Holes — Chapter 17

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 17 in your own words, attending to its compressed anatomy of institutional coercion: the failure of the Warden's original plan, the displacement of her frustration onto the boys through pitchfork violence and water deprivation, the architectural merging of three holes into one, Zigzag's internalization of arbitrary authority, Mr. Sir's improvised medical neglect, and Stanley's closing compliance with a rule that has no rational ground.

Discussion Questions

1. Chapter 17 stages what might be called a 'management crisis' — the Warden's labor scheme is producing nothing, and her response is not to revise the scheme but to intensify its application to the workforce. Consider this as a case study in how institutions respond to their own failures. What does Sachar's rendering suggest about the relationship between an institution's commitment to a theory and its willingness to harm those it governs when the theory underperforms?
2. The passage from 'pairs with wheelbarrows' in the previous chapter to 'one big hole with seven boys' in this one is accomplished without adult command — the boys themselves widen each hole until the walls give way. Consider this transition in the terms Foucault uses for modern power: not imposed from above but distributed through the self-organization of the governed. What does it mean, morally and politically, that the camp's most efficient instrument of control in this chapter was built by the boys and not by the Warden?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide