Holes
Holes
by Louis Sachar
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The sheriff is a racist and powerful man in 1880s Green Lake. He's prepared to hang Sam for kissing Miss Katherine, and he drunkenly bullies Miss Katherine to try to get her to kiss him. He tells Miss Katherine that God will punish her for kissing Sam, and he presumably supports Trout Walker when he shoots Sam and "rescues" Katherine. Three days later, Miss Katherine shoots the sheriff and gives him the kiss he asked for.

The Sheriff Quotes in Holes

The Holes quotes below are all either spoken by The Sheriff or refer to The Sheriff. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Fate and Destiny Theme Icon
).

Part 1, Chapter 26 Quotes

Miss Katherine jerked her hand free. As she hurried to the door, she heard the sheriff say, "The law will punish Sam. And God will punish you."

Related Characters: The Sheriff (speaker), Miss Katherine/Kissin' Kate Barlow, Sam, Charles "Trout" Walker
Page Number and Citation: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
After the sheriff refuses to help Katherine stop Trout Walker's mob, she leaves his office as he insists that God will punish her for kissing Sam. The sheriff's words show that, as far as he's concerned, the formal legal system and the moral system upheld by Christianity are two ways to achieve the same kind of order—namely, an order that is racist, sexist, and supports people like him and Trout Walker. This illustrates how the sheriff is able to use his power to corrupt the justice system. These abuses make him feel comfortable propositioning Katherine for a kiss and invading Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores

These are the facts:

The Walker boat smashed into Sam's boat. Sam was shot and killed in the water. Katherine Barlow was rescued against her wishes. When they returned to the shore, she saw Mary Lou's body lying on the ground. The donkey had been shot in the head.

That all happened one hundred and ten years ago. Since then, not one drop of rain has fallen on Green Lake.

You make the decision: Whom did God punish?

Related Characters: The Sheriff, Miss Katherine/Kissin' Kate Barlow, Sam, Charles "Trout" Walker
Page Number and Citation: 115
Explanation and Analysis:
The narrator takes a step back from telling the story of Katherine and Sam's escape attempt from the mob in Green Lake to give a brief overview of the facts. The narrator's assessment of these events, in particular the note that rain hasn't fallen in Green Lake since Sam's murder, suggests that the natural world isn't something indifferent to human events—rather, it's sentient, extremely tuned into human events, and possesses a firm sense of morality that's not in line with that of the sheriff and Trout Walker. As the narrator implies, this means that the fact that Green Lake is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus
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The Sheriff Character Timeline in Holes

The timeline below shows where the character The Sheriff appears in Holes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 26
Cruelty vs. Kindness Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
Power, Money, and Education Theme Icon
...the middle of the schoolhouse. Katherine managed to escape the schoolhouse and ran to the sheriff's office. (full context)
Cruelty vs. Kindness Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
Man vs. Nature Theme Icon
The sheriff, drinking whiskey, greeted Katherine pleasantly and told her to calm down. She began to tell... (full context)
Fate and Destiny Theme Icon
Justice Theme Icon
Man vs. Nature Theme Icon
...the narrator asks the reader whom God actually punished. Three days later, Katherine shot the sheriff, applied fresh lipstick, and kissed him. She became Kissin' Kate Barlow and spent the next... (full context)