There are literary works for teenagers that everyone, even adults, are sure to enjoy. Louis Sachar’s novel The Pits is a book that stays in a reader’s heart forever. If you’re sure your child won’t voluntarily take up reading during the vacations, offer them a novel, The Pits, and your child will forget about everything but reading. The great kids, the bullies, the athletes, the gamers – everyone becomes a fan of the story of the bumbling boy Stanley. After all, it has what is so fascinating to young people: mysticism, historical moments, adventure, strong friendship, romance, and an unpredictable plot.
What the book is about
Particularly sensitive parents doubt the usefulness of reading “The Pits” when they learn its plot in general terms. The story tells the story of a teenager from a poor family named Stanley being unjustly accused of theft and sent to a reformed labor camp for 18 months. Stanley had not been lucky enough to be a total, clumsy object of ridicule by his classmates before this gruesome moment, and now there is such a cruel injustice. Moreover, Sachar deliberately darkens the colors at the beginning of the novel. He describes in detail the grueling labor of the convicted boys and creates a lot of danger around them.
But it is not worth concentrating on these unpleasant details, as the plot unfolds so fascinating that the reader forgets about everything in the world. And the hero himself begins to improve: he has agility, strong character, intelligence. But Stanley’s most important finding will be a surprise to readers.
The point of the book
From the second part of the book, where, with each character encountered and with each task solved, the main character gets better and better, follows the author’s main message – do not be afraid of difficulties, they are always for the good. At the end of the novel “The Pits” readers are waiting for an incredible apotheosis: all the characters achieve their goals, even the boy’s family. Everyone in this book comes to desirable results, although at the beginning of the story the situation was rather bleak. Thus, Louis Sachar conveys his message not to despair in all circumstances, to follow the call of the heart and remain human.
Analysis of the book
The most successful gimmick of the author of the novel is the multiplicity of plot lines, which then surprisingly converge into one. To pull this off must have a unique intelligence, which has an American writer Louis Sachar. The reader at first does not even have time to catch all the events of the past, present and future. But when everything falls into place, one can only marvel! To the virtuoso plot is worth adding excellent literary language with a touch of teenage slang, and the result is a brilliant novel. Based on this work was filmed no less brilliant movie called “The Treasure”.
The history of the book
The author of The Pits, Louis Sachar (the American transcription of his last name, “Sacker”), was born in suburban New York City in 1954. He spent his childhood in sunny California, and he says it was carefree and happy. In his youth, he began studying economics, and during his studies he became fascinated by the Russian literary classics. Another of his passions was pedagogy. Luis went as an intern in a school and discovered his amazing abilities as an excellent teacher and communicator for children and teenagers.
Sachar was increasingly immersed in the world of child and adolescent psychology: he was interested in how a small person develops into a full-fledged personality and what influences it. The fruit of his reflections on this subject were his first literary works: stories about Wayside School in 1985.
Over time, writing became Louis Sachar’s main job. The heroes of his books were teenagers, who were sure to get into extraordinary stories. In 1998, Sachar wrote the adventure novel The Pits, which turned out so well that it earned him the John Newbery Medal.
Why did the work “The Pits” become unprecedentedly popular? Perhaps the secret lies in the author’s statement: “I think the moralizing or any other idea of a book is always secondary compared to the pleasure one gets from reading.
The meaning of the book’s title
The novel tells us that in a penal camp the children were forced to dig holes from morning till night. The entire desert was dug with the help of children’s pens.
How in the civilized world could the camp management explain such cruel and grueling labor to which the teenagers were subjected? A child psychologist at the penitentiary developed the theory that when a person digs in the ground, he goes through a journey of realizing his mistakes and making amends. Later in the story, it turns out that it’s not about correctional therapy at all. But the novel is called “The Pits” for a reason. The pits in the book are the embodiment of the problems that occur in life absolutely everyone. Louis Sachar wants to show that if you find yourself in a hole and start digging it, you can get to the bottom of amazing things and turn your whole life upside down. The boys dig endlessly in the desert, but someone in between this activity manages to make friends with another digger and help him.
The Problematics of the Book
The most basic problem touched upon in the book is how hard it is for a young person to develop in a world where adults don’t believe him, where adults don’t hear him. The author shows by example what can be done about this and, in general, how to overcome difficulties for a teenager. Equally important is the idea that you are not alone in your problem, look around, someone may be just as interested in solving your situation. To find a way out of difficulties, you need to look for and unite with like-minded people.
What the book teaches
The novel “The Pits” does not just teach something, it significantly changes the perception of reality and makes you think deeply.
The novel will help teenagers to understand that no matter how difficult it was for him on the path of growing up, there will always be someone who is even worse. For example, the hero’s camp friend Zero doesn’t know what happened to his mother. He really wants to find his relatives, but he doesn’t know where to start. After all, Zero is in a correctional camp, digging holes from morning till night. What can he do to get the search moving?
So does Stanley, thinking at a loss as to how he can help his distressed family, who are constantly being condemned for unjustly sending their son to reformatory work. These troubles, however, do not prevent the two unfortunate boys from helping each other and becoming friends. And in the end, right there in the desert, they find a way out of their terrible situation and make the best of it.
The author emphasizes that this outcome was due to the strength of the boys’ character, which was formed in the struggle against desperate circumstances. Undoubtedly it helped that they remained themselves in any situation, remained good people.
Explanation of the book’s ending
The ending of the book is just a burst of joy and surprise. An amazing discovery is made by the characters and they solve every single one of their problems. After what happened, Stanley didn’t just help his family, he became agile, strong, wise, and gained authority among his classmates. In addition, the family stopped being poor. Zero finally learned the truth about himself and his mother, found his relatives and best friends.
Among other things, the boys managed to solve the problems of the heroes of the vulgar and punish the greedy bandits.
There is always someone who is even worse off than you. Reach out to him, and together you will overcome everything!
