Topic 1: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Outsiders

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Puffin Books, 1997. ISBN: 014038572x.

When S. E. Hinton wrote THE OUTSIDERS, she created a cast of characters so realistically complex, the reader roots for “hoodlums.” The life that her main characters, Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, have lived has not been ideal. Ponyboy lives with his brothers, Darryl and Soda Pop, one a former jock and the other a gas station attendant. Johnny’s parents are always fighting and neither ever notice that he slips out of his house. The bright spot in the boys’ lives are the guys they hang out with: Steve Randle, Two-Bit Mathews, the Curtis Brothers and Dallas Winston. Where Ponyboy’s friends are poor, the rival gang known as the Socs, are rich boys in fancy cars. When Pony and Johnny meet Cherry Valance, the girlfriend of the leader of the Socs’, the tensions between the two factions begins to boil. Hinton’s story takes a dramatic turn with a vivid, heart-pounding scene where things go too far, so far that it ends in murder. “The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.” (Amazon.com) But the story for Ponyboy and Johnny does not end there. While in hiding, Johnny and Ponyboy teach each other about life, growing up and the contradictions in oneself.

Hinton’s story looks at friendship, change, loyalty and the meaning of true heroism. Though the story was written over thirty years ago, the compelling relationships between Ponyboy and those around him still draw readers in. The language Hinton used to create these connections was authentic and honest. The effect is a naïve, yet surprisingly jaded main character/narrator. A mix of loss and hope, the story juxtaposes the hope of Ponyboy with the hopelessness of Dally Winston. Ponyboy’s hope lies in the story that he has written and shares first with his “English teacher.” (Hinton, 180.) Dally, on the other hand, loses his hope at the moment Johnny dies, and he falls prey to his despair.

Ultimately Hinton shows that though the main characters are “hoodlums,” they are not without goodness or deep felt emotions. This book is considered a “classic” (Amazon.com) and still offers readers an opportunity to put themselves in the place of young men and women that they might not have had a chance to meet in their lives.

Reference list:

Amazon.com. 2004. “Review of The Outsiders.”Available at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/014038572X/103-7648602-2759857. Last Accessed 12 September 2004.

Hinton, S. E. 1967, 1995. The Outsiders. New York:Viking Books; Penguin Books, 1997.