Why didn't Stanley Yelnats want to move around in his cot?

Stanley Yelnats, the main character in Holes by Louis Sachar, is sent to Camp Green Lake. The "camp" isn't really a camp at all, but a juvenile detention facility. It's not a very pleasant place. In fact, it's the worst, most uncomfortable place Stanley's ever been—right down to the cot he sleeps on.

On his first night at camp, Stanley is very uncomfortable in his cot. He doesn't want to move around in it for...

Stanley Yelnats, the main character in Holes by Louis Sachar, is sent to Camp Green Lake. The "camp" isn't really a camp at all, but a juvenile detention facility. It's not a very pleasant place. In fact, it's the worst, most uncomfortable place Stanley's ever been—right down to the cot he sleeps on.

On his first night at camp, Stanley is very uncomfortable in his cot. He doesn't want to move around in it for several reasons. Let's look at some of the things Stanley thinks about while lying on the cot, all of which come from Chapter 6.

First, Stanley describes his cot as "smelly and scratchy." Would you want to move around on a smelly, scratchy cot? Probably not. You'd probably prefer to stay really still so the cot didn't scratch you. You'd probably want to point your nose toward the ceiling and not move, to keep your nose as far away from the cot as possible so you wouldn't have to smell it quite as much.

There's another sentence that gives a third reason why Stanley doesn't want to keep moving around: "As Stanley tried to turn over in his cot, he was afraid it was going to collapse under all his weight." Stanley is described as heavyset in the book. In this sentence, it becomes clear that Stanley is afraid that moving his weight around might cause the cot to collapse—another unpleasant thing that poor Stanley would really like to avoid.