Friday, April 20, 2007

Bullying & the novel Holes

Bullying is evident throughout Louis Sachar's novel Holes. The main character Stanley Yelnats is bullied:

- in middle school by the smallest kid in the school, literally a third his size;
- by the juvenile detention system, which wrongly sentences him for a crime he does not commit;
- at Camp Green Lake by his fellow juvenile detainees;
- by Camp Green Lake's administrators
- and finally by the harsh desert environment itself.

The theme of bullying is echoed by the story of Sam & Kate in the town of Green Lake a hundred years prior when Sam is murdered for being an African American man who loves a white woman, while Kate is driven to a life of crime for loving him.

6 comments:

MrPrice said...

The Destructive Nature of Cruelty
Cruelty abounds at Camp Green Lake, and its destructive results are frequently illustrated. The cruelty that Sam and Kate face in the town of Green Lake pushed Kate to become cruel herself and kill and rob people. When the Warden is cruel to Mr. Sir, he reacts by punishing Stanley. When Zero, normally a calm boy, is pushed past his limit by Mr. Pendanski's taunting, he reacts with violence, slamming his shovel into Mr. Pendanski's face. Cruelty is something that one person can cause in another and a cycle of violence and cruelty is shown to pass through many decades and several generations at Green Lake

Unknown said...

Bullying is when someone keeps doing or saying things to have power over another person.

Why do some people bully?
There are a lot of reasons why some people bully.

They may see it as a way of being popular, or making themselves look tough and in charge.
Some bullies do it to get attention or things, or to make other people afraid of them. Others might be jealous of the person they are bullying. They may be being bullied themselves.

Some bullies may not even understand how wrong their behaviour is and how it makes the person being bullied feel.


Why are some young people bullied?
Some young people are bullied for no particular reason, but sometimes it's because they are different in some way - perhaps it's the colour of their skin, the way they talk, their size or their name.
Sometimes young people are bullied because they look like they won't stand up for themselves.


Why is bullying harmful?
Some people think bullying is just part of growing up and a way for young people to learn to stick up for themselves. But bullying can make young people feel lonely, unhappy and frightened. It

Filipek Filipek said...

The destructive nature of cruelty is a main force that drives this novel. It is only when Sam is able to recognize and deal with the destructive nature in others and in his natural environment that he is able to progress past his meek, mild, bullied self.

urfavoritestudent(uknowwhoIam) said...

Physical Environment
In Holes, the characters' physical environment acts as a metaphor for their emotional states. Camp Green Lake is dry, hard, and hot. It is a physically unpleasant place to be and the people who live there lead unpleasant lives. The counselors are cruel and the boys are tough and often unfriendly. The mountain that Stanley and his great-grandfather call God's thumb, however, is lush and green. While Stanley is there he is free of outside threats and he is very happy.

Mr. Roberts said...

Stanley has embarked upon a classic hero's journey, which Joseph Campbell describes in The Hero with a Thousand Faces as:

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

Stanley moves from wimp to self-confident young man as a result of his trials. I'm wondering how well this would work in real life.

lauren said...
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