to find something hidden in the ground. Stanley goes on an adventure figuring out what they are digging holes for and what the warden is looking for. The story takes the reader on a journey to the past and back to …show more content…

The first is the motif of magic in the story with the family curse that Stanley must overcome. We also see the motif of magic with the yellow-spotted lizards because they are seen as dangerous at Camp Green Lake. One bite from them ensured a painful slow death. Another characteristic is the good versus evil motif. Stanley is the hero in this story because he goes on a journey to break his family’s curse. The evil motif is the Warden that makes the boys dig holes as well as Madame Zeroni for placing the curse on the Yelnat family. Another motif used is fantastic objects with the onions. Stanley and Zero are saved from the lizards after eating a lot of onions. They smelled like onions and the lizards hated onions. The onions seem to have the power to ward off the lizards. The author also uses myths in the story with the stories that are handed down through the Yelnat family generations and the legend of Katherine “Kissin’ Kate" Barlow. All of these different characteristics make the novel Holes have similarities with fairytales, folktales and

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