The Outsiders in ENGL 596 / EDCI 551

Jan 22, 2015 Hannah Alexander rated it it was amazing

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is an unbelievably deep and heart-felt novel. Often there is a stigma attached to novels written for the “young adult” audience of which readers presume the text to have a certain level of depth and intellectual content. The Outsiders defies all stereotypes attached to young adult literature. This novel contains significant character development, symbolism, and mature themes. The theme of social class as it pertains to quality of life, and perceived quality of life ...more

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Jan 21, 2015 Nancy C rated it liked it

This was my first time reading The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and I enjoyed it very much. It was a quick and easy read. Indeed, it felt as if I was reading a personal letter from Ponyboy about what had been going on in his life--everything just came out in a rush, like he couldn't wait to tell all about it.

I understand why this book falls under the category of “young adult literature,” but I don’t believe the events that happen are credible for a boy just 14 years of age. I had the same sentime This was my first time reading The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and I enjoyed it very much. It was a quick and easy read. Indeed, it felt as if I was reading a personal letter from Ponyboy about what had been going on in his life--everything just came out in a rush, like he couldn't wait to tell all about it.

I understand why this book falls under the category of “young adult literature,” but I don’t believe the events that happen are credible for a boy just 14 years of age. I had the same sentiments about the other characters, too—their respective crises seem to be more typical of individuals at least 5 years their senior. That really bothered me in the beginning, and at times it made it difficult to comprehend the depth of the difficulties through which they were going. At other times I could tell that Ponyboy was just barely a teenager—he was always following the older guys around and often did things simply to impress them. He seemed to be greatly concerned with making his “friends” (who were often more like caretakers) consider him to be one of them. Ponyboy took great pains to make the rest of the gang believe that he truly understood them, and to get them to believe that he could keep up with their pace.

An additional factor which made this story less believable to me is the vocabulary employed by the male characters in their descriptions and addresses of the other boys. The other males were often described by Ponyboy as “gorgeous” or “handsome,” and the Curtis brothers called each other “baby,” “honey,” “darling” and other implausibly affectionate terms—all words more typically employed between the members of a couple, rather than a group of greaser gang members. At certain points, such lingo caused me to question the sexuality of the narrator, especially in passages such as Ponyboy’s descriptions of Darry:

“He stood there, tall, broad-shouldered, his muscles taut under his T-shirt and his eyes glittering like ice” (142)

Or:

“Darry had on a tight black T-shirt that showed every muscle on his chest and even the flat hard muscles on his stomach” (132).

Overall, I did enjoy this novel—it was amusing to guess what kind of mischief this gang of greasers would get into next. They were a very likable group of friends and had me cheering for them to win the rumbles against the Socs.
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Jan 22, 2015 Jung Han rated it liked it

There are several main characters that are in their adolescence. The environments they each exist in are all poor, uneducated, and violent. The greasers are a gang of poor boys who are not liked by any others and they can’t feel any interest in anything else but fighting, hating, and hanging out with each others. All that they care for is today, but not tomorrow. For them it seems that there isn’t a tomorrow different from today.
Ponyboy, a boy from the greasers who lost his parents from a car There are several main characters that are in their adolescence. The environments they each exist in are all poor, uneducated, and violent. The greasers are a gang of poor boys who are not liked by any others and they can’t feel any interest in anything else but fighting, hating, and hanging out with each others. All that they care for is today, but not tomorrow. For them it seems that there isn’t a tomorrow different from today.
Ponyboy, a boy from the greasers who lost his parents from a car accident, lived with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop. These three boys were considered to be in a middle class family until their parents died. After they lost their parents, Darry gave up going to college in order to care for his younger brothers and Sodapop also dropped out from his education to get a job. These boys don’t think about the future, filled with positivity and brilliance. They rather stick with today which is boring, tiring and cold. They also did not realize the love they had for one another until an accident that could have separated them occurred.
Ponyboy and his buddy Johnny got into a fight with the Socs, the other gang who are antagonistic towards the greasers and comprised of wealthy boys on the east side. This part of the town has a better environment and atmosphere than of the west side, which is where the greasers live in. In this fight, Johnny accidentally killed a boy from the Socs. Even though it was solely for self-defense purposes, they were scared and ran away to a small country with the help of their friend Dally. After a couple of days of hiding in a church, they came to rescue some kids from a fire in the church. After the heroic rescue from the fire, Ponyboy and Johnny finally could return to their town and proved the murder was self defense, but Johnny sadly died in the hospital due to the severe burn from the fire. In response, Dally shocked after he witnessed Johnny’s death, ran out, robbed a store, and was gunned down by a policeman.
I personally liked the way how the author described and portrayed the gang members and their personalities through the perspectives of Ponyboy. Also I liked the messages the writer sent out to its readers. The writer shows her thoughtfulness towards people from a neglected class, especially young adults in poor and deficient families. The writer’s warm eyes encourage its readers to think and care about today’s young adults and ourselves.
One thing I disliked in this book was that it was full of violence, hatred, and profanities that could influence teenagers. Even though I understood the writer’s intention to describe the story more realistically, some scenes showed excessive aggressiveness just like some adult gangster movies. Adolescence is a period of developing one’s personality and self-awareness, so all the books, movies, and its surroundings could influence them and lead to delinquencies.
Nevertheless, this novel discusses love, compassion, and hope. At the end of the story the writer says ‘’Stay gold”, and I think in this case the young adults are described as gold because they have the futures they can make brilliant regardless of which they are in the present. By staying gold, you are staying as who you really are, keeping the innocence, despite how violent and chaotic your world is.
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Jan 06, 2014 Logan rated it liked it

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Jan 22, 2015 Michelle Parsons rated it liked it

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