History Fridge / Holes

* Neither the book nor the film elaborates why Kate spared Stanley Yelnats I. It's established that she killed all the men she robbed and kissed them to boot. There are a lot of possibilities:

** As the son of an immigrant, Stanley Yelntats I may have had to overcome discrimination, which might have reminded Kate of Sam. While she took his loot, she wasn't going to kill another soul.
** After seeing Trout reduced to a pauper, she found it to be better revenge to basically curse him to spend the rest of his miserable existence digging for loot. Perhaps she left Stanley I alive for a very vindictive reason: she saw him as just another rich jerk, and [[FateWorseThanDeath there is no worse fate for a rich person than to be left and poor and destitute]].
** Kate, whether as an outlaw or as a teacher, was always a good judge of character. She knew Sam was a good man and that Trout was trash. The first person she killed, the crooked sheriff who let Sam get lynched, was definitely a horrible man who had it coming. It is likely the people she killed were like the sheriff: corrupt assholes who needed a bullet in the brain. The reason she spares Stanley I is because she senses that he is a good guy. Perhaps she deliberately left him where he could find God's Thumb.

* Something that this troper finally noticed about Kate's "Still want that kiss?" scene. She was a Teacher, and female teachers in her time were required to be single. A scandal like being seen with Sam would definitely have cost her her job. That coupled with the fact that she appears in bright red, with bright red lipstick on (a very provocative thing to wear at that time, bold makeup was generally how one identified prostitutes) and the way she teases the Sheriff when taking off the bonnet. The Sheriff thought the pretty teacher that everyone was after, was desperate for cash after losing her job, and was offering more than just a kiss.

* Stanley and the Warden's lives parallel one another: both of them suffer under a curse brought on them by an ancestor. Both of them live hardscrabble lives. Both of them didn't have the best childhoods. The key difference between them is their upbringing and the choices they made.
** Elya's story somewhat parallels Trout Walker's: both of them had their eye for a local young maiden. But whereas Elya let go of his obsession after seeing they weren't a match for one another, Trout's obsession consumed and drove him to commit a horrible murder that cursed him to poverty.
** Stanley I's story also parallels Trout in another way: both of them were wealthy people who went broke: Walker lost his fortune when the lake dried up, while Stanley I lost his wealth at the hands of Kissing Kate. But while Stanley I moved on from his loss, Walker wasted his life in the desert miserably digging holes.

** Stanley starts out as a timid kid who lets other people push him around, but eventually he toughens up (in the book he goes from fat to thin) and is willing to run into the desert to save his friend. The Warden, like her grandfather, never let go of her obsession and mistreated Stanley and others. Had she been willing to let go, she wouldn't have turned into such a rotten person.

* Considering how easily [[spoiler: the camp employees were willing to let Stanley and Zero die at the hands of some deadly lizards, and came very close to shooting the kids themselves]], how many other kids [[spoiler: have they allowed to die or straight-up murdered]]. Adding to that, Pendanski was able to hack into the state's records and erase Zero's records. Of course, he was only able to do this since Zero didn't have any family members, but how many others kids did they erase from the state's records? It would be a nightmare to have [[AdultFear these adults]] having unsupervised jurisdiction over children.

** While the inmates at Camp Green Lake aren't the worst kids in the world, none of them have grown into upstanding members of society after digging holes for months. They still pull scams on Stanley, like taking his bread and conning him out of a day off.

*** It's not necessarily a curse. They've been through some pretty awful years, but it probably all comes down to one incident (whatever happened to make them homeless). What makes Stanley's family different isn't just hard times (a lot of families have bad things happen to them, after all), it's the sheer number of [[CoincidenceMagnet otherwise unrelated bad things]] that keep happening to them.

* Had it not been for the curse, Elya might have actually married Kate. Elya was looking for a smart, intelligent woman to marry. Kate wanted a smart, resourceful, and intelligent guy as her significant other, and Elya seemed to meet that criterion. Of course, this love story could've also ended horribly: Trout was just an obsessive jerk, and probably would've killed ''anyone'' who fancied Kate. Heck, he might've resented Elya for being an immigrant from a foreign land, which wasn't that uncommon of a prejudice in the early 20th century.

* Myra being unable to choose between Elya and Igor may not necessarily just be due to her being dimwitted, but her being raised in a society where women don't have the luxury of choosing who to marry so when presented with such an opportunity she doesn't even know how to comprehend such a choice.

** Stanley starts out as a timid kid who lets other people push him around, but eventually he toughens up (in the book he goes from fat to thin) and is willing to run into the desert to save his friend. The Warden, like her granddaughter, never let go of her obsession and mistreated Stanley and others. Had she been willing to let go, she wouldn't have turned into such a rotten person.

** The juveniles at Camp Green Lake aren't there for crimes that are ''that'' serious: Stanley was convicted of stealing a pair of shoes while another let animals out of the zoo. These crimes warrant some kind of punishment. But wasting away in the desert is a bit excessive.

** The Girl Scouts are an organization that empowers girls and instills in them things like civic pride, independence, and the outdoors. Trout was a misogynist [[EntitledToHaveYou who treated Kate very possessively]], even burning down her school when she kissed a black man over him. Kate's ghost would probably be thrilled to see her former foe's land turned into an organization that empowers young girls.

* The Warden did grow up to become her grandfather in a lot of ways: Trout was a rich asshole who enjoyed luxury, looked down on others, and hurt people to get what he wanted. While the Warden isn't ''fabulously'' wealthy, her life is still pretty cushy and comfortable, compared to the other campers. She basically behaves like a cruel slave owner, mistreating the children under her care while enjoying luxury, not too dissimilar to how her grandfather treated her.

** Considering Linda's age, how ''old'' was she when Trout got engaged? Since Trout wouldn't marry Kate, did he decide to groom one of her students out of some twisted kind of spite?
** Why would one of Kate's former students be so willing to hold her favorite teacher at gunpoint. Considering the racism of the time, it is sad to think that Linda also turned on her teacher for the [[SarcasmMode horrible act of kissing a black man]]. Like the adults, Linda was consumed by the town's poisonous racism.
** Linda was described as a good student, so why would she stoop so low as to marry Trout? Considering how a mob burned the school down, it is likely another school never opened up. Linda Miller never got the education that would allow her to become independent. For a misogynistic asshole like Walker, that suited him just fine.

** Why would one of Kate's former students be so willing to hold her favorite teacher at gunpoint. Considering the racism of the time, it is sad to think that Linda also turned on her teacher for the [[SarcasmMode horrible act of kissing a black man]]. Like all of the town, Linda was consumed by the town's poisonous racism.

* While Madame Zeroni cursing Elya may have been harsh, it is understandable why she would be so angry: in the book especially, she is described as too infirm to be able to walk about the mountain herself and get water. And it is implied Elya is the only person in the village who treated her with respect, so him ditching her would leave her in a pretty horrible position to say the least.

** After seeing Trout reduced to a pauper, she found it to be better revenge to basically curse him to spend the rest of his miserable existence digging for loot. Perhaps this is why she left Yelnats alive: she saw him as just another rich jerk, and there is no worse fate for a rich person than to be left and poor and destitute.

** Adding on to this, the book doesn't go into much detail about the situation, but the movie confirms that Zero's mom was looking for him too. Given that theft sentences aren't usually all that long, it's entirely possible that she was released well before Zero went to Camp Green Lake, but it had been long enough that he was no longer staying where she left him, so she didn't know how to find him.

* Neither the book nor the film elaborates why Kate spared Stanley Yelnats I. It's established that she killed all the men she robbed and kissed them to boot. Then we remember something: all of the Yelnats are cursed, and Stanley I was Elya's only son. If he were fatally shot, the curse wouldn't pass onto the rest of the Yelnats.
* Kate might have had a reason for sparing Stanley Yelnats I. As the son of an immigrant, he may have had to overcome discrimination, which might have reminded Kate of Sam.

* Looks like Sam's numerous claims about his onions aren't so ridiculous after all. Onion are full of antioxidants and have been shown to help digestion, boost immunity and, yes, even help with hair growth.

** It'd also explain why she'd intentionally abandon Zero too. It's very difficult for a parent who's done time to regain custody of their child back from the state, and near impossible if they're unable adequate food and shelter. It's either leaving your child to look after themselves until you're out or losing them in the foster system where you wouldn't see them until they aged out.

** It'd also explain why she'd intentionally abandon Zero too. It's very difficult for a parent with a criminal record and one who's unable to provide decent food and shelter to regain custody of their child.