Holes Stanley Character Analysis

“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.” - Max De Pree. Many people go through change in different ways and change is a beautiful thing. In the book Holes, through the influence of Zero’s friendship, Stanley changes from unloyal to loyal. In the beginning of the novel Stanley showed he is unloyal and not a true friend. Stanley shows he doesn’t care about Zero when he says, “He stopped writing as Zero walked into the tent, then returned to his letter. He didn’t care what Zero thought. Zero was nobody.” (Sachar 81) If Stanley really valued Zero he wouldn’t think of him as a nobody. Stanley reveals Zero isn’t a priority as he thinks to himself, “After digging all day, he didn’t have the strength to try to teach Zero to read and write. He needed to
Zero’s kindness for Stanley is shown when, “He went over to his hole and to his surprise it was nearly finished… then he turned to Zero who had been quietly digging in his hole since Stanley’s return.” (Sachar 94) In the blazing heat everyone fends for themselves so it was very generous of Zero to dig the rest of Stanley’s hole. Zero shows that he trusts Stanley when he says, “I’ll dig part of your hole everyday. I can dig for about an hour, and then you can teach me for about an hour. And since I’m a fast digger anyway our holes will get done about the same time.” (Sachar 98) You wouldn’t want someone teaching you to read and write if you didn’t trust their friendship. Zero shows he will stick up for someone or something that he cares for when the narrator said, “ZigZag made a gagging sound, as he desperately tried to pry off Zero’s arm off of him. Zero kept squeezing.” (Sachar 135) Zero was fighting ZigZag for Stanley’s life. Walking into a fight for someone else shows how much the friendship matters to Zero. Zero and Stanley’s friendship is just beginning to grow stronger, and shows what real friends do for one