Student Question
What does Mr. Pendanski's statement, "Even if you are not Zero, you are not completely worthless," in Holes reveal about his character traits?
Quick answer:
In Holes, when Mr. Pendanski says that Zero is "not completely worthless," it tells us that Mr. Pendanski is a deeply unpleasant man. Pendanski likes to come as much nicer than the other counselors. But in actual fact, he's just as bad as they are. We can see his true character traits displayed near the end of the book, when he cruelly contemplates the prospect of Zero and Stanley being killed by lizards in the desert.
Mr. Pendanski tries hard to make himself popular among the boys in D Tent. He allows the boys to call him “Mom,” which as well as indicating familiarity is also a term of endearment. Younger than the other counselors, Pendanski is closer to the boys' age group and is therefore in a better position to establish some kind of rapport with them.
Pendanski certainly appears to be a lot kinder to the boys than the other counselors; though in truth, that's not saying an awful lot. He gives Stanley a ride back to camp after his first day of digging holes. He also gives him some extra water when Mr. Sir doesn't give him enough. On the surface, it would appear that Mr. Pendanksi is very much the good cop to the other counselors' bad cop.
But the thing about the good cop/bad cop routine is that it's completely phony,...
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nothing more than a trick. In actual fact, Pendanski isn't really "Mr. Nice Guy" after all. To see a confirmation of this, we only have to look at the appalling way he treats Zero. He's forever undermining his confidence and putting him down, making him feel like he doesn't matter. When Pendanski tells Zero that he's not “completely worthless,” the implication is that he's still generally worthless, which is simply not an acceptable thing to say to someone.
These unpleasant comments show Pendanski's true colors. And those ugly hues are all the more prominently on display when Zero and Stanley escape from Camp Green Lake and wind up in a nest full of lizards in the desert. As Pendanski shines his flashlight on the two boys, he willingly goes along with the Warden's dastardly plan of just waiting for Zero and Stanley to be bitten and killed by the lizards. All that touchy-feely stuff from earlier on has now gone out of the window, revealing the real Mr. Pendanski for all to see. And it's not a pretty sight.