Holes

Life is perplexing and unpredictable. Therefore, one could never foresee the approaching events, nor could one perceive the reasons why.

Stanley Yelnats, a boy who was passed on with the family curse, was unjustly sentenced to Camp Green Lake as a punishment. Juveniles there were demanded to dig holes exactly five feet deep and five feet wide under the scorching hot weather with the slightest amount of water. The supervisor claimed that it could help them build character. In the beginning, Stanley considered the sentence another result of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather’s curse, yet in the end, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Not only did he break the curse of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, but he became stronger and more self-confident, and eventually was able to embrace himself.

Every event happened for some reason, and each of them connected with each other tightly. It was marveling to see how the author unraveled all the confusing mysteries and cascaded every fragment into a complete story. For instance, if Stanley hadn’t experienced the devastating treatment at Camp Green Lake, he would have never been able to walk out of his comfort zone and overcome the hardships he encountered later on. If Stanley hadn’t gone through the rough days up in the mountains by merely eating onions, he would have died under the teeth of the poisonous lizards. If Stanley hadn’t been sent to Camp Green Lake by erroneous judgment, the curse that had lasted for generations in his family would have never been lifted.

Destiny, which seems to trip us with all kinds of challenges, also plays the role that leads us to molt and grow. Steve Jobs once demonstrated that every single thing happening in our lives is just like a dot, which may seem to be pointless or even hilarious at present, but after a few years when you look back and have all the dots connected, the mysterious pattern hidden for years would suddenly unveil. It is only after one has gone through the ups and downs of life that one can finally realize the brilliance of destiny. Though we can’t control everything at present, we must have strong faith that one day all the dots would connect, and eventually portray a splendid painting.

In this story, another character that impressed me a lot was Stanley’s friend, Zero. He was believed a retarded child, and his brain was considered as empty as a flower pot. However, it turned out that he was just unwilling to answer the questions that made him uncomfortable, and was actually a child of great intelligence and strong will. Both of these qualities helped him survive the days in the mountains as a fugitive.

As the old saying goes, “Still waters run deep.” With the misleading masks of appearances, humans are often blinded by their own preconceptions. However, if these blinders are never removed from one’s eyes, how can the truth and beauties of the world ever be seen? If a stone has never been cut open to see, how could the beautiful jade inside ever be found? If everyone just sneers at the clumsy look of a sparrow, who would be there to perceive the splendor of the phoenix? The exterior deceives, causing the seeing to see little. We must keep it in mind not to judge a book by its cover. And when we are ready to open our hearts, that is the moment when we will truly see.

“Holes” is not so much a cheerful book, yet in the book, one can witness the transformation of a dull boy that once resented himself, into a boy that is able to take his own burdens. It is a book of a boy’s growth, mingled with the surprises of life and laced with the indispensable element, adventure.