The Outsiders

To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight.

--ee cummings

SettingSetting Oklahoma 1960’s West Side vs. East Side of Town the drive-in theatre the lot the church at Windrixville the Curtis house the hospital

The Outsiders was written by a teenager about teenagers. The author, Susan Eloise Hinton, began writing the story when she was 15-years-old and it was finally published when she was 17-years-old, in 1967. She was advised to use a pen name, S.E. Hinton, because the publisher did not think that people would believe that a girl wrote this novel! Hinton began writing the story in response to an act of teenage violence that occurred in her hometown. The setting of the novel, Oklahoma in the 1960s, is the same setting in which Hinton wrote the book. Considered a coming-of-age novel, The Outsiders examines many social and teenage issues that were prevalent in the 1960s and are still issues today.

*What do you think “The Outsiders” means? What is an “outsider”?What do you think a “coming-of-age” novel means?*What do you think were some of the issues teenagers faced in the 1960s?*Do you think these are issues that teenagers still face today?

Characters PONYBOY CURTIS JOHNNY CADE DALLAS “DALLY” WINSTON

Ponyboy Curtis narrator good student fourteen years old likes watching sunsets and reading (Gone

with the Wind, Great Expectations, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”)

Greaser sensitive Darry says Pony lacks common sense--

doesn’t always “use his head”

Johnny CadeJohnny Cade the “pet” of the gang sixteen years old physically small lives in an abusive household has been jumped by the Socs before and

now carries a blade with him Dally is his hero stabs and kills Bob

Dally Winston tough lived in New York City has been in jail helps Pony and Johnny hide out after the

murder of Bob robs liquor store at the end and “commits

suicide” at the hands of the police

Minor CharactersMinor Characters Sodapop Curtis Darrel “Darry” Curtis Sherry “Cherry” Valance Bob Randy

Sodapop older brother works at gas station handsome carefree

Darrel “Darry” Curtis oldest brother athletic guardian of Ponyboy when their parents

die in a car crash makes chocolate cake for breakfast stern could have gone to college but had to take

care of the kids when his parents died

Cherry Valance Bob’s girlfriend cheerleader has red hair says she could fall in love with Dally acts as a spy for the Greasers says she will probably not talk to Pony if

she sees him at school--he says he understands

likes to look at sunsets too

Bob Sheldon a Soc Cherry’s boyfriend has beaten up Johnny Cade before

the novel starts wears rings on his fingers; this is how

Johnny knows Bob is the Soc who beat him up

is stabbed by Johnny

Randy Bob’s best friend After Bob’s death, he has a change

of heart about fighting visits Pony and tries to make peace

with him

Subjects (Be able to explain and support these)

FAMILY FRIENDSHIP SOCIAL DIFFERENCES VIOLENCE/GANG

RIVALRY/SENSELESSNESS OF VIOLENCE

BEING AN “OUTSIDER” / TRYING TO FIT IN

Conflicts

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                        

Man vs. Man (Ponyboy vs. Darry; Greasers vs. Socs; Johnny vs. Bob)

Man vs. Society (Socs vs. Greasers) Man vs. Himself (Dally vs. himself;

Ponyboy vs. himself) Man vs. Nature (the boys vs. the fire)

Ponyboy’s Literary World Great Expecations:

Pony compares himself to Pip from this novel; Pip, like Ponyboy, is an orphan trying to find his way in the world.

Gone with the Wind is the book the boys read while at the church. Johnny compares Dally to a Southern gentleman which is how Johnny views Dally, as a hero. At the end, the note from Johnny to Pony telling him to “stay gold” falls out of this book.

Ponyboy’s Literary World “Nothing Gold Can

Stay” is the poem that Pony and Johnny talk about at the church. The poem means that nothing good can last forever. Just as the golden times in the poem come to an end, so too must their time at the church.

To Johnny, it means to appreciate the things one finds amazing when one is young. He wants Pony (and, sadly, Dally) to look for sunsets and the good things in life.

The Ending of the Novel What makes it unique? What does it show us about the way

Ponyboy has dealt with all the events that have happened to him?

Slang Within the Novel cancer stick=cigarette JD=juvenile delinquent booze=alcohol or beer heater=hand gun fuzz=police jumped=to be attacked rumble=gang fight hoods=thugs (not Greasers) lift=to steal

Allusions (Be able to define allusion)

Paul Newman Dairy Queen Corvette/Corvair Hank Williams madras plaid drive-in theatre Gone with the Wind “Nothing Gold Can Stay”