“ | It's so hot, Sam, but I feel so cold. | „ |
~ Kate Barlow speaking to a hallucination of Sam. |
“ | Get up and out of there! What've you got down there? Give me your loot, now! | „ |
~ Kate Barlow to Stanley Yelnats. |
“ | Start digging, Trout. | „ |
~ Kate Barlow's last words. |
Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow is the posthumous villainous protagonist in the novel Holes as well as its film adaptation. She was a schoolteacher who fell in love with an African-American onion farmer named Sam. She became evil when Charles "Trout" Walker burned her schoolhouse to the ground and gunned down her boyfriend in a jealous rage, emotionally wrecking her. Hence, she resolves to become an outlaw who kissed every man she killed, starting with the racist and perverted Sheriff who had condoned Sam's murder. Much later, she hid the Yelnats' loot so Charles wouldn't be able to find it, committing suicide to ensure its secret whereabouts died with her until the present day, where the Yelnats did find it successfully.
She was portrayed by Patricia Arquette.
Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Her Heinous?[]
- She massacres several men who she deems as responsible for the cruel murder of her lover, Sam, and lines their corpses in coffins against a wall with a shady man overseeing them. The first time she decides she is judge, jury, and executioner, however, is when she comes after the Sheriff and shoots him in his chair.
- She becomes one of the most prolific outlaws of her era, robbing most, if not all major banks, including the Chicago Pacific. Furthermore, she stoops to Trout's level by assembling a lynch mob of her own to enforce her own will on people she dislikes. Her crimes include destroying an occupied stagecoach, shooting another stagecoach's driver, and blowing up innocent people with demolitions.
- She becomes infamous for kissing anyone of the opposite sex once she has murdered them, which is how she got her nickname.
- She takes all of Stanley Yelnats' treasures procured in the stock market, resulting in his subsequent three generations enduring poverty. She then leaves him to die in the desert, and he only survives because of a miracle known as "God's Thumb".
- Before dying, she pridefully taunts Charles "Trout" Walker that he and his descendants will never find the treasures (though he deserved it).
- She makes a huge impact since no one else in the movie passes the baseline in any tangible way whereas she has murdered lots of innocent people.
What Makes Her Inconsistent?[]
- She is too sympathetic for NPE.
- She fell in love with Sam because he was willing to fix her roof in return for her signature canned peaches that everyone loved. She dedicated her life to educating children, and worked extra hours to educate middle-aged men whose childhoods lacked academic resources, only for Trout Walker to burn down her school and gun down Sam out of jealousy and spite.
- In addition, the Sheriff refused to punish Trout and confirmed he would've done the same actions Trout did, meaning Sam was dead either way.
- She has a sympathetic death, as she refuses to stoop any lower to Trout's level by throwing down her pistol, and allows a yellow-spotted lizard kill her before Trout can harm her further.
- Generally, a primary aspect of Holes is to garner sympathy for Kate.
- She fell in love with Sam because he was willing to fix her roof in return for her signature canned peaches that everyone loved. She dedicated her life to educating children, and worked extra hours to educate middle-aged men whose childhoods lacked academic resources, only for Trout Walker to burn down her school and gun down Sam out of jealousy and spite.
- She has some honor, as she took little pleasure from hurting people, allowed Stanley I to live, refused to shoot at Charles Walker, and is genuinely affable in general.
- Since she hallucinates seeing Sam and calls a venomous creature a romantic pet name and has the aforementioned lack of sadism, she seems to have moral agency issues.
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Animated Features Live-Action Features See Also |