Holes opens with a family curse that seems to explain every piece of bad luck the Yelnats family has suffered. By the end, readers see that coincidence, choice, and consequence are tangled together. That tension makes fate versus free will one of the richest essay topics the book offers.

The topic is abstract, which makes it both exciting and risky. Students who love big ideas will produce impressive essays, and others may write vague statements about destiny. Your job is to guide them toward specifics.

A useful starting point is to ask what the book itself suggests. Stanley ends up carrying Zero up the mountain, echoing the earlier broken promise, but he does so by choice. Whether that means the curse was real or that people simply respond to circumstances is a question students can debate.

Because there is no single correct reading, the rubric should focus on reasoning quality. Students can argue that fate drives the story, that choice does, or that the two work together. What matters is whether they support their view with the text.

Push Students Toward a Specific Claim

The phrase fate versus free will can lead to a claim that says nothing. Encourage students to state how the two interact in the novel. A claim such as "Stanley's choices break the curse, even though coincidence started the chain of events" gives the essay direction.

• A clear position on the role of fate, choice, or both
• At least two events from different parts of the book as evidence
• An explanation of how each event supports the position
• Acknowledgment of an event that seems to argue the other way
• A closing thought about what the novel suggests for real people

Grade the Handling of Contradictions

Some of the best essays admit that the book supports more than one reading. A student might note that the curse seems real, but that Stanley's decisions were still his own. Reward that willingness to hold two ideas at once.

Be careful not to penalize students who choose an unusual position. If a student argues the curse was simply a family story that shaped behavior, that is a valid interpretation as long as the text supports it. Grade the argument, not the agreement.

Keep Personal Beliefs From Skewing Scores

Fate and free will touch on personal beliefs, and students may bring family or religious views into the essay. Set the expectation that the argument should come from the book. That keeps the discussion respectful and the grading focused.

It also keeps your own views out of the scoring. When you use a defined rubric, whether by hand or with a tool like GraideMind, the criteria stay tied to evidence and reasoning. That helps you stay neutral on a topic where opinions run strong.

Feedback That Deepens the Thinking

The best comments on this topic are questions. If a student says everything in Holes was fate, ask about Stanley's decision to go back for Zero. If a student says it was all choice, ask about the timing of the rain.

Those questions push students to test their claims against the book. They also model how thoughtful readers think. Over time, students begin asking those questions of themselves.