Kissin’ Kate Barlow Kissin’ Kate Barlow, formerly known as Miss Katherine Barlow is a infamous outlaw from the novel and film ‘Holes’ by Sachar. Katherine is not alive at the set time of the plot, but her story is told through flashbacks. This character has a rather tragic backstory but this only aids in her importance in the story. Katherine lived in the small town Green Lake in Texas. Green Lake was a beautiful town with the ‘largest lake in Texas’ (pg 101) and peach trees in abundance. Before becoming an outlaw, Katherine ‘was a wonderful teacher, [who was] full of knowledge and full of life’ (pg 102). She also made ’fabulous spiced peaches’ that received a prize each year and ‘no one else even tried to’ (pg 101) compete against her. …show more content…
Katherine’s life is turned upside down after she is caught having a romantic relationship with the Negro onion man, Sam. She is traumatized when the school is later attacked by the townspeople and Sam is shot. Katherine then becomes an outlaw and kills the sheriff and gives him a kiss. This is how she gets the name Kissin’ Kate Barlow. After these event, Katherine’s attitude changed completely. She became a ruthless killer who would rob her victims. She collected a lot of loot over the years she was an outlaw and she decided to bury her treasure into the now dried up lake of Green Lake. But soon after, she was attacked by Trout Walker and his wife. She died after being dragged out into the sun and bitten by a yellow spotted lizard. This event is very important because without this happening, Trout Walker would have never wanted to dig up the lake to find her treasure. In conclusion, although Katherine is not a main character in the novel she is possibly the most important. If Katherine wasn’t apart of the story, Camp Green Lake would not exist as there would be no need to dig holes which would mean Stanley wouldn’t be sent there and Stanley’s great-grandfather would not have been robbed so Stanley’s family would possibly have more money. Katherine went from the lovable school teacher to the most feared outlaw in Texas and that alone makes her an amazing