HOLES: White-board Notes from Conference Call

• Your choices DO make a difference to your descendents
• digging holes builds charachter
• the setting is bleak
• liked how it all tied together
• zero = nothing OR 0 holds a place of value mathematically
• children of Israel  / Stanley is a Christ archetype (thorn in palm)
• generations cursed for sins of the fathers
• Stanley = everyman (no outstanding qualities)
• how self-confidence is gained
• watershesd moments (learned could do hard things
• cultural literacy (Zero had no "hook" for "Old Woman in the Shoe")
• parallels:  Elya & Stanley were strengthened dailey doing small insignificant tasks which produced small incremental changes in them / climbed out / river ran uphill / went up God's thumb (giving thumbs up)
• realizes he likes himself
• tunes out trouble by thinking of mother (the family is of value -- the parents a comfort)
• the whole story brought you to the point of Stanley carrying Zero up the mountain
• journey he had to make--glad for events that happened rather than cursing them
• once at this point he gets inspiration to make a plan
• the whole message of getting the strength by doing something every day
• allegory / analogy / metaphore -- blessing family forward ;& backward in time
• even with the hard luck they are philosophical, have a lot of love, a strong family -- they are good people / gonna do good things with this
• you have to figure this out as your'ed reading along
• good children's literature teaches without being preachy
• decision about the direction they're going (when retracing their steps back)-- Stanley said go one way, Zero said go the other.  The wrong decision would lead to death.  Yet Stanley trusted someone smaller and less educated than he was. 
• I like that the inspiration was the "Thumb of God".  Usually Stanley couldn't see anything in the distance.  He would get little tiny glimpses.
• In the middle of the day we are caught up with our lives.  We are more likely to be reflective in the morning or the evening.  At these moments we can orient ourselves as to our direction.  (prayer, meditation)
• We must prepare ourselves and do the work ourselves.  We must "carry the gypsy up the hill".  (As Christ carried his cross up the hill).
• It was about sacrificing to save this one person.
• theological feature: "I found refuge on God's thumb" (or in God's hand).
• a goal is something to reach

Natasha's summary and notes transcription:

Synopsis: This is a multigenerational allegory of two families, climaxing in the multigenerational setting of God's Thumb.


A family's tradition of good (unity) and ill (blame and complain) gets passed along with the family name from father to son. All the family's bad luck gets blamed on the great-grandfather who failed to keep his promise to carry a gypsy up a mountain. His son's bad luck was to be robbed by Kissin' Kate Barlow, so he was left to survive by seeking refuge on God's Thumb.
Two generations later, Stanley Yelnats finds himself digging holes (to improve his character) at a camp for juvenile delinquents (thanks to the family's perpetual bad luck) near God's Thumb. He befriends Zero, a fellow camp resident, who runs away from his horrible mistreatment at camp. Stanley tracks him down and rescues him by carrying him up the mountain to seek refuge on God's Thumb. They return to camp and find the treasure the camp owner's family has been searching for for generations (the real purpose for digging the holes). It turns out the treasure found was the case belonging to Stanley's ancestor for whom he was named. So Stanley's family got the treasure.

What is more, the friend turned out to be the gypsy's descendent, so when Stanley carried him up the hill, he broke the family curse. His dad made a breakthrough discovery. And Stanley became confident and learned to like himself.
The history of family and place is woven artfully into the present day story. We learn, although Stanley doesn't, why the deadly poisonous lizards don't bite Zero or him: they've been eating onions with an amazing preventative healing quality—originally grown by Kissin' Kate Barlow's dear friend, Sam, who could fix any trouble.
Discussion insights
Vivian: Stanley Yelnats and the story are both palindromes.
Tara: Your choices make a difference to your children.

Your descendents face the consequences of your choices.
Natasha: Zero is not equal to nothing, but rather it holds a place of value (mathematically and allegorically)
Holes is about a place carried forward through history and a family carried forward through history. It is allegorical to the Children of Israel whose story is also about a place and family carried forward through history. And the children are cursed for the sins of their fathers. In the end the Christ archetype (Stanley who carries his burden up a hill and gets a thorn in his palm) heals both his family and his friend's family.
There is a reference to the importance of cultural literacy when Zero can't relate to a common reference (the Old Woman who lived in a shoe) due to his lack of education.
Stanley is "every man" because he has no outstanding qualities and anyone can relate to him and his struggles.
Tara: Through his struggles, Stanley is transformed and gains confidence.
Dawna: The last night Stanley is up in the mountain, he's so happy for no apparent reason. He reviews his life and realizes that this is the first time he really likes himself.
He tunes out his troubles by picturing himself with his family. He keeps thinking about his family the whole time. There is a strong sense of family connectedness.
In the end, he was grateful for all the trials that brought him to the point he met his destiny—to carry his friend up the mountain.
Gwen: the whole story is to bring you to the point of his trial—to carry Zero up the mountain.
Velinda: The gypsy's lesson of carrying the pig up the hill to grow stronger every day, digging holes to grow a little stronger every day, and Sachar writing the book a page and a half every day all illustrate how we can manage little daily steps that, over time, amount to big things happening in our lives.
Strong families also carry us through our difficulties.
Reiterate Tara's comment that we can bless our families forward and backward in time by our actions today.
Gwen: Holes is an intriguing mystery. Good literature teaches life stories without being preachy. It teaches through adventures.
Dawna: Stanley trusted Zero to lead him in the right direction back to camp, even though Zero had far less education. Zero was intuitively good at math.
Vivian: The big journeys—the ones that really count—have to be done by the person facing the mountain. It can't be done for them.

Gwen: Likes that the "Thumb of God" was the inspiration that guided and directed Stanley's life.
Velinda: Stanley got only occasional glimpses of God's Thumb at the beginning and end of the day because he couldn't see through the haze during the day.
Gwen: In life, we are more reflective at the start and end of the day because we are busily occupied with our daily business throughout the rest of the day.
Sachar was inspired in writing this book. His other books don't have near the depth of this one.
Vivian: Olivia says his book is applicable.
Gwen: It is an allegory of Christ carrying His cross up the hill
Dawna: Big Thumb, God's Thumb, Thumb of God are all different titles for the symbolical God of this book, just as we have many different titles for God in life.