The Outsiders

“The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, is centered around Ponyboy’s path to maturity and the life lessons he learns along the way. The novel follows Ponyboy, a greaser, and his gang’s conflict with the Socials, a rival gang. In it, he learns to not judge people hastily and reject gang mentality. Ponyboy also loses his innocence. The following paragraphs will explore his growth throughout “The Outsiders”.

Thesis: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a novel which tells the story of conflict between the "greasers" and the "Socs," captures the voice of ponyboy and his friends in a realistic way that relates to boys and their gangs even today.

“The Outsiders” identifies the 60’s, illustrating the violence between groups, often involving a group’s social class. For instance, the violent tensions between the Socs and Greasers lead to Bob’s death, Johnny’s death, as well as many injuries throughout both gangs. The book “The Outsiders” is written by S.E. Hinton and is portrayed through the eyes of a high school student in Tulsa, OK where S.E. Hinton grew up. Hinton began writing “The Outsiders” in 1965 at the age of 17 and the book was finally published in 1967 when she was 19. The difference in perspective upon the society and social class creates issues throughout “The Outsiders” and since the Socs and Greasers assume the problems will be solved with violence, they take action.

The Outsiders is a young adult novel written by S.E. Hinton. The book was first published in 1967 by The Viking Press. Today, the book is published under Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group. The book has a total of a hundred and eighty pages. The Outsiders fits in the genre of young-adult fiction because it relates to teens on emotional levels. Like Ponyboy, the teen protagonist of the story, teens relate to his emotional growth as he tries to piece his life together. The story follows a rivalry in a socially divided community. The Greasers are a gang of teenage boys who live on the east side of town; the wrong side of town. Their rivals, the Socials, better known as the Socs; come from the wealthier side of town. The two groups are always head to head with one another, seeking a fight. Ponyboy belongs to the Greasers. He is the youngest out of the three brothers in his family. Apart from his brothers, Ponyboy hangs out with Johnny, Dallas, Two-Bit and others who are also Greasers. The rivalry between the two groups heightens when Johnny kills Bob, a Soc, in an attempt to save Ponyboy from drowning. In this book report, I will go through the meaning of this book and my opinion on the story itself.

The 1967 novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton is about the social outcasts; the Greasers and their rivalry against the high class Socs. In the beginning of the book the characters values and attitudes are revealed to the reader through the point of view of Ponyboy. As the book progresses and the lives of the characters take a turn for the worse there is a significant impact on the characters resulting in an alteration of their values and attitudes. Ponyboy, Dally and Johnny experience these changes due to the death of Bob the Soc and the chain of events that follow.

While reading The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, I felt as if I took a time travel to the 1960’s. The book clearly gives an insight to the past. Unlike other book, The Outsiders has its own unique meaning. The author created something different than a modern clique book that I read in my day to day life. Hinton’s word choice creates an interesting book where it felt as if it was non-fiction than young-adult fiction. I like this book because the author made something extraordinary by stating the past rather than another author’s writing twenty-first century book.

Have you ever wondered how the 1960’s was like? Would you have been fearful, jovial, or melancholy? In the book, The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton the main character Ponyboy Curtis lives with his two brothers, Sodapop and Darry, and is involved in a gang called the “greasers.” Ponyboy realizes what it is to be a kind person instead of being violent, he is always on top of his studies and is very observant of others.

The novel and film, The Outsiders by S. E Hinton, can be composed based on symbols, imagery, characters, and chronology. The Outsiders is a novel and a movie. The novel was written by Susan Eloise Hinton, in 1965, where it took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After the book was published the movie, The Outsiders was produced in 1983 directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The author has a great sense of imagery. Ponyboy the narrator of the story used much imagery in chapter one in the novel to bring his brother and friends who are also Greasers to life. Ponyboy 's big brother, Darry who "had eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue green ice" letting the reader know that Darry is the serious and determined person. In addition with "broad shoulders", "muscular" and "six two feet height", from the description, the reader can picture Darry as an athlete from the physical appearance. Ponyboy uses imagery on his second older brother Sodapop "His eyes are dark brown lively, dancing recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next". The descriptions gave Sodapop an image that signified effervescent and a slight of anger but kind. Dally one of Ponyboy friends and a member of the Greasers, has eyes that are "blue, blazing ice, and cold let the reader know that Dallas heart if filled with rage".

Hinton’s seminal work, The Outsiders. Penned in 1967, at first glance, this is mostly a straightforward “us versus them” novel in which our hero pariahs find meaning and understanding through communication with the “enemy” only to find out they were much more similar than they had once anticipated. This is, of course, a correct reading of the classic novel but ultimately a shallow one. There is far more at play in The Outsiders than such trivialities as “enemies become friends”. Comradery, blood-ties, and personal valor are all extremely masculine ideals and all are very present in this novel if one only examines the text on a more critical level. For example, consider the group of boys themselves and how they ultimately function as a family with a clear hierarchy; how is this group any different than a medieval clan or ancient warrior tribe? Dally and Darryl are clearly father figures to the younger boys as they display examples of stern leadership and vintage bravado. Darryl, as the provider, works everyday roofing to support his family and friends; most of the boys can be found at the Curtis’s house at one time or another, it’s almost akin to a headquarters for this group of young men. Dally, on the other hand, acts as a guide or mentor for Pony and Johnny to help them survive in a world hostile to

The book, and the movie, “the Outsiders” is about a conflict between greasers and socs. Up until the point where Johnny kills a soc, there are mostly only small fights and arguments between the two. The story “the Outsiders” takes place in the 1960’s, when there were two main lifestyles. Greasers and Socs. Greasers are known for greasing their hair. Socs are rich kids who have good clothes, drive mustangs, and always have an argument against the greasers. The main character in S. E. Hinton’s book “the Outsiders” is Ponyboy Curtis. He has two older brothers Darry and Soda. Pony is 14 years old and his best friend, Johnny, is 16 years old. S. E. Hinton wrote “the Outsiders” when she was 17 years old. Her book was published in 1967. The

The Outsiders is a novel written by Susan Eloise Hinton, also known as S.E Hinton. The setting of the story takes place in the 1960s. The Outsiders is written in first person view, by Ponyboy Curtis. The story revolves around the greasers and Socs. The Socs are the west side rich kids, they wrecked houses and “threw beer blasts for kicks”. While the Greasers were the east side kids, they “drove old souped-up cars, held up gas stations and had gang fights once in a while.” One of the conflicts the characters face is man vs man, which is because the greasers and Socs don’t get along, this is because they feel superior to each other. They both had different ways of lives, they did different things for fun, and they did not understand each other. This conflict was later resolved towards the end of the story when Ponyboy speaks to Randy about no longer fighting after Bob’s death.

“The functions of intellect are insufficient and useless if you are without courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy,” says a quote by Dean Koontz. Throughout S.E. Hinton’s book The Outsiders, there are many themes that she conveys in the book as she narrates the experiences of a greaser named Ponyboy who is a member of the Social group (Socs). Ponyboy meets many people and witnesses many difficult situations throughout the book. This inspirational book teaches the reader crucial lessons that are very important for everyone, even if their lives are not anything like Ponyboy’s. Three important themes in the book include friendship, courage and empathy.

The Outsiders is a book that changed the style of young adult writers because it went off from the genre that young adult writer were using during that time period. The reader sees the everyday problems that teenagers were going through, “I can’t take much more

In addition, Hinton’s allocation of Ponyboy as the narrator aids the novel in being well-read through several eras. Readers observe his bildungsroman, much like teenagers from any generation will have to do in their own lives. Near the end of the novel he expresses his feelings about the Socs, saying, “Socs were just guys after all. Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too” (Hinton 118). Because it does not matter whether the adolescent reader comes from the same time period of the novel or from today’s society, this fictional journey is especially significant. Without the point of view of Ponyboy, The Outsiders would be a novel that may not shape an adolescent’s reading experience as significantly as it does; furthermore, another relevant literary device in use is symbolism.

I read “The Outsiders” for REHUGO. The Outsiders tells a story about a teen named Ponyboy Curtis, his friends, his family, and the Socs. Ponyboy, his two brothers, and his friends are greasers, a term that refers to the men on the East Side. The East Side is the poor side of town which is where they live and aren’t the most liked. Ponyboy and his greaser friend get into trouble and end up running away. They stay at a church and end up accidentally setting it on fire. Ponyboy gets out uninjured but his friend doesn’t. After he comes back home his world starts to crumble.