The Outsiders

The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton

Penguin Group

1967

                     S.E. Hinton was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When she first started writing she wasn't satisfied with the literature that was being written for children, and thus decided to write The Outsiders which helped her to become a famous author. It is said that she is the voice for youth of the modern day.

                     The Outsiders is about two special class groups known as the "greasers" and the "socs." Ponyboy is the main character in this story-- he tells about his whole life as a "greaser." About the middle of the book Johnnycake and Ponyboy get into some trouble with the "socs"-- Johnnycake ends up killing one of them by accident. They go into hiding in an old church in a little town called WinnDrixville. The church catches on fire while there are young kids inside. Johnny and Ponyboy go to save them and get wounded in all the mess. Towards the end Ponyboy begins to fail classes because of all the events that happened (with Johnny & Dally's deaths). Ponyboy's English teacher asks him to write a themed paper and then you notice at the end of the book his paper is the whole book.

                 One of my favorite things in this book is the poem that Ponyboy recites by Robert Frost.

"Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

He early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

The leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down today.

Nothing gold can stay."

              I would highly recommend this book to anyone who may have trouble finding their "identity." This book is very good for 8th and 9th grades. It helps them to find out who they truly are.  This book really helps that it's not about who your friends are, but rather what your own heart makes of you. Again, thank to Mrs. Matthews for being the first to introduce me to this book.