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Holes
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Stanley is free to go, but he stops and will not leave without Zero. What does it cost to be free, and what does it take to free someone else?
The tension Stanley's lawyer says there is nothing she can do for Zero, and the Attorney General says Zero is not in danger. Yet Stanley stays where he is, and the chapter ends with Ms. Morengo taking Zero's hand.
Notice who tries to hold Zero and who tries to free him, and what Stanley does.
The group walks back to camp. The tall man is the Texas Attorney General and Stanley's lawyer is Ms. Morengo. The Warden changes her story and demands the suitcase be opened, but Stanley does nothing, and he is released. He will not leave Zero. The Attorney General cannot find Zero's file, the boys of Group D say their goodbyes, and Ms. Morengo takes Zero's hand.
Start with Stanley's "I can’t leave Hector." Ask what Stanley gives up by saying it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the walk, the Warden's demand, the release, the stop, the missing file, the boys' goodbyes and Ms. Morengo's last words.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: one for someone who stops and turns, and one for what they cannot just do.
Debate Take sides: what does it cost to be free, and what does it take to free someone else? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why the author ends with Ms. Morengo taking Zero's hand.
Easier Read the scene where Stanley stops aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 and 3 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 someone in the chapter changes what he said earlier, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. The Warden changes her story and demands, “Open the suitcase, Stanley!” What is she afraid of?Inference
What it asks It asks what the Warden's frantic demand shows about what she fears, and what she is risking by it.
She fears losing the suitcase: she keeps staring at it and cannot let it go.
The Warden said nothing. She stared at the suitcase.
“Open the suitcase, Stanley!”
She fears being caught in a lie, so she tries to change her story.
“I didn’t say they stole the suitcase. It’s his suitcase, obviously”
“That isn’t what you said earlier,” said Ms. Morengo.
A strong answer The Warden first said the boys stole the suitcase, then says it is Stanley's suitcase and that he put her things in it. She then gives new reasons to open it: drugs, weapons, a stolen car. A strong answer says what she fears most, losing the suitcase or being caught in her story, and uses two of her lines.
2. Stanley does nothing when the Warden orders him to open the suitcase and his lawyer tells him not to. Is that courage or caution?Character
What it asks It asks what it means that Stanley stays still while two people give him opposite orders.
It is courage: a boy who used to give way now holds his ground against the Warden.
“Open the suitcase, Stanley!”
Stanley did nothing.
It is caution: he is following advice he has been told to follow.
“Stanley, as your lawyer, I advise you not to open your suitcase,” said Ms. Morengo.
Stanley didn’t know what to do.
A strong answer The Warden orders him to open the suitcase and his lawyer says not to, and Stanley does nothing. That can read as courage, since he does not give way to the Warden, or as caution, since he is following his lawyer's advice and does not know what else to do. A strong answer says which feels truer, and why both could be right.
3. Stanley will not leave without Zero, and the Attorney General says Zero is not in danger. How well can Stanley trust what he is told?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the promises of the official against Stanley's own worry.
He can trust it: the Attorney General says there will be an investigation and that he is taking charge.
Your friend is not in danger
I am taking charge of the camp.
He has reason to doubt: Zero's file cannot be found, and Zero looks toward the Warden and Mr. Pendanski.
His eyes shifted toward Mr. Pendanski on one side of him, then to the Warden and Mr. Sir on the other.
Mr. Pendanski went into the office. He returned a few minutes later and announced the file was apparently misplaced.
A strong answer The Attorney General promises an investigation and says he is taking charge, which is a real reason to trust. But Zero's eyes shift toward the Warden and Mr. Sir, and when the file is sent for, it turns up missing. A strong answer decides how much Stanley can trust, with lines from both sides.
4. The boys of Group D gather round Stanley, and X-Ray stays away. What does that detail tell us?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to read what the boys' hellos show, and what X-Ray's absence adds to the mood.
It shows warmth: they shake hands, say sorry and ask for favors.
Even Zigzag shook Stanley’s hand. “Sorry about … you know.”
“Call my mom for me, okay? Tell her … Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her Alan said he was sorry.”
It shows something unfinished: X-Ray hangs back and goes inside.
X-Ray was the only one who didn’t come over.
Stanley saw him hang back behind the others a moment, then return to the Wreck Room.
A strong answer Armpit, Magnet, Zigzag and the others come over to shake hands, and Squid asks Stanley to tell his mother he is sorry, so the scene is warm. X-Ray hangs back and goes inside, which leaves an open space in the mood. A strong answer says what the warmth shows and what X-Ray's absence does, without claiming to know why he stayed away.
5. The Attorney General says Zero’s records fell through “a hole in cyberspace.” Why might the author echo the title with that phrase?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the word hole does when it turns up in a place so different from the camp.
It is a joke with an edge: a boy has vanished into a hole, though not one dug with a shovel.
“It’s like they’ve fallen through a hole in cyberspace.”
“A hole in cyberspace,” Ms. Morengo repeated. “How interesting.”
It shows how a person can disappear on paper, as easily as in the ground.
“He’s in the computer. We just can’t access his records.”
“Keep him confined indefinitely, without justification”
A strong answer The Attorney General says Zero's records have fallen through a hole in cyberspace, and Ms. Morengo repeats it as if tasting it. The word hole links the camp's digging to a different kind of loss. A strong answer says what the echo adds, and does not claim to know what happened to the records.
1. The Warden says, “You can’t even read,” to Zero. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what has changed in how she sees him.
What it asks It asks the student to see that the Warden is making sense of a surprise: Zero read a name that she could not explain.
She is stunned: she cannot believe he has outwitted her.
The Warden seemed as dazed as Stanley.
Not much has changed: she still looks down on him and says so, and he does not answer.
“You can’t even read,” she said to Zero.
Zero said nothing.
A strong answer The Warden is dazed, and her first words to Zero are You can't even read, as if the surprise could be put down to what she thinks he cannot do. Zero says nothing. A strong answer says whether she sees him differently or only more sharply, and uses one line about her state and one about her words.
2. The Attorney General's tone changes as the scene goes on. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he treats the Warden at first and at the end.
What it asks It asks the student to follow the change in an official's tone: from polite to angry to uncertain.
At first he is polite and gives orders calmly, telling Mr. Pendanski to get food.
The Attorney General told Mr. Pendanski to get the boys something to drink and eat.
“Certainly,” said the Attorney General.
By the end he is angry and cannot answer her: his own office cannot find the records.
“What kind of camp are you running here, Ms. Walker?”
The Attorney General said nothing.
A strong answer At first the Attorney General speaks calmly and gives simple orders. When the file goes missing he is outraged and asks the Warden what kind of camp she is running, and later he has no answer when Ms. Morengo asks why Zero was held. A strong answer shows the change with one line from each time.
3. Ms. Morengo and the Attorney General speak about Zero's records. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how she presses him.
What it asks It asks the student to see how a lawyer uses questions to make an official face what he cannot answer.
She asks plain questions he cannot answer: when is his release date, and how long has he been here?
“When is his release date?”
“How long has he been here?”
She names the problem in strong words: confinement without justification.
Keep him confined indefinitely, without justification
“And what reason was that?”
A strong answer Ms. Morengo asks when Zero's release date is and how long he has been there, and the Attorney General cannot say. She then says he would be kept confined indefinitely, without justification, and asks what reason he was held for. A strong answer uses one question and one strong phrase and says how each shows his lack of an answer.