Holes by Louis Sachar - People Can do Extraordinary Things When Put to the Test

People Can Do Extraordinary Things When Put To The Test

"He thought only about each step when it came, and not the impossible task that lay before him. Higher and higher he climbed. His strength came from deep inside himself and also seemed to come from the outside as well."

People can do extraordinary things when put to the test. The author of the book ‘Holes’, Louis Sachar packed this book with many difficult tests for his characters. However when put to the test, they achieved extraordinary results.

In this book, Hector Zeroni (nicknamed ‘Zero’), the friend of the protagonist, Stanley, is determined to overcome his hurdle of not knowing how to read, Stanley is forced to dig large holes everyday in the sun, and Miss Walker (A.K.A., the Warden), using unkind and untruthful means, is desperate to find an outlaw’s treasure to uphold her family’s reputation and satisfy her greed.

All these people, doers of good and bad, are put to the test. With determination and effort, they do extraordinary things.

Hector was abandoned as a child. He was not taught to read or write, but wanted to learn. He asked Stanley to help him to learn to read. Hector asking for help in itself was extraordinary because he had to overcome any shyness or embarrassment that he might’ve had. Hector didn’t expect to learn to read quickly, but as well as being a fast learner, he never gave up. What Hector learnt in a month or two with Stanley, most children would more comfortably learn in a year or more. He was quite smart for having been given any schooling, but he

wasn’t given credit for anything. As he said,

“I’m not stupid. I know everybody thinks I am. I just don’t like answering

their questions.”

Because of his determination he lea...

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...ing and clever in achieving this.

These people were all faced with difficulties. They were put to the test and achieved extraordinary results.

Kate Barlow had told Miss Walker’s Grandparents,

“You and your children, and their children can dig for a hundred years, and

you’ll never find it [the treasure].”

Miss Walker was her Grandparent’s children’s child, and as the outlaw had said, none of them had found the treasure, even though it was found in her lifetime. She had built the camp out of greed, and it was through it that Stanley and Zero found the treasure. Through this camp, the things which occurred in the past of The Warden, Stanley and Hector, were resolved.

It doesn’t matter whether you are good or bad, or do things for good or bad reasons. If you are tested, you achieve extraordinary results whether you succeeded or not in what you planned to do.