Holes — Chapter 36

About This Passage

Sachar stages Zero's collapse as a tiny piece of physics. The shovel outlives its owner's grip by 'a fraction of a second,' balanced on the tip of its own blade — and then falls. The short sentence 'Zero's last hole' arrives with no comment. The whole scene is composed like a photograph: a body down, a tool falling, a boy listening. The shovel, which has been the instrument of cruelty for the entire book, is here on the verge of becoming a grave-digger.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 36 in your own words. What do Stanley and Zero take with them when they leave the Mary Lou? What does Zero mean when he says, 'the only way you can go is up'? What happens during Zero's attacks of sickness, and what does Stanley do to distract him? What existential thoughts move through Stanley's mind about his parents? How do the boys climb the cliff together — and what does Zero risk with his hands?

Discussion Questions

1. Zero's aphorism 'When you spend your whole life living in a hole, the only way you can go is up' is funny on the surface and devastating underneath. What does Zero mean by 'hole' in the widest possible sense, and why does Sachar reserve this line for Zero rather than for Stanley?
2. Sachar writes that Stanley's canteen is 'empty-empty-empty' rather than using a single stronger word. What does this stylistic choice do to the reader's experience of thirst, and what does it say about how the novel thinks of suffering?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide