In Jack Gantos’ “Hole In My Life” he believes that if you persevere to improve yourself, you will

succeed in your action. One example of how persevering leads to success is when Gantos
started to persevere in working to improve his writing skills. He was successful by the fact that
he was doing well in school, holding a job, and overall keeping a stable life. Another example of
how Gantos persevering leads to success is whenever Gantos is reading or writing his journal,
he is still persevering his passion which ultimately leads to his success in him writing this book.
Throughout his story, Gantos brings the thematic statement to light by the use of his tone, word
choice, and repetition throughout the text in his book.

In Gantos’ time at the King’s Court, he was going to finish up high school. Along with that, he
also had to work at a job. By working hard in both of these places as well as not making any
foolish decisions, he was overall holding himself together. In chapter 4 of part 1, a quote states
,”All year I had worked hard to keep myself together. I held my job, managed my own money,
kept passing grades, and stayed out of deep trouble” (Gantos 39). In this quote, Gantos uses
the tone of determination by the fact that he is working very hard, which shows that he is
determined to have a stable life. This quote relates back to the thematic statement because by
the fact that Gantos is working hard, he is persevering through all of his tasks. In order to hold
his job and finish high school especially after the situation he got himself into, he would have to
persevere in working hard so that he can become successful in holding a stable life. He was
persevering in his high school and job, and as a result, he sees a glimpse of success in holding
a stable life.

During chapter 1 of part 2, Gantos is currently staying at St. Croix, a drug filled city filled with
many violent black revolutionaries. In that city, Gantos still tries to make the best of his time by
still trying to work at his skill. In chapter 1 of part 2, this quote reads ,”I wanted books to change
me, and I wanted to write books that would change others” (Gantos 61). In this quote, Gantos
uses the tone of change to support his topic of perseverance. It’s clear that he wants to change,
and that he’s willing to persevere for change. This quote relates back to the thematic statement
because it shows that Gantos is willing to persevere. He’s in a situation where he can’t really so
much for his passion, but he still perseveres and makes an effort to improve, which ultimately
leads to him becoming successful in his career.

Jack Gantos believes that perseverance can lead to success. In his book, Gantos has showed
is through the use of his tone, repetition, and word choice how him persevering on his work and
his passion ultimately leads to his success. Since Gantos was in a big mess at the time, we
didn’t we didn’t see much success immediately, but we know that he continued to work hard in
his passion and his life until he finally was able to achieve success in his career which is evident
just by the presence of his book “Hole In My Life.” The big significance is that we wouldn’t have
very successful people and a a functioning society if the people in that society didn’t persevere
in creating their society. Nobody gets successful just by doing nothing or simply feeling
passionate, they have to be passionate and show it by persevering with whatever task they
have whether it’s something they have or want to do. Anyone can do it, but they have to
persevere through a lot of work, patience, and obstacles. By Gantos work hard as a highschool
student and continuing to work on his passion throughout his life, even in difficult situations, he
was able to achieve a stable life and eventually a successful career. His passion and
perseverance to search for a change in what he reads ultimately leads to Gantos becoming
changed and having that change lead him to becoming a successful author. This is why Gantos
believes that perseverance can lead to success.