How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
These are the facts:
The Walker boat smashed into Sam's boat. Sam was shot and killed in the water. Katherine Barlow was rescued against her wishes. When they returned to the shore, she saw Mary Lou's body lying on the ground. The donkey had been shot in the head.
That all happened one hundred and ten years ago. Since then, not one drop of rain has fallen on Green Lake.
You make the decision: Whom did God punish? (26.41-44)
This is one of the few places in the book where the narrator addresses the reader in second-person voice (calling the reader "you"), and the only place where he directly asks the reader a question. Why do you think he does this? What is so important about this particular moment?
Quote #8
"So you couldn't have stolen [the sneakers]," said Ms. Morengo [to Stanley].
"He didn't. I did," said Zero.
"You did what?" asked Ms. Morengo.
"I stole the sneakers."
The lawyer actually turned around while driving and looked at him. "I didn't hear that," she said. "And I advise you to make sure I don't hear it again." (49.21-25)
This is a pretty funny adult moment. And of course, readers will mainly feel relief that Zero won't be punished for stealing Clyde Livingston's shoes. But does it tell us anything about how justice works? Is justice just a matter of being in the right place at the right time?
Quote #9
A short while later both boys fell asleep. Behind them the sky had turned dark, and for the first time in over a hundred years, a drop of rain fell into the empty lake. (49.33)
In all of Holes, the natural world seems to respond pretty directly to the justice (or lack thereof) in human society. Can you find other examples?