Who was Jaffy in the movie HOLES?

As reading the book myself I know a thing or two about, my favorite character, Jaffy. Jaffy was Hector's (Zero) Stuffed giraffe animal. He would carry it whenever his mother left him alone. She left him a lot and told him to wait. They became homeless, and one day Hector's mom didn't come back. He lived in a playground for months at the park his mother last left him. Kids had a birthday at a park, and asked Zero if he wanted cake. The mom told them to get away from him, and that he was disgusting. Then Hector ran away, but left Jaffy. Here you learn that Jaffy wasn't real. Not even a real Stuffed animal, just an imaginary friend that symbolized Hector's childhood. When he left Jaffy behind, who was imaginary, it symbolized him leaving his childhood behind.