Suicide, a hot topic among teens, is not glossed over. The importance, or lack of it, was even underscored when the main character, Ponyboy, who is only 14, is surprised when an adult tells him that he shouldn't be smoking. Whatever the reason, the treatment of the subject did not affect the telling of the story. Several reasons may explain the author's approach to smoking: The Surgeon General's report linking cigarette smoking to cancer had just come out in l964 and the implications were not widely realized the author may have believed that, inevitably, some teenagers experiment with smoking or perhaps cigarettes were just a prop to help readers better visualize the characters. The Outsiders can be termed a coming-of-age novel because of the many topics that the story deals with.Ĭigarette smoking, like many serious issues, is treated in the novel as part of everyday life. This theme is not the most important element in the story, but it is a good literary technique that allows the reader to visualize the story and internalize the intensity of the feelings that run strong in adolescents. Using colors, Hinton allows the reader to visualize the extremes and then mix them together to show that there is a middle ground. Teens are often quick to see only right or wrong in a situation. She uses contrasting colors to not only give impressions, but also to add depth to the story. Hinton does an excellent job of painting verbal pictures. Rarely is injustice seen equally by all eyes.Ī third theme that runs throughout this novel is one of colors in a black and white world. Whether life is unfair to the greasers (the main characters' perspective) or to the Socs, (the rival groups' perspective) is a question that is recurrent in the novel. The idea that life isn't fair is based entirely on one's perspective. You are not an outsider you are on the inside with at least one group. Gang membership also means that you are accepted. And that family automatically understands him, which is usually different from the family into which he was born. Two themes that run throughout this novel are intricately linked with gang philosophy.īelonging to a gang instantly gives a teen an extended family. The main characters in The Outsiders - Ponyboy Curtis, Darry Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, Two-Bit Mathews, Steve Randle, Dally Winston, and Johnny Cade - make up a small gang of greasers. The members of many small neighborhood gangs identify themselves as greasers. The novel is built around the class division between the Socs, ("the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids") and the greasers (a term that refers to the "boys on the East Side," who are "poorer than the Socs and the middle class").
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One of the most important qualities that can help teens establish their own identities is the ability to "fit in." Finding friends who understand their problems and relate to them is paramount for teenagers. Walking from the East Side to the West side would take approximately 20 minutes, according to the text, and from that information readers can infer the size. The author makes multiple references to rodeos and basic horsemanship, but those details are not as relevant as the fact that the story is set in a semi-large city. The fact that it is in Oklahoma is not necessarily a strong ingredient for the success of the story either. To know the time period helps readers understand some of the references, but it is not critical to understanding the story. The references that allow the reader to determine the era are cultural: popular musicians, television shows, and models of cars. The time period of the story is the same as the actual time it was written. This novel is set in the 1960s in Oklahoma. But this story - which was written by a teen and focuses only on teens - touches every adult who reads it because the emotions and struggles the characters face are universal. No adults figure prominently in this novel Pony and his two brothers are living on their own because their parents were recently killed in an automobile accident.
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Ponyboy takes the reader through a two-week period that will shape the rest of his life. Ponyboy Curtis is the narrator of this story, and it is through his eyes that the events unfold.
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This story deals with issues that are very close to the hearts of teens, whether in the 1960s when this book was written or today. It is told in a first-person narration style, with the narrator being a 14-year-old boy. The Outsiders was written by a teenager about teenagers.