Stanley Yelnats
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| Holes character | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Stanley Yelnats IV | |
| Camp Green Lake nickname |
"Caveman" |
| Family | Yelnats family |
| Relatives | Father Stanley Yelnats III, Mother (unnamed), Grandfather Stanley Yelnats II,Great-Grandfather Stanley Yelnats I, Great-great-grandfather Elya Yelnats, Great-great-grandmother Sarah Miller, great-grandmother (unnamed). |
| Portrayed by | Shia LaBeouf |
Stanley Elya "Caveman" Yelnats IV is a character in the novel Holes. One of the gags in the novel is that his name is a palindrome (i.e. Yelnats is "Stanley" spelled backwards).
Stanley always thought he was at the wrong place at the wrong time because his family was afflicted with an old Gypsy curse, because his great-great-grandfather, who lived in Latvia, failed to carry a crippled Gypsy women up a mountain in exchange for the pig she had given him.
[edit] Plot
Stanley unknowingly took sneakers that were donated by a celebrity (Clyde Livingston) to be auctioned for charity. Stanley didn't intentionally "steal" it. When he was walking home (he missed his bus) a pair of shoes hit him in the head. Believing it was some kind of a "sign" he snagged it and ran home, questioning his own actions. However, a patrol car intersected him and saw the shoes. Stanley was arrested that day, still unaware the shoes belonged to Clyde Livingston. (We later learn that Clyde is his hero, with a poster of him hanging in his room)
Stanley is ordered to appear in court to defend himself by the plantiff, Clyde himself. Stanley does not have a lawyer and his mother tells him to just tell the truth. Stanley says to the judge that it fell from the "sky" and he thought it was some kind of sign. The judge doesn't believe the story (despite Stanley being innocent) and gives him the choice to either go to a prison camp, known as Camp Green Lake or federal jail.
When he does arrive at Camp Green Lake, it is not a camp at all, there is no lake, the punishment for being there is to dig holes until his time is finished (five feet tall, five feet wide) to "build character". Amongst the the juvenile delinquents there are no females. He meets his first counselor, Mr. Sir, an arrogant man who constantly uses "Girl Scouts" in his sentences. He is assigned to a "D" tent out of A, B, C, D, E, and F. His delinquents are Armpit, X-Ray, Zigzag, Magnet and Zero. All of them have nicknames and eventually Stanley adopts one of his own (Caveman).
Stanley, as he promised to his mother, writes to her once a week and does not tell her he is in a prison camp so as not to worry her. While he does this, he eventually befriends Zero, who is intelligent, but has not learned the skills to read and write. When he digs his fifth hole, he finds a fossil stone of a fish exo-skeleton. A few days ago, Mr. Pendanski said if the Warden likes what he found, he could get the day off. Pendanski does not accept the fossil. X-Ray approaches Stanley that if he finds anything, it should belong to him, as he's been in Camp Green Lake for a year.
A few days later, Stanley finds a gold tube, which is actually Katherine Barlow's lipstick container. When he gives this to X-Ray and when X-Ray gives it to Pendanski, he calls the Warden over and she makes all of them dig at where X-Ray "found" the lipstick container. It fails however, and Stanley realizes they are actually here to look for something and they are digging at the wrong place. During an event where Mr. Sir is providing water for the delinquents, Magnet is able to snatch Mr. Sir's pack of sunflower seeds and passes them to the other members. When the bag is thrown to Stanley, he catches it but drops many sunflower seeds from the bag. Mr. Sir is driving back to question the members, and Stanley, mirroring on how he got to Camp Green Lake was "at the wrong place at the wrong time" Mr. Sir accuses Stanley of covering for a friend stealing the bag, and takes him to the Warden.
After he is done with the Warden, he returns to dig his hole, but it is nearly finished. He finds out Zero dug most of it out for him, and questions why he did it. Zero said "he didn't steal the sneakers" revealing briefly that Zero actually stole it. In return, Stanley offers Zero a chance to read and write. Zero quickly learns how to write and read the alphabet, and Zero in return says he will dig Stanley's hole and his own that way Stanley can save his energy to become a better teacher. This angers the other members, however, giving him comments like "It must be nice to have your own personal slave." "Hey Stanley, maybe you should buy a whip. That way you can crack it across his back." (Mirroring the fact that Stanley is Caucassian and Zero is African. See slavery) After an amount of days, a riot erupts with Zigzag and Stanley, where Zigzag and Stanley fight. Zero counters back by choking Zigzag and Armpit breaks it up by charging it into them. Mr. Pendanski witnesses this and fires his gun to stop. The Warden finds out that Zero has been digging Stanley's hole for an education and no longer allows it. The Warden tests Zero's knowledge of spelling and pronunciation. He gets words right like "Fat" "Cat" but fails to pronounce "Hat" where he says "Chat" instead. (When the letter h is put into a word except in the beginning letter, it makes the "Ch" sound, which Zero says) After striking Mr. Pendanski with a shovel (who has been taunting and harassing him ever since he came here) Zero runs away. Stanley realizes his friend will soon die in the desert without help. A few days later, Stanley escapes in search of Zero. He finds Zero hiding under a boat, eating a stew of fermented spiced peaches, which he calls Sploosh (the boat belonged to Sam the onion man, and the sploosh was Katherine Barlows' special spiced peaches); but Zero does not want to return to the camp. Instead, they decide to climb to the peak, to God's thumb. Zero is taken ill, however, and Stanley must carry him up. Stanley quietly sings the pig song as they climb. Eventually, the boys discover a natural water hole and a large bed of wild onions. They survive on the onions and water for about a week and a half (this was Sam the onion man's secret onion field).
During this time, Zero reveals that he stole Clyde Livingston's shoes, and it is his fault Stanley got sent to Camp Green Lake. When the commotion over their loss started, Zero abandoned the shoes. Zero later tried to steal another pair (from a Payless) and was caught and sentenced to the work camp.
Stanley, on a hunch that fate is on their side, decides to return to Camp Green Lake. They dig in the spot where Stanley found the tube and finally unearth a suitcase. However, the Warden, Mr. Sir, and Mr. Pendanski discover them. They cannot escape the hole as the venomous yellow-spotted lizards suddenly crawl all over Stanley and Zero, but the lizards strangely do not harm the fugitives at all. It is later revealed that Sam used to peddle an onion juice that can repel yellow-spotted lizards, since they "don't eat people with a stomach full of onions".
The next morning, a woman hired as Stanley's lawyer arrives at the camp, with an order for his release. She had come earlier to show that new evidence has been found that exonerates Stanley during the pair's absence. With that revelation, Stanley and Zero escape from the hole, while the lizards ignore them. The Warden then claims that the suitcase Stanley and Zero found is hers and that Stanley stole it. She is speechless when Zero points out that the suitcase bears the name "Stanley Yelnats" and, therefore, belongs to Stanley. Furthermore, Stanley's lawyer learns that there is no record of Zero being an official prisoner (as his records were destroyed). As the lawyer and her new charges leave, a rainstorm arrives and rain falls in the lake for the first time in over a century: the drought is over. Camp Green Lake is sold to the Girl Scouts.
Stanley's lawyer explains that Stanley's father at last succeeded in a breakthrough, finding a cure for foot odor. Stanley's father hired her and began an investigation into Stanley's situation. The foot odor cure was found the day after Stanley carried Zero up the mountain. The implication is that Stanley broke the curse by carrying Zero (Madame Zeroni's descendant) up the mountain and singing the song.
During the confrontation with the Green Lake officials, the lawyer addresses the Warden as "Miss Walker", suggesting that she is a descendant of "Trout" Walker. By now, the reader is shown that the three families (Yelnats, Walker, and Zeroni) are apparently finishing what their ancestors began. The Walkers' search has finally ended, and Stanley I's treasure was finally returned to its rightful family.
The suitcase that had been found contains the belongings of Stanley Yelnats I, almost two million dollars in stock and jewels. Stanley and his family share the money with Zero, and they each become somewhat wealthy. However they also make a lot of money from the foot odor cure, Sploosh (which smells like spiced peaches), that Stanley's father invented. Zero is reunited with his mother, who has developed her own version of the pig lullaby.
[edit] Ambiguity
As there were other people named "Stanley Yelnats", including his father and grandfather, they all stood up in the courtroom even though only the Stanley on trial was instructed to stand up.
