1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
A book about growing up and how complicated it can be to be on the “outside”

2. The Socs The Greasers Wealthy Fancy clothes Jocks and Cheerleaders
Popular kids at school
Spoiled
Didn’t have much money
Jeans and worn clothes
Parents weren’t around
Didn’t make great grades
Got into fights

3. Main character-Ponyboy
“You’re a nice kid, Ponyboy.” -Cherry
“I never noticed clouds and colors and stuff until you kept reminding me about them.” -Johnny
“I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman-he looks tough and I don’t-but I guess my own looks aren’t so bad.”
“I used to make A’s in English.”
“We’re poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we’re wilder, too.”
“I’ve always been kind of absent minded.”
“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”
“And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do.”

4. Other Characters Sodapop Darrell (Darry) Older Brother of Ponyboy
Jock in HS and smart
Trying to be a parent to Sodapop and Ponyboy
Middle brother
Dropped out of school
Works on cars
Best friend is Two-Bit
Happy-go-lucky
Johnny
Smallest of the Greasers
Parents hit him
Sleeps in the park sometimes
Ponyboy’s best friend
Cherry
Dallas Winston (Dally)
Older friend of Ponyboy and Johnny
Tough guy
HS dropout
Helps the boys out
A Soc
Falls for Dally
Helps out the Greasers
Becomes friends with Ponyboy

5. Setting
Tulsa, OK
Early 1960s
Drive In
The Park
The Church

6. Conflicts
1) Man vs. Man (physical) – Ponyboy and the other boys fight against the Socs with fists and knives, but they have guns and the most might
2) Man vs. Circumstances (classical) – Ponyboy struggles with the fact that he wasn’t born with money and priviledge
3) Man vs. Society (social) – Ponyboy and the Greasers struggle against the wealth and the elevated social position of the Socs
4) Man vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) - Ponyboy struggles with the trouble he feels he has caused and whether to turn himself in or not

7. Theme It doesn’t feel good to be on the ‘outside’ Life Isn’t Fair
Family relationships change and evolve
Nothing Gold Can Stay

8. Symbol-Colors Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower,
But only so an hour.
As leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief.
So dawn goes down today,
Nothing gold can stay.

9. Connections to……… Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
That was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

10. Critique
Written by Hinton as a 16 year old, so sometimes themes are oversimplistic. The world is black or white, Greaser or Soc, nothing in between.
Hinton criticized for her overly macho male characters and her rather flat and stereotypical female characters.
Very accessible to young readers. It was essentially the first young adult novel that gave a realistic look at what it was like to be a teenager.

11. Scenes from The Outsiders