What role does destiny play in the book “Holes” by Louis Sachar

Have you ever thought about the power of destiny that determines the events in your life? “Holes” by Louis Sachar is a story of Stanley Yelnats, who happened to be under a curse that was caused by his great-great-grandfather. As the story unfolds, we learn that the curse leads to a series of events that are all predestined.

Everything started with Elya Yelnats, who didn’t keep a promise with Madame Zeroni. Stanley was innocent of the crime for which he was convicted but because of the curse, he was sent to Camp Green Lake for punishment. “He’s just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Secondly, the curse didn’t only affect Stanley, but his entire family. Stanley’s great-grandfather couldn’t escape from it as well. “He lost his entire fortune when he was moving from New York to California. His stage coach was robbed by the outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow” However, it doesn’t seem that bad since Stanley then was meant to find Kissin’ Kate Barlow’s lipstick that she left a hundred years ago. “He pulled it out, it was a gold tube, about as long and as wide as the second finger on his right hand.” No one else could ever find anything.

On the other hand, destiny seems to be standing on Stanley’s side. The spiced peaches were said to be food for the angels and they were made by Kate Barlow. During their escape, these jars of peaches were found edible after a hundred years later as if they’ve been waiting to be discovered by Stanley all along. Meanwhile, Stanley thought he’d die out there without any food but Sam’s onions helped him to survive. “He wiped the dirt off of it and realized it was an onion.” Onions were said to be nature’s magic vegetable which symbolize a positive and healing factor. Last but not least Stanley’s great-grandfather’s survival worked the same way as Stanley’s survival; they both found water on God’s thumb. As his great-grandfather said, “I found refuge on God’s thumb.”

The best part is in the end, we notice that how Zero and Stanley were sent to Camp Green Lake wasn’t just coincidence. Zero happened to be dropping the shoes which fell onto Stanley’s head. “If Zero had just kept those shoes, then neither of them would be here right now.” Another interesting fact was that the suitcase they found, there was Stanley’s name carved on it. “There, in big black letters, was STANLEY YELNATS.” In the end, the author fills in some of the holes in the plot. The promise between Elya Yelnats and Madame Zeroni, which had brought bad luck to Stanley’s family for more than a hundred years, was fulfilled by Stanley carrying Zero up to God’s thumb and singing him the song. “Stanley’s father invented his cure for foot odor the day after the great-great-grandson of Elya Yelnats carried the great-great-great-grandson of Madame Zeroni up the mountain.” Therefore, Stanley’s family no long needs to worry about bad luck.

So it all started with the curse that leads to a series of predestined events. Destiny explains that a small action can be the trigger event which enables Stanley to break the curse, perhaps everything has been included in destiny that only God knows our next step which is beyond our capacity to predict or to even understand. After all, sometimes we just have to believe in fate.