Holes by Louis Sachar

* Describe and explain an important relationship in the text

Holes by Louis Sachar is a novel about a boy called Stanley Yelnats who is convicted of a crime he did not commit and so he is sent to Camp Green Lake. An important relationship in the text is between Katherine Barlow and Sam the onion man. This relationship is important because it linked the three different parts of the story together.

An important relationship in the text is between Katherine Barlow and Sam. Katherine and Sam were good friends. When Katherine asked Sam to help fix the schoolhouse in exchange for six jars of spiced peaches. They spent many hours talking and Katherine "Enjoyed what little conversation they were able to have shouting up and down at each other". Eventually they began to love each other. "She ran to him, she wanted to throw her arms around his neck". "He took hold of both of her hands and kissed her". The relationship between Sam and Katherine helped me understand that true love cannot be stopped by any number of laws and restrictions and that true love will take it's cause no matter what. True love can also have tragic consequences like Sam's death.

This relationship is important in the text because what happened to Katherine and Sam linked the other parts of the story together. Katherine turned into the "most feared outlaw in all the Wild West" due to the injustice to her and Sam. Kissin Kate Barlow then robbed Stanley's great great grandfather. "Stanley's stagecoach was robbed by the famous outlaw Kissin Kate Barlow". Somehow Stanley's great great grandfather survived for seventeen days in the Desert, when he was asked he said "I found refuge on God's thumb", at the time everyone thought he was mad however this is what saved Zero and Stanley when they escaped from Camp Green Lake. When the current Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake where the boys digging holes were oblivious that they were digging for Kissin Kate Barlow's hidden treasure that actually legally belongs to Stanley's family. This relationship helped me understand why Katherine Barlow turned into an outlaw and how all the different parts of the story where linked. The relationship also helped me understand where all the important events took place for example when Stanley's great great grandfather is robbed in the desert and took refuge on God's thumb you can then understand when the current Stanley runs away from Camp Green Lake that they were both looking at the same 'God's thumb'.

Ultimately the relationship between Katherine Barlow and Sam the onion man helps to link the three main time eras together and to help the reader understand how and why all the different parts of the story are connected.

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