Mr. Pendanski is a counselor of Camp Green Lake, which is a place for boys who have committed crime to reform through digging holes. He is the counselor of one of the campers Stanley – the main character of the book Holes. He is also responsible for delivering water to the campers when they are digging. He is not an important character in the book, but I find his traits interesting.
The first impression Mr. Pendanski makes is being “friendly”. When Stanley just arrives at the Camp, Mr. Pendanski shakes hands with him and talks to him gently, “You may have done some bad things, but that doesn’t mean you’re a bad kid… I’m going to help you turn your life around, but you’re going to help, too. Can I count on your help?” After Stanley nods, Mr. Pendanski takes him to the Camp and introduces him to his campmates. You can see Mr. Pendanski is trying to comfort and support Stanley. He also cares about the other campers. One day after digging, Mr. Pendanski gathers the boys and discusses their future with them. He tells them to prepare for joining the rest of society. He doesn’t look down on their dreams, and he stops one of the campers X-Ray from laughing at what another camper Magnet wants to be.
Mr. Pendanski seems to be a nice person. But then I start wondering if he is really that nice. There is another main character, a camper called Zero. He is quiet and digs fast. He also belongs to Mr. Pendanski’s tent. Strangely, Mr. Pendanski doesn’t treat him well.
During the conversation about the future of campers, Mr. Pendanski says, “You’re all special in your own way. You’ve all got something to offer. You have to think about what you want to do, then do it.” Suddenly he attacks Zero, “Even you, Zero. You’re not completely worthless.” This hurts Zero and his smile is suddenly gone. But Mr. Pendanski doesn’t mind. On another day, when Mr. Pendanski knows that Stanley is teaching Zero to read, he says, “I know you mean well, Stanley, but face it. Zero’s too stupid to learn to read.” After that he hands Zero a shovel, “Here, take it, Zero. It’s all you’ll ever be good for.” It is really humiliating. I don’t know why, but Mr. Pendanski dislikes Zero especially. I see he is not completely a friendly person. He is biased.
Mr. Pendanski is not only biased. He is even a bit cruel. In part 2 of the story, when Zero runs away from Camp Green Lake, the Warden of the Camp and all others think he has died. The Warden orders Mr. Pendanski to destroy all of Zero’s records. Mr. Pendanski nods and tells the Warden how he is going to erase Zero from the state files. He is willing to do this to make sure Zero ‘doesn’t exist’. And later, when Zero, and Stanley who went to rescue him, return to Camp Green Lake and are trapped in a hole with deadly yellow-spotted lizards, Mr. Pendanski acts worse. He and the Warden wait for the boys to be bitten by the lizards. Then he says, “Maybe we should just shoot them.” Another counselor asks whether he means the lizards or the kids (Stanley and Zero). Unbelievably, Mr. Pendanski laughs and replies, “The kids are going to die anyway. At least we got plenty of graves to choose from.” How cruel he is! And this is totally different from how he behaves at the beginning of the story.
So I realize Mr. Pendanski is hardly a good person. He is just a hypocrite. He is a wicked man. Although he is not as bad as the Warden or Mr. Sir, the two ruthless villains in Camp Green Lake, he is bad enough to be their friend.
These are what I have discovered from Mr. Pendanski. His character traits are in fact among the most interesting ones. They aren’t complicated or inspiring. But from them we can see how a crafty person looks.