new shoes from a shoe store and got arrested.

Despite the instability in his home life, Zero recalls that his life with his mother was happy. He remembers that they weren't always homeless and that he once had a yellow bedroom. Zero shares a particularly warm memory of his mother; she sang and clapped Zero's tiny hands together, an an image which has fostered a desire to find her again. Although his childhood was far from ideal and is the source of some negative behaviors, Zero longs to find the woman whose presence filled him with joy years earlier.

It's fair to say that Zero's had a pretty hard life. He's spent most of it out on the streets, abandoned by his mother and unloved by society. As with many children in his situation, Zero hasn't had any formal education, and so it's no surprise that he can't read or write. Though a fundamentally decent and honest boy, Zero has to steal on a regular basis in order to get by.

Despite his lack of formal education, Zero has developed some street smarts over the years, which enable him to stand up for himself and those that he cares about. And despite his being a serial thief—albeit out of necessity—Zero is actually quite a generous, sharing person. This particular aspect of his personality comes through strongly during his time at Camp Green Lake, when he shares his last jar of "sploosh" with Stanley.

In Louis Sachar’s Holes, Hector Zeroni, better known as Zero, has had to fend for himself since he was a very small boy, and this makes him clever and capable, but it also, somewhat unusually, gives him a sense of compassion.

Zero was somehow separated from his mother when he was very young, and he quickly learned how to look out for himself. The fact that a child like Zero could survive on the streets alone for so long shows this boy’s intelligence. Zero does steal, but he tries to take things that people will not miss as much. He may not have much in the way of formal education, but by the time he is a teenager, Zero can think quickly, solve problems, and cope with challenging situations better than most boys his age.

Zero’s life on the streets, however, has made him something of a loner. He does not trust people easily, though he and Stanley develop a connection. Zero has a strong sense of compassion for people who are honestly in trouble, as he shows when he and Stanley are in the desert. Zero also apologizes to Stanley for actually stealing the shoes that Stanley is accused of taking. This is a surprising trait in Zero. We might expect him to have little in the way of emotions, and indeed, he usually does not show them, yet he does truly care about others. Perhaps this is because he has always wished that someone truly cared about him.