If you've ever run up against a brick wall trying to talk to a classmate who doesn't have the same interests as you, you'll connect with The Outsiders. And that is just the beginning. Family ties, feelings of insecurity, cliques, gangs, teen violence and a good, old-fashioned battle of right vs. wrong are all themes that have helped make this book an enduring classic for over forty years.
AN INTRODUCTION
S.E. Hinton’s classic The Outsiders (Dell Publishing, 1967, ISBN: 0-670-53257-6) follows Ponyboy and his band of Greasers, as they try to live their lives and survive with all the stereotypes around them. They are the enemy of the other gang, the Socs (short for “socials”). The Socs have everything they could ever need and more – and that goes for attitude as well. The Greasers may look like a tough group to encounter, but as the story progresses, the reader sees that things are not always as they seem. The Greasers are a tight-knit group would who do anything for one another, and often do.
THE TWIST
Little Johnny, one of the youngest of the gang, accidentally kills a Soc in a fight one night, and Johnny and Ponyboy have to run. The story follows Ponyboy and Johnny as they try to avoid being caught and try to deal with the inner turmoil over what has just happened. However the story also follows Ponyboy’s two brothers: Sodapop and Darrell. Darrell is the oldest, and often his rough exterior and treatment of his brothers Ponyboy in particular, make them feel like he doesn’t care for them. However through this trial, Ponyboy learns it is just the opposite.
The Greasers also learn a powerful lesson here: that pain affects people all the same, whether they are a Greaser or a Soc. As Ponyboy has a female friend who is dating a Soc, he gets a slight peek into their world and realizes their pain at the loss of a friend is just as great as the Greaser’s pain when they lose a good man. The book ends with a twist, and each of the Greasers get to show that there is more to their character than what meets the eye, by performing heroic rescues, helping out a friend (even if it means putting his own life in jeopardy) and showing people that you truly love them.
THE AUTHOR
Susan Eloise Hinton was born in Tulsain 1950. She lives a very private life now, and reveals little of her past, as she enjoys spending time at home reading and horseback riding with her husband, and visiting with her son when he comes home to visit from college. She has written ten books in her career, six of them young adult books. Next to The Outsiders, her most popular book is Rumble Fish, and both of these have been made into movies in which Hinton makes cameo appearances. One thing readers may not know about Hinton: The Outsiders was published when she was just seventeen years old.
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