The Outsiders

THE OUTSIDERS, by S. E. HINTON The Author: Susan Eloise Hinton wrote the novel The Outsiders when she was 16 years old. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was a publishing author by the age of 17. She has always enjoyed reading but wasn satisfied with the literature that was being written for young adults, which influenced her to write novels like The Outsiders. When she wrote this book the publishers suggested that she use her name as S. E. Hinton, so that readers wouldn know that a woman had written a book about boys and gangs. That book was her first novel and brought her a lot of publicity fame and also a lot of pressure.

The settings: The story happened in the 1950s in the US and lasted a few days. The author usually describes every part of the day of the young Ponyboy. The story has no time descriptions so nobody knows how long the story does really last but presumably not very long.

The main characters: Ponyboy Curtis is a 14-year-old Boy who lost his parents in a car accident and lives with his older brothers Darry and Sodapop. He is an intelligent and perceptive boy and a good student and athlete, but most people at his school think hes a bad guy like the rest of his Greaser friends. He often reads books and goes to the cinema but nobody in his gang has the same interests so he does the things he likes alone. He is someone who often thinks about life and who studies people around him and draws conclusions about them. Apart from that he often thinks about the differences between the Greasers and the Socs and sometimes he can t understand either. He is the narrator. Very clever and does good at school. He is close to Sodapop but not to Darry. Ponyboy fails to be independent, free willed character because he continues to play it safe. Has a lot of fights with Darry because he is very concerned about Ponyboy. In the end when Ponyboy realizes that Darry really loves him a lot they make up with each other. Johnny Cade is Ponys closest friend and the gangs pet. His parents are alcoholics and don t care about him. He is afraid of walking along in the streets after being attacked by a group of Socs. He is a nice and calm boy who is looking for love, which he only gets in the gang.

He is the gang s pet. When he was a little child he got abused by his parents. He is very sensitive but his parents doesn t take care of him so the gang is like a family to him. Since he was nearly beaten to death by the Socs he always carries a switch blade with him. He died dignified for the life of the kids in the church. The plot: The book is about the growing up and the growing conflict between poor and rich social classes; the Greasers always live on the outside and need to watch their backs, Greasers haven t got much money to live and have long hair that they grease, which is their symbol and the Socs (Socials) who drive Mustangs and Corvairs and who live a perfect life. The story is written from the point of view of a 14-year-old ...