Names and Naming in Young Adult Literature - Scarecrow Press

Names for Fun 13
from the spring. This is the beginning of the family curse that plagues
the Yelnats family, through Elya’s son, who takes the more “American”
sounding first name of Stanley, and on through his son and his son,
ending up with the Stanley Yelnats who is the protagonist of Holes.
Readers meet the youngest Stanley Yelnats as he is being checked into
Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention center in the middle of a Texas
desert.
The story is filled with ironies, starting with the name of Camp
Green Lake. The lake has been dry so long that it is now part of a barren
desert and has the shape of a frying pan. It is filled with holes because
every day each boy in the camp must dig a hole as deep and as
wide as his shovel. The boys are told they are digging the holes to build
character, but they suspect something more because they are instructed
to bring anything unusual that they find to their leaders.
One of the ways the boys take out their resentment is by refusing to
address the leaders by their real names. The less awful of the two male
counselors (or guards) is Mr. Pendanski, who explains that all the boys
need to remember his name is Pen, Dance, and Key. Instead, they call
him Mom. They are only borderline disrespectful to the other guard
who wants to be addressed as Sir. In feigned innocence they call him
Mr. Sir.
They seldom interact with Warden Walker and are so terrified of her
that they would not think of giving her a nickname. However, Sachar
uses her family name to tie her to Trout Walker, the bully of the original
town of Green Lake, who in the late 1800s burns Kate Barlow’s
school and kills her African American boyfriend, Onion Sam, as well
as his donkey, Mary Lou. He also sinks Onion Sam’s boat, which was
named after Mary Lou, the donkey. The sheriff refuses to help because
Kate Barlow will not kiss him, and so, three days after the mayhem,
Kate Barlow walks into the sheriff’s office and shoots him dead. Then,
she applies a fresh coat of red lipstick and gives him the kiss he was asking
for. Since that fateful day, not a drop of water has fallen on Camp
Green Lake.
This event is the beginning of her twenty-year rampage as Kissin’
Kate, who robs stagecoaches as they cross the Texas desert. When she
retires and comes back to live at Green Lake, she has been there only
three months when she is awakened by someone breaking into her