“The truth was, he didn’t especially like himself. He liked himself now.”(186 Sacher) This quote shows there has been significant change in Stanley. Partly through the influence of Zero’s friendship and partly from Stanley’s growth as a person, over the course of the book Stanley changes from a weak person to a strong person. Stanley is weak on the outside and inside. “All of them had something in common. Despite their awful luck, they always remained hopeful.” (9 Sarchar) Stanley’s hope makes him weak. The reason his hope makes him weak is because Stanley gets crushed every time as what he hopes never happens. “He is overweight and kids at his middle school often teased him about his size.” (7 Sachar) Kids at Stanley’s school bullied him and made him feel weak. He feels weak because of his weight. Before he had been picked on, he probably didn’t think being overweight was a big deal, but now that he is being picked on, it is a big deal. “The shovel felt heavy in Stanley’s soft, fleshy hands. He tried to jam it into the earth, but the blade banged against the ground and bounced off without making a dent.” (26 Sarchar) According to this quote, Stanley is weak because the shovel is too heavy for him. Also, he couldn’t …show more content…
“Zero took the shovel, then he swung it like a baseball bat. The metal blade smashed across Mr.Pendanski face.” (139 Sarchar) Mr.Pendanski was being a bully to Zero, so Zero was being confident and beat up Mr.Pendanski. Zero is showing Stanley what to do when your getting bullied. “ ‘I’ll try to teach you to read if you want’ offered Stanley.” (96 Sarchar) Zero has shown his confidence and because of that Stanley becomes confident that he could teach Zero to read and write. “If Zero could dig all day and still have the strength to learn, then he should have been able to dig all day and still have the strength to teach.” (141 Sachar) Stanley now has the confidence to teach and still dig all day to teach