The Idea of Justice in Holes by Louis Sachar

‘Holes’ is a novel written by Louis Sachar which focuses on the story of Stanley Yelnats and the side-plots of Kate Barlow and Madam Zeroni. The main story, as well as the side-plots, show a strong theme of justice and injustice. This essay will explore how the idea of justice is represented in this novel.

The first type of justice represented in ‘Holes’ is social justice and injustice. Social justice is equality for all people, therefore social injustice is the opposite. When the Sherriff said “It’s against the law for a Negro to kiss a white woman”. About Sam being black colloquial language was used when ‘negro’ was said. This shows social injustice since this word is socially unacceptable and very racist nowadays, but back then it was everyday slang. The townsfolk often refer to Sam as “the onion picker,” this represents social injustice in that the townsfolk know him as nothing more than an onion picker, not even a person, and through repetition, Sachar made that clear. “We are all equal under the eyes of God” is dialogue said by Kate Barlow to the Sheriff and shows social justice as she is standing up for a minority in a very discriminative time. Sachar represented social injustice in ‘Holes’ through the side-plot of Sam and Kate.

Justice is represented a second time in ‘Holes’ through moral injustice every time that Zero is bullied or viewed as worthless. Moral Injustice is based on a belief system rather than legal punishment. When Mr Pendanski says “Zero’s too stupid to learn how to read”. Repetition is used as Zero was called stupid many times before and afterwards, this technique is used to make Zero seem incredibly dumb. When he says “‘you know why his name is Zero?...because there’s nothing inside his head’” Mr Pendanski uses a metaphor to compare Zero’s name to the concept of nothing, implying that Zero isn’t smart. This is immoral as Zero is continuously targeted for being 'stupid' when he hadn't ever gotten the chance at a good education. “It was air-conditioned in her cabin” is some of the narration in ‘Holes’ that refers to the Warden’s cabin. This represents moral injustice as the inmates at Camp Greenlake are exposed to the sun all day while working and then are deprived of air-conditioning when they return to their cabins whereas the Warden does nothing all day except sit in her cool cabin.

The final type of justice represented in ‘Holes’ is cosmic justice. Cosmic justice is the idea that everyone is punished by a higher power for everything bad that they do, kind of like karma. “Madame Zeroni warned that if he failed to do this, he and his descendants would be doomed for all of eternity.” Is narration that shows cosmic justice in that Madame Zeroni warned Elya that she would place a curse on his family if he didn’t uphold his end of the deal. Elya ultimately ends up forgetting about his promise to Madame Zeroni and the curse lives on, causing Elya to be known as Stanley’s “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather”. This is dialogue that shows cosmic justice because, in the end, Elya became known for stealing a pig and placing the curse on his family and nothing more. Following the murder of Sam the onion man “not one drop of rain has fallen on Camp Greenlake” this is narration that shows cosmic justice as the next sentence says “whom did God punish?” which clearly establishes that a higher power was in control of punishment and decided to punish Greenlake for hurting people in His name. Therefore, justice is represented in its cosmic form in the novel ‘Holes’.

Social justice, moral justice and cosmic justice are all forms of justice represented in ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. They are shown through the main plot that follows Stanley Yelnats’ time at Camp Greenlake as well as the side-plots of Kate Barlow and Madam Zeroni.