...es that his nickname is Caveman. Chapter 10 Stanley's second hole is also very hard to dig. While he is digging he finds the fossil of a fish. He has been told by Mr. Pendanski that if he finds anything interesting he might not have to finish his hole. When the water truck comes Stanley notices that there is always an order to the line, with X-Ray followed by Armpit, Squid, Zigzag , Magnet , Zero, and then Stanley. Stanley shows the fish fossil to Mr. Pendanski but Mr. Pendanski says that the fossil is not what the Warden wants. Stanley has to finish digging his hole. Chapter 11 X-Ray asks Stanley to give him anything else interesting that he might find. X- Ray explains that his nickname is pig latin for his real name, Rex. Actually X- Ray has very poor vision and will never be able to find anything that might be in the holes. X-Ray says that since he has been at the camp for a year and Stanley has only been there a month, it is more important for X-Ray to get the day off. Stanley agrees because he wants X-Ray to like him. Stanley wonders why everyone follows what X-Ray does. He realizes that X-Ray is the smallest boy apart from Zero and that he, Stanley, is actually the largest boy. As Stanley continues to dig his hole he imagines a confrontation between his school bully, Derrick Dunne and the boys here. He enjoys thinking of Derrick Dunne, who has so often tormented Stanley, being beaten up by the boys from the camp. Chapter 12 When Stanley finishes digging his second hole he returns to camp to find Mr. Pendanski talking with the boys in his group. Mr. Pendanski asks each boy what he wants to do as a career, after leaving Camp Green Lake. When Mr. Pendanski says that even Zero is not totally worthless and then asks Zero what he would like to do when he leaves Camp Green Lake. Zero is silent at first but then he replies that he likes digging holes. Analysis This section develops the relationship between the narrative and fairy tales. The yellow-spotted lizards embody many of the fears that most people have. Not only are they hideous looking and dangerous, but they hide in holes, where the boys spend most of their time. They are a constant menace and because they like to eat sunflower seeds (which are what Mr. Sir constantly spits into the boys' holes), the reader can guess that they will soon appear as a threat to at least one of the characters. Combined with the ever-present threat of the Warden, the dry heat, and the task of digging holes day after day, the lizards form an environment closer to hell than even Little Red Riding Hood experienced after being eaten by a wolf. The theme of differing ways of perceiving personalities is also developed in this section. The boys in Stanley's tent name him Caveman but Stanley does not even realize that they are referring to him. The name Caveman brings to mind a hulking man who is very powerful, perhaps someone dressed in animal skins and carrying a club. Stanley, on the other hand, thinks of himself as a weak person who is often picked on and who has very bad luck. While he was trying to avoid a fight with the other boy, X-Ray and Armpit believe that he was being brave and perhaps instigating a fight. The irony of Stanley, who only wants to avoid fights, being named Caveman is similar to the irony of Rex, who is practically blind, being named X-Ray. While X-Ray could easily be bullied because of his glasses and lack of sight, he is in fact, the leader of the group. Stanley later realizes that X-Ray is also one of the smallest of the boys in his tent. Despite these two factors that might lead X-Ray to be picked on, he is the one bossing others around. Becoming a bully has nothing to do with size, but rather is a product of mentality. What Stanley has yet to learn is how to change his perception of himself as someone who is frequently bullied and instead see himself as strong and confident. Stanley understands that X-Ray is the unofficial leader of the boys in tent D, and for this reason he agrees to give X-Ray anything else that he might find while digging his holes. Stanley must constantly remind himself, however, that the other boys in the tent are capable of great meanness. When Squid scowls at Stanley for writing to his mother Stanley notices that it is the boys themselves who have wrecked the things in the wreck room. He realizes that he must continue to be cautious about what he does and says around the other boys because they are unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Even Mr. Pendanski is still a character to be wary of. While he exudes cheerfulness towards the boys he continually displays small cruelties, like mentioning that Zero is not totally worthless. This comment obviously shows Mr. Pendanski's lack of respect for Zero and also illustrates the fact that Mr. Pendanski is not always caring and helpful.
Chapters 13–16
Summary
Chapter 13
Stanley returns to digging and finds a small gold tube with a heart engraved on it. Inside the heart the initials KB are engraved. He has previously told X-Ray that he would give him anything he found so that X-Ray could have the day off. Reluctantly, Stanley gives X-Ray the tube. Because it is almost the end of the day, Stanley suggests that X-Ray keep the tube until the next day so that if the Warden likes what he has found he can get the whole day off instead of just an hour. X-Ray agrees that this is a good plan and when the water line forms, X-Ray tells Stanley to move up one place in line, ahead of Zero .
Chapter 14
The next morning, Stanley asks X-Ray if he has the object. X-Ray yells at Stanley to leave him alone and pretends he doesn't know what Stanley is talking about. While they are digging, X-Ray waits until the water truck has come to the holes before pretending to find the gold tube. Mr. Pendanski goes to inform the Warden of X-Ray's find. The Warden is a tall woman with red hair and freckles. She wears a cowboy hat and black cowboy boots studded with turquoise stones. She gives X-Ray the day off and orders Mr. Pendanski to fill the canteens for the boys again. When Mr. Pendanski says that he has just filled them the Warden, obviously angered, asks Stanley, calling him Caveman, if he has a full canteen. Since Stanley's canteen is not full the Warden tells Mr. Pendanski to fill them without questioning her authority.
Chapter 15
The Warden sends X-Ray back to camp to take the day off. She orders Zero to dig X-Ray's hole and Stanley to sift through the dirt that Zero digs. She puts two boys on every hole, one to dig and the other to sift. All of the boys are promised a double shower and the day off if they find anything. Stanley wonders how the Warden knew he was called Caveman and Zigzag tells him that the Warden has small hidden cameras and microphones all around the camp. Stanley realizes that this is why X-Ray didn't want to talk about the object at breakfast. Stanley also realizes that the Warden has the boys digging in order to find something. He makes a mental note of the location of the hole that he found the gold tube in.
Chapter 16
Stanley enters the Wreck room and sees that all the boys are exhausted except for X-Ray, who is gloating about his day off. Zigzag complains that it is too loud to watch television and Stanley notices that Zigzag is staring at the broken television screen. The next day the Warden follows the boys to their holes. As Stanley sifts through dirt he tries to think of what the gold tube might have been. The Warden grows tired and orders Mr. Sir to make the boys work faster. After digging the boys retire to the Wreck room where Mr. Pendanski gives Stanley a letter. Armpit and Squid taunt Stanley about having a letter from his mother but X-Ray tells them to leave him alone. After the boys leave for dinner Stanley reads the letter from his mother. She tells him that she is proud of him and that their landlord is threatening to evict them because his father 's experiments with shoes make the whole apartment smell awful. Stanley's mother writes that she feels sorry for the old lady who lived in a shoe because the smell must have been awful. Stanley laughs at this and Zero asks him why he is laughing. Stanley is surprised because he thought everyone had left. He tells Zero what his mother had written but Zero has never heard of the old lady who lived in a shoe. Stanley asks Zero if he has ever watched Sesame Street but Zero simply stares at him. Stanley leaves Zero and heads to dinner.
Analysis
This section shows the ways that groups of people establish and maintain power. X-Ray becomes the group's leader because he has a system of rewards for those who support him. Once Stanley has done X-Ray a favor, X-Ray rewards him by moving him ahead in the water line and coming to his defense when Squid taunts him about receiving a letter from his mother. The Warden also has a system to keep herself in control of the whole group. Like X-Ray's system, she uses punishments and rewards to keep order but unlike X-Ray, she is the officially recognized head of the camp. She increases her power by increasing her vision; like a wich who can see everything through a crystal ball, the Warden's hidden cameras and microphones allow her complete control over the boys. She rewards X- Ray when he claims to have found the gold tube and the other boys, who must continue working without a reward, understand the full effect of being in the Warden's good graces.
The Warden is nicer to all of the boys when she believes that they are working for her and getting her what she wants. As soon as she begins to feel her goals will not be reached, she stops treating the boys well, and it is clear to them that they are no longer in her favor. Just as X-Ray has the power to move Stanley in front of Zero on the water line, so the Warden has power over not just the boys, but also Mr. Pendanski. When Mr. Pendanski threatens her system of absolute control even in a minute way, the Warden retaliates with a threat to lower his rank. She has the power to place him on the level of the campers if she wants, and it seems that this threat keeps him absolutely loyal to her. This even demonstrates that even though Mr. Pendanski seems to be in charge, he is always under the absolute control of the Warden. In addition to finding out more information about the power structure of Camp Green Lake, these chapters provide the reader with more clues to the puzzle of the book. The gold tube that Stanley has found obviously interests the Warden and has some bearing on why all the boys are digging holes in the first place. The gold tube is one more clue and the initials will doubtless provide more information about why the Warden wants the boys digging holes under the hot Texas sun.
Chapters 17–19
Summary
Chapter 17
The boys continue to dig in the spot that the Warden believes contained the gold tube. After a week and a half she grows impatient and when Armpit returns from the bathroom one day she jabs at him with a pitchfork, knocking him into a hole and leaving spots of blood on his shirt. The Warden then tells Mr. Pendanski that he is giving the boys too much water. As they continue to dig Zigzag knocks Stanley in the head with a shovel, cutting a gash near his ear. Mr. Sir makes him a bandage out of a sack of sunflower seeds and tells him to get back to work. Zigzag is not apologetic, in fact, he even makes Stanley dig out the dirt that had been on Stanley's shovel when he was hit.
Chapter 18
The next day the boys begin to dig in another section of the dried up lake. Stanley is stronger now and finishes his holes faster. When he returns to camp he writes a letter to his mother in his tent so that the other boys won't see him. Again, he finds Zero looking over his shoulder. Zero reveals that he doesn't know how to read or write and asks Stanley to teach him. Stanley says that he can't.
Chapter 19
One night Stanley wakes to hear Squid crying. The next morning Stanley asks Squid if he's okay and Squid reacts with anger, threatening to break Stanley's jaw if he opens his mouth again. Stanley doesn't talk to the other boys very much because he is afraid of making them angry. He is glad that there are no racial problems between them; even though Stanley, Squid, and Zigzag are white and X-Ray , Zero and Armpit are black, and Magnet is Hispanic, they are all the same color of dirt while they are digging. One day after Mr. Sir fills their canteens, Magnet steals his bag of sunflower seeds. When Magnet throws the bag to Stanley, the seeds drop into Stanley's hole and spill. Mr. Sir's truck returns and he catches Stanley with the bag of seeds. Stanley is again in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mr. Sir asks Stanley who stole them and Stanley takes the blame. Then Mr. Sir takes Stanley to the Warden.
Analysis
These chapters demonstrate some of the most dramatic changes in Stanley's character. Stanley has toughened physically from digging holes every day. Those that he is surrounded by have forced him to change his character as well. The Warden displays new levels of cruelty in these chapters. Simply because the boys have not dug up what she is looking for she physically harms Armpit. Just as X- Ray's informal system of authority mirrors that of the Warden's, so the cruelty of the boys mirrors that of their counselors. This is demonstrated by the fact that Zigzag seems not to care when he seriously hurts Stanley with his shovel and Mr. Sir barely takes a few minutes to bandage Stanley up. All the cruelty surrounding Stanley effects him and he is mean to Zero even after he finds out that Zero cannot read. Although Stanley was previously surprised when he discovered that Zero had never even heard of Sesame Street, he does not question why this is the case, nor does he wonder why Zero cannot read. Stanley has learned that he must be wary of others and take care of himself, and this sometimes requires being mean to others. A more positive change that Stanley has undergone is a heightened sense of bravery. Even though Stanley did not steal the sunflower seeds he bravely says that he did. There are several motivations that Stanley might have for doing this. He might take the blame simply because he knows the other boys will not admit that they stole the seeds, but it is also possible that he accepts responsibility in order to spare the other boys. Either way, he knows he will face the Warden and although this is a terrifying thought, Stanley remains brave while he faces Mr. Sir.
Chapters 20–24 Summary Chapter 20 Mr. Sir takes Stanley to see the Warden . Mr. Sir explains that someone stole the sunflower seeds but that he doesn't think it was Stanley. The Warden asks Stanley to bring a makeup case over to her. In the case there is, among other things, a lipstick case and a bottle of red nail polish. The Warden explains that the nail polish has rattlesnake venom in it. The polish is harmless when dry but toxic while wet. The Warden then paints the nails on her hands and slaps Mr. Sir across the face. Her wet nail polish makes him write with pain. When Stanley expresses concern for Mr. Sir, the Warden tells him, "He's not going to die…Unfortunately for you." Chapter 21 Stanley returns to his hole and thinks of how his great-grandfather felt after being robbed by Kissin' Kate Barlow and then stranded in the desert. By the time Stanley's great-grandfather was rescued he was insane. He claimed that he had "found refuge on God's thumb." He married a nurse from the hospital after he recovered but he never knew what he meant by "God's thumb". When Stanley reaches his hole he finds that Zero has dug it for him. Chapter 22 Back in the tent, Stanley waits until the other boys have left before thanking Zero for digging his hole. When asked why he helped, Zero says that Stanley didn't steal the sunflower seeds. Stanley points out that Zero didn't steal them either to which Zero responds, "You didn't steal the sneakers." After this, Stanley offers to teach Zero to read and they work out a deal in which Zero will dig Stanley's hole for an hour every day so that Stanley won't be as tired when he teaches Zero. Stanley begins to teach Zero the alphabet and discovers that Zero is very good at math. Zero says he knows everyone thinks he is stupid but that really he just doesn't like answering questions. That night Stanley worried what X-Ray will say when Zero digs for Stanley. Then he thinks of the gold tube he found and realizes it is like something he has seen in the Warden's bathroom; it is half a lipstick container. He wonders if the initials KB could stand for Kate Barlow. Chapter 23 Green Lake is described as it was one hundred and ten years ago: a beautiful body of clear water with peach trees lining the shore. Miss Katherine Barlow was the teacher of the one room schoolhouse and she made wonderful spiced peaches that were preserved to last a year or longer. Charles Walker , or Trout Walker as he was known due to his horrible foot odor, came to classes that Miss Katherine taught. Trout did not come to learn, however. He was from the richest family in town and he wanted to marry Miss Katherine. One day he asked Miss Katherine to go on a ride with him in his new motorized boat. Trout is used to getting his own way so he is shocked and angry when Miss Katherine refuses to go with him. Chapter 24 At Camp Green Lake, Mr. Sir yells at a boy who comments on his face, which is swollen from the Warden's rattlesnake venom. When Mr. Sir drives up to deliver water that day he doesn't give any to Stanley. Analysis When Stanley is caught stealing the sunflower seeds, he thinks that he is again in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in fact, had he not been caught, he would never have realized that the gold tube he found while digging his hole is actually half of a lipstick container. This series of events explores the nature of luck, asking if was Stanley in the wrong place at the wrong time, or in the right place at the right time. If he had not been brought to the Warden's cabin for stealing Mr. Sir's sunflower seeds then he would not have seen the Warden's lipstick container and might never have realized that it looked the same as the gold tube he found. Because Stanley does have this realization, however, he obtains an important clue. He now has more information about what the Warden is looking for as she has the boys dig holes. Although Stanley's great-grandfather thought he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was robbed by Kate Barlow, it is ultimately because of this robbery that he meets his wife, Stanley's great-grandmother. Holes questions the nature of fate