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Holes
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
The Warden speaks softly and says “please” and “thank you,” yet Mr. Pendanski ends up doing just what she says. Does her politeness make her gentler, or harder to stand against?
The tension She never raises her voice and uses polite words, while the grown man in front of her stops talking and does exactly what she says.
Notice how the Warden speaks and how Mr. Pendanski answers: soft words, polite words, and what follows them.
Stanley asks X-Ray about the tube at breakfast and is snapped at. At the hole X-Ray calls Mr. Pendanski over to show the tube, and Mr. Pendanski drives off to the cabin and returns with the Warden. She tells Mr. Pendanski to take X-Ray back to camp, then argues with him about the canteens, calls Stanley over, and gets Mr. Pendanski to agree to fill them.
Start with the times the Warden says "Excuse me" to Mr. Pendanski. Ask the student what each one does to him.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: breakfast, the line at the truck, X-Ray's shout, the Warden arriving, her talk with Mr. Pendanski and Stanley, and what Mr. Pendanski agrees to do.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes one sentence in the same pattern: the next time this happens, I expect that, said politely but firmly.
Debate Take sides on the big question: does the Warden's politeness make her gentler, or harder to stand against? Each side must use one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why an author might introduce a powerful person through soft words instead of loud ones.
Easier Read the Warden's scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 4 only.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer with two pieces of evidence from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to find one more place where a person with power says something polite that is also a command, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Each time Mr. Pendanski begins to explain, the Warden says “Excuse me.” What does that do to him?Inference
What it asks It asks what two soft words do to a grown man who is trying to speak, and why they work.
They take away his right to speak, so he is silenced without a raised voice.
“Did I ask you when you last filled them?”
Mr. Pendanski stopped talking.
They remind him who is in charge, in a polite form that is hard to argue with.
I expect you to do it without questioning my authority
Her voice was soft.
A strong answer Each time Mr. Pendanski begins to explain, the Warden answers “Excuse me,” so he never gets to finish and in the end stops talking. The words are polite, but they act like a door closing, and she follows them with a plain statement of who gets to decide. A strong answer says what the phrase does and points to what Mr. Pendanski does after it.
2. Mr. Pendanski smiles and tells X-Ray, “I wouldn’t dig too hard.” What does that tell us about him?Character
What it asks It asks what a smiling hint shows about how Mr. Pendanski treats a boy who has found something.
He is giving X-Ray a friendly wink, since he expects the Warden to like the find.
I think the Warden is going to like this.
Then he smiled.
He is careful: he gives an order and a hint together so he cannot be blamed for either.
“Just keep digging until someone says otherwise,” Mr. Pendanski said.
But if I were you, Rex, I wouldn’t dig too hard.
A strong answer Mr. Pendanski says the Warden will like the tube, then gives a plain order and a smiling hint that points the other way. That can be read as a friendly wink to X-Ray or as a careful way of saying two things at once. A strong answer says which it hears and uses one of his lines.
3. Stanley first says “I still got plenty left,” then admits he drank some. Was it right to change his answer?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh telling the truth against trying to protect someone, in a moment when the Warden is listening.
Yes: the truth is plain, and the Warden is about to check the canteen anyway.
Yeah, I drank some.
She gently shook the canteen, letting the water swish inside the plastic container.
It is a pity: he began by trying to protect Mr. Pendanski, and his answer ended up helping the Warden.
Stanley didn’t want to cause any trouble for Mr. Pendanski.
Then fill it
A strong answer Stanley starts out protecting Mr. Pendanski and stops when the Warden says “Excuse me,” and the truth he gives is a plain fact she could check by shaking the canteen. That can be called the right thing, since a lie would not have worked. It can also be a pity, since his first wish was to help Mr. Pendanski and his answer ends up on the Warden's side. A strong answer picks one and says why.
4. The Warden says, “Your good work will be rewarded.” What do you hear in that sentence?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear a short sentence of praise and decide whether it sounds warm, businesslike, or something else.
It sounds like real praise: she follows it with a double shower and clean clothes.
Let him take a double shower, and give him some clean clothes.
It sounds like payment for something she wanted: she asks where he found it before she says a word about a reward.
“This where you found it?”
Your good work will be rewarded.
A strong answer The reward she names is a double shower and clean clothes, which can sound like real praise to X-Ray, who has just told her yes, he found it there. But she asks where he found the tube first and turns to Mr. Pendanski right after, so the sentence may sound more like pay than kindness. A strong answer says what it hears and points to the words around it.
5. Stanley didn't even know the Warden was a woman until she stepped out of the truck. Why might the author let us meet her through his surprise?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the reader gains from meeting the Warden at the same moment as Stanley, as a surprise.
It keeps the reader as unprepared as Stanley, so her soft voice comes as a surprise too.
Until she stepped out of the truck, he didn’t even know the Warden was a woman.
Her voice was soft.
It makes her seem to know more than she has shown, since she knows his name before he has seen her face.
Stanley was surprised she knew his name.
He had never seen her.
A strong answer Stanley is surprised that the Warden is a woman and that she knows his name, and the reader learns about her through that surprise. It makes her feel unknown and a little more powerful than a person we had been told about. A strong answer says what the surprise does for the reader and points to a line.
1. Mr. Pendanski ends up saying “I’ll fill the canteens.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he acts in front of the Warden compared with how he acted a moment before.
What it asks It asks the student to compare Mr. Pendanski with the Warden present and not present, and to say how much really changes.
He goes from easy and in charge to quiet and obedient.
“Just keep digging until someone says otherwise,” Mr. Pendanski said.
Mr. Pendanski said nothing.
He is not so different: he tries twice to explain himself, is cut off, and then answers plainly.
“I just filled them a little while ago,” said Mr. Pendanski.
“No, but it’s just—”
A strong answer Before the Warden comes, Mr. Pendanski speaks easily and even smiles, as someone in charge. In front of her he says he just filled the canteens, is cut off, and then says nothing, and in the end he chooses the canteens over a shovel. A strong answer says how much of this is a change, and points to two different lines.
2. The Warden asks Stanley to come over and tell her whether he has taken a drink. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what she gets from asking him.
What it asks It asks what the Warden gains by asking a boy instead of just telling Mr. Pendanski, using what she says and does.
She gets proof against Mr. Pendanski from a boy who can be heard to say it.
Do you hear the empty spaces?
Then fill it
She shows Mr. Pendanski and the boys that she knows them and that Stanley, like Mr. Pendanski, answers to her.
Stanley was surprised she knew his name.
I don’t think that would be too much trouble for you, would it?
A strong answer The Warden gets proof, in the form of Stanley's answer and the sound of the canteen, which she uses to make her point to Mr. Pendanski. She also shows that she knows Stanley by name and can pull him into the argument, even asking him if a swap would be too much trouble. A strong answer picks one use with two pieces of evidence and says what the other would add.
3. X-Ray says he does not know what Stanley is talking about, then shouts that he has found something. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what X-Ray is doing.
What it asks It asks the student to explain two moves by X-Ray, one at breakfast and one at the hole, as parts of one plan.
He is following the plan to pretend he found the tube in the morning, and does not want Stanley to spoil it.
So just leave me alone, okay? I don’t want to talk to you.
I think I might have found something!
He has taken the idea and the tube for himself and now shuts Stanley out.
He didn’t mention the tube.
Stanley could see the gold tube sticking out of some dirt on the end of X-Ray’s shovel.
A strong answer At breakfast X-Ray says he does not know what Stanley means and tells him to leave him alone. Then, after the water truck, he shouts that he has found something, with the tube already on his shovel. That can be a plan to look as if he just found it, or a way of keeping the tube while shutting Stanley out. The chapter does not say which, and a strong answer admits that while using two pieces of evidence.