"A cursed life,"" is what Stanley believes his existence is in Louis Sachar's novel Holes. In this book, a young man with adverse living situations undergoes events that change his perspective on what he once believed was a hard life. Stanley lives in an urban city, and goes to a city school at which both his teachers and classmates have little respect for him. The novel's plot takes shape from the incident when Stanley is falsely accused of having stolen valuable sneakers, and is sent to a youth detention camp. At this camp, he is ordered to dig a hole 4' by 4' in a hard rough gully each day. While there, he meets hoodlums that show him that the life he calls "cursed,"" is not a hard life at all. He tries, and ultimately succeeds in escaping this hellish existence. Sachar uses stylized diction, a suspenseful conflict and a purging climax to allow the reader to vividly understand Stanley's experiences, and his reason for believing that the life he lives is "a cursed life."" .
When representing the omniscient narrator in the novel Holes, Louis Sachar's diction is mature. When representing dialogue however, Sachar personalizes, and makes the conversations realistic by using slang words. Throughout the novel, Sachar makes abundant use of contractions, slang words, and primitive syntax. Stanley primarily speaks in slang, and while at the camp, is surrounded by vulgar detainees who use foul language, and spit constantly. Sachar creates the character Zero to epitomize all attributes possessed by detainees at the detention camp: he is illiterate, speaks using contractions like "ain't- and "don't,"" and has a history of crime. The Warden, like the detainees she governs, speaks using inarticulate language that is affirmative, yet ineloquent. Through Sachar's talented manipulation of words, she creates a lasting and intimidating first impression of the Warden. The author employs dominating diction to where the Warden possesses both a verbal and physical power over the detainees and the camp's personnel.
