Setting

Camp Green Lake

The fictional Camp Green Lake is the main setting of the novel Holes by Louis Sachar. The name "Green Lake" is extremely misleading. There has not been a lake there for over a hundred years and everything in the surrounding area is "just a dry, flat wasteland" (Part 1, 0%). With over 35 degrees in the summer months, without a natural source of water, and with the ground dry as dust, the conditions are more than unfavorable for any form of vegetation: with the exception of two oak trees, there is not a single plant on the grounds of the camp, "there weren’t even weeds." (Part 1, 7%)

Camp Green Lake is used in the present as a correctional boot camp for delinquent youths. Here, the main character Stanley Yelnats is sent at the beginning of the narrative. Although the camp has a prison-like function, there are no watchtowers and no fences to prevent the inmates from escaping. Any attempt to escape would be virtually hopeless: the camp is considered the only place with water within a hundred miles.

It is clear from the start that the camp is anything but a luxurious vacation spot. Small cameras and microphones are supposedly hidden everywhere, with which the Warden can monitor the camp around the clock (Part 1, 56%). Moreover, there are only "a few run-down buildings" (Part 1, 7%) and "six large gray tents" (Part 1, 12%) on the grounds. The tents consist only of simple cots, which Stanley calls "smelly and scratchy " (Part 1, 16%), and seven wooden boxes stacked on top of each other to serve as shelves (Part 1, 13%). There is no proper, enclosed shower room: the shower stalls are out in the open so that the water can drain away without a built-in drain (Part 1, 16%).

Wreck Room (Recreation Room)

The Wreck Room is the only place in the camp where the teenage inmates can spend their free time. Just like the rest of the camp, it is in a run-down state. On the sign in front of the door, the inscription "REC ROOM" (short for Recreation Room) was appropriately changed to "WRECK ROOM" (Part 1, 34%). Stanley is shocked at how badly the teens have wrecked their only recreational place, "This was the one place in camp where the boys could enjoy themselves, and what’d they do? They wrecked it. " (Part 1, 36%).

All the recreational equipment that was provided in the room is broken. The screen of the TV has been smashed (Part 1, 36%), the pool table is covered with bumps and holes because so many young people have carved their initials into the felt (Part 1, 36%), and at least one leg is missing from every piece of furniture, whether table or chair (Part 1, 36%). There is no air conditioning, only a working fan.

The Warden's cabin

 The Warden's log cabin is outside the actual camp where the counsellors and inmates live. Compared to the rest of the camp, the Warden's cabin is a modern and well-kept place. It has a working air conditioner, a television and even has its own dressing room.

The Warden has two oak trees in front of her cabin, the only two plants in the entir...