Ella Andersen-Solas7 Aodhan pl.

CHARLES QLD 4017

27 February

Mrs Lois OReilly

Principal, Indooroopilly State High School

Ward street

Indooroopilly QLD 4068

Dear Mrs OReilly,

I am writing to inform you that I strongly believe that The Outsiders should remain a part of our curriculum, because it is a positive influence on students. It teaches morals and ethics, such as gallantry and loyalty, which will be followed through with and valued in later life. It also contains many aspects of life that are relevant, since the characters are real people in a real place and not fairy-tale characters in a fake world, with events that would never happen. Finally, because this novel is well written, age appropriate and has the great literary style of a younger author, it could be considered inspirational to teenage students.One of the many positive things about this novel is that the characters are relatable and have good morals. Ponyboy, the protagonist, and his friend Johnny, discuss the characters in a novel, Gone With the Wind, to whom they aspire. They admire the Southern gentlemen, Impressed with their manners and charm (and) because they were gallant.(p75-76) The boys then begin to compare the characters to their friends, and how they were gallant for looking out for each other, and not betraying their family unit. Through this, they demonstrate that, although they do not have all of the same values, they strongly uphold the ones they do have, such as protecting each other and looking out for others. They have many qualities that would be admired and put in high esteems in this day and age, because they are considered rare and lacked by most people. Loyalty and reliability are among many of the values that society has lost in most of its population. Wouldnt it be good for most students of Indooroopilly to have these morals, and to stand by them? The characters would be, and sometimes are, regarded highly for these qualities and this book assists in instilling them in the young minds of the student populace.With the students at their current age level, it is hard to find an age appropriate, well-written novel that the students can relate to, especially with all the supernatural and fantasy novels that are the top-rated writing in modern times. But, with The Outsiders, this is not an issue. The main character is not living in a mythical land, with magic and heroes. He is not worlds away, he lives in this world, with the issues of this world. It is told by the author that her friend was in a similar situation to Ponyboys in the first few chapters and that inspired her to write the book. The reality of the situation only adds to the believability of the character. He has issues that the students may face, has solutions that they can grasp and he perceives the world in a way that the students share. The book was written about teenagers, by teenagers, for teenagers, and the social situation is relatable in all parts of our world. The author, S.E. Hinton, states Even today, the concept of the in-group and the out-group remains the same. (p- Interview with author) By in-group she refers to groups that are akin to the Socials, by out-group she refers to those similar the Greasers; the in are favoured, the out are not. The uniforms change, the names change but kids really grasp how similar their situations are similar to Ponyboys.(p- Interview with author) In these quotes, she demonstrates how, even when the backgrounds are different, in its core, the situation is essentially the same and all students are able to relate. The relevance of the situation is apparent and helps the kids gain an understanding of the characters and settings. By this understanding, they can easily comprehend the themes in this book, more easily than they could perceive those from another book with an older character or different setting. Even most books aimed at their age groups and reading level still dont have the complete undertone of understanding given by an author who remembers so clearly, exactly how it felt to be a teenager.This brings me to my final point; not only are the characters and situations perfectly relatable, so is the extremely inspirational author of this remarkable novel. As previously mentioned, the author was still a teenager of fifteen when she began writing The Outsiders and thus, remembered exactly how it felt to be a student of fourteen. Due to this, the main characters actions, opinions and attitudes remain appropriate to their age. Often in books written by adults yet aimed at teens, the characters will react beyond or below their age, yet this never happens in The Outsiders, due to the fact that she can remember easily, exactly how it felt to be their age. Another aspect that her age brings to attention is just how good her writing is for someone not much older than the students. To some, she could be considered extremely inspirational. It was just something to let off steamI just sat down and started writing. (p-Interview with author) When Hinton says this, she shows that she had no master-minded plans, she was just a kid annoyed at what was out of her control. Eventually it evolved into an extraordinary tale, just because she was trying to rid herself of her anger. This extremely inspirational story of the author only adds to the immense richness of The Outsiders, a brilliantly written novel.I truly believe The Outsiders should remain in the curriculum, due to the values and morals it teaches students that they can retain and uphold in future, the relevance and relatability of the story, allowing the students to understand the story and the characters, and finally, the inspirational, relatable and skilful fluency of the authors writing. All these brilliant qualities help to create the magnificent story that is The Outsiders and allow me to demonstrate that it should remain a part of Indooroopilly Highs curriculum.

Sincerely,

Ella Andersen-Solas