Holes by Louis Sachar Negation Term Paper

When he steals the truck to look for Zero, he thinks to himself, "He couldn't blame his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather this time. This time it was his own fault, one hundred percent" (Sachar 148). Stanley finally finds happiness in the most unlikely of places, an onion field on the side of a mountain. The onions heal Stanley and Zero because they are what is left of the Onion Man's field, and he was a good, decent person. Stanley discovers he is a good, decent person too, and he begins to like himself, and that is the beginning of his transformation.

Stanley's ordeal at Green Lake really shows that life has many twists and turns, and everything that happens is supposed to happen, like destiny. The Yelnats were supposed to suffer so they could fully enjoy their success. Stanley was supposed to get hit by those tennis shoes to make the entire story fall into place. He was supposed to go to a camp run by the relative of the woman who robbed his great-grandfather so he could find the remnants of his grandfather's fortune. However, Stanley would have never discovered the strength within himself if he had not have gone to Green Lake, and that was the real reason he was supposed to go there. He was supposed to see what self-pity and anger could do to a person. The Warden was a lonely, angry, bitter woman, and it destroyed her and those around her. She was evil, and it took Stanley to expose her to the rest of the world. Stanley had to go on his journey across the lake to save Zero, but more than that, Stanley had to take that journey to save himself from a life of self-pity and sadness.In the worst situation, Stanley discovered he could be happy, and it was all downhill from there.

Holes" is deceptively simple. The book is written for children, but it has very adult themes. It is a look at a young boy's coming of age, but it is really a look at how society really supports self-pity and those who feel sorry for themselves. The counselors and the Warden at Green Lake are the worst of society, and they create their own version of Hell for the boys unlucky enough to be sent there. However, the boy everyone despises the most is the wisest one of them all, because he knows that life is not all about holes, but digging yourself out of them and surviving. "Holes" is funny, but the story is moving and uplifting, and anyone who reads it should really have a hard time feeling sorry for themselves again.

In conclusion, "Holes" is a funny look at the quirks that make up everyone, especially self-pity. Everyone indulges in self-pity once in a while. It is easy to see how the boys at Green Lake could have been lost in self-pity. However, the book shows that self-pity does not solve anything. In fact, it pokes fun at self-pity the way it pokes fun at just about everything. The book uses humor to show that feeling sorry for themselves never got anyone anywhere, and the people that allow self-pity to rule them are unhappy and evil, like the Warden, hopelessly digging for treasure because of a myth.

References

Sachar, Louis.….....