Hole In My Life

Gantos depicts his father as a solid man, one that built his life on labor and honest work. Gantos’ father supports his family as a contractor, work that takes him from Florida to Puerto Rico and then to St. Croix. One of the chief qualities Gantos notes about his father is the man’s ability to spot a criminal. His father takes Gantos, then a young boy, on a tour though a Pennsylvania town, and Gantos’ father is able to point out the brutality and shiftless natures of those they pass to his son. This particular skill strikes Gantos as ironic: he notes, “Dad’s keen eye of spotting criminals of all stripes was impressive. But it wasn’t perfect. He never had me pegged for being one of them” (7). His father’s criminal radar also appears to malfunction when he comes to inspect the covert smuggling boat in which Gantos will leave St. Croix. Although he is aware that his son’s boss is smuggling hash, he gives Gantos his blessing, perhaps anxious to see him leave the hostile environment of St. Croix. Gantos’ father is also the one that calls Gantos to urge his son to turn himself in. He secures a lawyer for Gantos, and visits Gantos once in prison. Eager for money and unable to process his son’s arrest, he asks Gantos to sign for his own car after his father purposely totals it for the insurance money and is drunk when he visits Gantos in prison. 

Mr. Bacon is a prosthetic-limb supplier that Gantos initially boards with during his return to high school. He has a wife and young children. After Gantos drinks himself into oblivion and vomits throughout their home, Mr. Bacon kicks him out, but not before warning Gantos of the dangers of making poor choices. Gantos distances himself from the Bacon family in terms of mentality: he describes them as small people that want nothing out of life because they are idle, complain, and watch television all day. As such, Gantos does not heed Mr. Bacon’s advice; instead, Gantos draws a sharp line between the Bacons’ dull nature and his own exuberant, unquenchable thirst for life’s pleasures. 

Davy is the proprietor of the King’s Court. She wears moccasins and carries a shotgun to further her claim as a direct descendent of Davy Crockett. Gantos finds her eccentric nature charming; she is always affably welcoming to him, even after his arrest and assurance that he is, in fact, in trouble. This demonstrates a more open view than her counterparts, Mr. and Mrs. Bacon.  

Gantos’friend Tim Scanlon convinces Gantos to sell laboratory-grade hash he can obtain at his college. Gantos invests hundreds, but his friend gets high on the drugs instead and campus security apprehends him. Scanlon cheats Gantos out of his money but also whets Gantos’ appetite for drugs and easy money.  

Rik is a hash smuggler who commissions a drug-smuggling craft from Gantos in St. Croix. After smoking hash with Gantos, he asks him to help smuggle hash into New York. Rik will meet Gantos there, where they will sell the drugs, and he offers Gantos ten thousand dollars for his services. Rik bears a scar on his face, the result of an injury from a flare gun. The money and adventure Rik offers are intoxicating to Gantos. Rik is depicted as a confident drug smuggler and dealer but turns states’ evidence against Gantos once he’s arrested in New York.

Hamilton is the British sailor that skippers the smuggling boat with Gantos as his first mate. He has a surly nature; his attitude towards Gantos oscillates between aloofness and verbal cruelty. At sea, he attempts to scare Gantos by telling him that going to bathroom in the ocean attracts sharks. During the journey, his behavior becomes more erratic: he yells at Gantos more frequently and starts walking around the ship nude. His hardened nature is clear to Gantos when Hamilton tells him that he looks too guilty; he reminds Gantos that they need to seem like they’re not doing anything wrong. His suspicious personality shows when Rik, Gantos, and Hamilton proceed to sell the hash; Hamilton drives erratically, believing they are being followed. Hamilton’s quick thinking and criminal acumen shows when he remains cool after suspicious activity is reported on their boat and when the police apprehend the two men. He manages to secure his own escape by casting suspicion onto other men, giving both himself and Gantos a chance to flee arrest. Hamilton ends up getting caught before Gantos. Despite his tough exterior, Gantos remarks how beaten and forlorn Hamilton appears in a newspaper photo after his capture; this emphasizes that many criminals, regardless of their bravado, seem to crumble under the weight of the consequence of capture.

Alfred E. Newman is Gantos’ lawyer. He represents the young man for his smuggling charges. Initially, he feels certain that Gantos is too young to receive a harsh sentence; however, the case built against Gantos outmatches his defense. He reassures Gantos that they won’t give him more than probation and is so surprised by the sentence that he needs to look the jail time it amounts to, which is sixty days to six years. Newman holds Gantos’ smuggling money for him until Gantos’ release from prison.

District Attorney Tepper pursues a strong case against Gantos and uses evidence from the other parties (like Rik) against Gantos. He acts smugly during the trial; he shows pictures of Gantos happily sailing the drugs into New York City and it is Tepper that readsGantos’ entry in the ship’s log: “Hamilton had read my mind—I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just afraid of the punishment” (85). He closes his case against Gantos, managing to depict Gantos as a likely career criminal, one that takes pleasure in doing and selling drugs. His bulldog nature suggests a singular hatred for criminals like Gantos: men that think they operate above the law.

Lucas is one person that buys hash with intent to sell from the drugs Gantos helps smuggle into New York. During Gantos’ trial, Gantos attempts to visit Lucas; instead, he finds that Lucas has been arrested. Lucas has a wife who is unsympathetic towards her husband and Gantos. Her query—whether or not Gantos understands the harm of selling drugs—shocks Gantos. Lucas remains close to Gantos when they are in the West Street prison. However, there, Lucas is attacked by fellow inmates and gang raped. Gantos finds him bloodied in the lavatory; Lucas asks for Gantos’ help cleaning up, as his wife and child are visiting that day. However, his unsuspecting nature marks him as an immediate victim in prison; his attack shows a strong divide between those cagey enough to survive and those that will likely break—or be broken—in prison.

The physician’s assistant, Mr. Bow, initially inspects Gantos upon Gantos’ arrival at prison, discovering lice and quarantining him from general population. Once medically cleared, he trains Gantos as an X-ray technician, which grants Gantos a private cell and keeps him out of general population. Gantos thinks of him as a friendly frog; he is perhaps one of the only truly non-threatening individuals that Gantos meets in prison. Bow offers to take Gantos on a furlough and helps him find potential colleges for his conditional release. His matter-of-fact care is a steady presence that helps Gantos acclimate to prison life.