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Holes
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Stanley knows his first hole is nothing to be proud of, yet he feels proud of it. Is his pride earned?
The tension His hole is the last one finished, his hands are bloody and he cannot climb out without footholds, yet he has done what he could not do at the start of the day.
Notice how Stanley feels about his first hole at the end, and what Elya's story adds beside the digging.
Stanley wakes before dawn and starts digging with a shovel that will not bite into the dry ground. The chapter alternates between his long morning and the story of Elya, who trades a pig for a promise and loses a girl. Zero finishes first, the others follow, and Stanley finishes last, climbs out on two footholds, and looks at his hole.
Start with the last line of the chapter about the hole. Ask the student what a person can be proud of when the work is not good enough to show.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the shovel and breakfast, the crust of the ground, Elya and Madame Zeroni, Zero finishing first, and Stanley's last look at his hole.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes a sentence about doing something that was not good enough to be proud of, then one sentence that turns on the word but.
Debate Take sides on the big question: is Stanley's pride earned? Each side must use one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why an author might end a chapter of hard work and a long old story on one boy's small feeling.
Easier Read Stanley's last scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 3 and 5 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 Stanley or Elya feels something that does not quite match what happened, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. The chapter cuts between Stanley's hole and Elya's story, then back again. Why might the author build the chapter that way?Plot structure
What it asks It asks why the author switches between two stories, and what each switch does for the reader.
The switches let time pass: the reader feels the hours of digging go by while Elya's story fills the gaps.
Stanley was still digging.
Stanley kept digging.
The switches set two people with heavy tasks side by side, so the reader compares how each one carries on.
As the pig grew fatter, Elya grew stronger.
The digging got easier after a while.
A strong answer Each return to Stanley finds him still digging, with a deeper hole and a worse back, so the cuts make the long morning feel long. The cuts can also be read as a comparison: Elya grows stronger as his pig grows heavier, while Stanley's digging gets a little easier after the crust breaks. Either reading is fine if it names a place where the story switches and says what the switch does.
2. Zero finishes first, spits into his perfect hole and walks away without a smile. What do you make of that?Character
What it asks It asks the student to read a quiet boy from a few actions, and to tell skill apart from something else.
Zero is skilled and quietly proud, and does not need to show it.
The top of his hole was a perfect circle, and the sides were smooth and steep.
Not one dirt clod more than necessary had been removed from the earth.
Zero is just doing a daily job, as the other boys do; he feels nothing about it.
He didn’t even smile.
One by one, Stanley watched each of the boys spit into his hole and return to the camp compound.
A strong answer Zero's hole is neat and exact, so he has real skill. But he does not smile, and spitting is what every boy does when he finishes, so his behavior may not show pride at all. The chapter does not say what Zero feels, and a strong answer admits that while picking the reading it finds stronger.
3. Stanley thinks about quitting, then keeps digging. Is that courage, or does he simply have no other choice?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge whether continuing counts as courage when quitting is not really possible.
It is courage: he is hurting and far behind, and he still gets up and goes on.
Using his shovel for support, he managed to get to his feet.
Stanley kept digging.
It is having no choice: quitting only makes the day worse.
Or else you’re going to be digging in the hottest part of the day.
He wondered what they would do to him. What could they do to him?
A strong answer Stanley is weak, blistered and behind the others, and he still stands up and returns to his hole, which looks like courage. But Mr. Sir has warned that a slow digger will be out in the hottest part of the day, and Stanley himself wonders what they could do to him, so quitting may not be a real choice. A strong answer picks one or holds both and gives the evidence for it.
4. Madame Zeroni says the pig will get bigger but Elya will get stronger. Why might she help him in this way?Inference
What it asks It asks why the old woman chooses a daily task that builds Elya up, instead of simply giving him something to win Myra.
She is thinking ahead: she wants him strong enough to carry her up the mountain.
Every day you will carry the pig up the mountain. It will get a little bigger, but you will get a little stronger.
I want you to carry me up the mountain.
She is helping him against her own judgment, and gives him a way to earn what he wants.
Against her better judgment, she agreed to help him.
You’re too young to get married.
A strong answer Madame Zeroni asks Elya to carry the pig every day, and she says he will get stronger. She then asks him to carry her up the mountain, so the daily climb makes him strong enough to do it. But she also helps only against her better judgment, so the task may be the best she can offer a boy who will not listen. A strong answer ties her plan to her own words and does not say more about her than the chapter does.
5. Mr. Pendanski says “Well done,” then drives off without filling Stanley’s canteen. How does “Well done” sound to you?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear the praise and decide whether it sounds sincere, hollow, or a mixture.
It sounds sincere: he came looking for Stanley and offered him a ride.
I was afraid you’d fainted
You want a ride back?
It sounds hollow: he leaves without water and Stanley ignored his high five.
Mr. Pendanski climbed back into the truck without filling Stanley’s canteen.
raising his hand for a high five, but Stanley ignored it
A strong answer Mr. Pendanski seems to care in the moment: he worries that Stanley fainted and offers a ride. But he leaves without filling the canteen, and Stanley is too tired to take his high five, so the praise may be a habit more than a gift. A strong answer says what it hears and points to the words and the actions.
1. Mr. Pendanski says Stanley is digging “to build character.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain whether the digging has built anything in him by the end of this chapter.
What it asks It asks the student to test a counselor's claim against what Stanley does and suffers in the chapter.
Yes: Stanley solves problems and finishes something hard.
Using his shovel, he dug two footholds in the hole wall.
He laid his shovel back down on the bottom of his hole and, to his surprise, it fit.
No: the digging has only worn him down.
His cap was stained with blood from his hands.
He felt like he was digging his own grave.
A strong answer Stanley does more at the end than at the start: he works out how to measure the hole, he cuts footholds when he cannot climb out, and he finishes. But he is also bleeding and weak, and he thinks of digging his own grave. A strong answer says what character means to the student and uses two pieces of evidence, and notices that Mr. Pendanski also said nothing was being looked for.
2. Stanley piles his dirt too close to his hole and has to move it later. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what that mistake shows about how he works.
What it asks It asks the student to see whether the mistake comes from avoiding a hard job or from not knowing how the work goes.
He avoids the hard part: he knew the piles were wrong and kept adding to them.
Though he tried to convince himself otherwise, he’d been aware for a while that his piles of dirt were too close to his hole.
Still, he pretended otherwise and kept adding more dirt to the piles
He is new at the work and learns a real fact about it as he goes.
The problem was that when the dirt was in the ground, it was compacted.
It was either now or later.
A strong answer Stanley knew for a while the piles were too close and pretended otherwise, so part of the mistake is putting off a hard job. But he also learns why the piles are so big: dirt expands when it is excavated, and nobody told him. A strong answer picks one reading with two pieces of evidence and says what the other reading would add.
3. Elya skips the last climb up the mountain and later forgets his promise to Madame Zeroni. Using two pieces of evidence, explain which was the bigger mistake.
What it asks It asks the student to weigh two things Elya does and decide which cost more, using what the chapter says about each.
Skipping the last climb: it left the two pigs equal and cost him his chance.
Instead, he took a bath.
Alas, poor Elya should have carried his pig up the mountain one last time. The two pigs weighed exactly the same.
Forgetting the promise: he broke his word to a friend who wanted to drink before she died.
He felt bad because he knew Madame Zeroni had wanted to drink from the stream before she died.
Madame Zeroni warned that if he failed to do this, he and his descendants would be doomed for all of eternity.
A strong answer The bath cost Elya his chance with Myra, since the pigs weighed the same. But the forgotten promise let down Madame Zeroni, who had wanted to drink from the stream before she died, and Elya himself feels terrible about it. A strong answer picks one with two pieces of evidence, and does not say whether the curse is real, since the chapter only reports her warning.