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Home > Reading Comprehension >Holes > chapter 13

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapter 13

Learning Log (optional)

Symbols

A symbol is something real that stands for an idea. In literature, a symbol is often a real, concrete thing (something you can actually see, like a cloud) that stands for an abstract idea (like "springtime" or hope) that the thing would make you think of.

Advertisements are full of these symbols. A truck that is "like a rock" uses the rock as a symbol. A rock is a concrete, real thing that you can put your hands on. The truck salespeople would like you to think of the way rocks last a long time when you think of their truck. Durability is the idea the rock stands for.

In Holes, a small cloud appears in chapter 13. It's the first cloud that Stanley has seen since he arrived. Seeing the cloud makes them hope for a few minutes of shade, or maybe, just maybe, rain. So, the cloud is a symbol for hope that things will change.

Draw it!

Draw the scene from Chapter 13 with the cloud.

 

Symbol Question:

What else happens in chapter 13 that gives Stanley hope?

 

 

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