The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton
Penguin Group, 1967, 180 pp., $6.99
ISBN 0-14-038572
You may think all tough gang members are only callous and have no emotions, but the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton will make you think differently. The Outsiders is narrated by my favorite character, a 14-year-old boy named Ponyboy Curtis. He is shy and quiet, but part of a rough and tough gang called the Greasers. The Greasers are a group of not so smart and quite poor boys. The Greasers’ rival gang is the Socs, short for Socials. The Socs are a group of wealthy boys who like to pick fights with the Greasers for fun. One night Ponyboy and his best friend Johhny, who also is a Greaser, get into a very dangerous situation with the Socs. This situation forces Johnny and Ponyboy to do something that will change their lives forever, but with the love and loyalty from the other Greaser gang members they will get through it together.
The Outsiders has a wide variety of themes. The Greasers had to overcome many hard situations and through the themes in the story we saw how they overcame them. Of the many themes, the one that stood out the most to me was brotherhood. When Ponyboy and Johhny got into a dangerous situation none of the members of the gang gave up on them. The “brothers” showed love and support to them during this hard time. Even when the Greasers would get beat up by the Socs they would help each other out and care for one another.
Hinton’s ideas for the book were outstanding! There were many characters in the book and she showed each of their personalities clearly and detailed. I felt as if I was a member of the gang, right there alongside each character going through their problems with them. I could picture each character in my mind, from Hinton’s descriptive writing. For example, Ponyboy’s brother, Sodapop cared and stuck up for Ponyboy a lot. I could feel the bond between the two brothers just from the way Hinton made them talk to each other. Another one of the main characters Dallas Winston, otherwise known as Dally, is the toughest greaser in the gang. He lives a hard life: his parents don’t care about him anymore; he has gone to jail many times; and he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. As the story goes on we see another side come out of Dally. Hinton showed both sides of Dally very detailed and realistically.
The Outsiders wasn’t just about gang violence and fighting, it had drama, humor and friendship all wrapped into the story. I would recommend The Outsiders to anyone who likes more than one emotion in a book and to those who like to see people go through struggles together, as a family would. The Outsiders is a must read!
~ reviewed by Anna S.
