"The Outsiders" by S. E Hinton is an early novel based on two waring
juvenile gangs, divided by economical and social background, the lower East side
Greasers and the upper West side Socs. The novel is set in 1966 in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. It is a novel written in first person by a 14 year old Greaser,
Ponyboy Curtis who allows us an insight into the lifestyles of these distinct
worlds. I chose the novel "The Outsiders" as a text for year 10 for
the following reasons: It is a novel which draws the reader in and allows the
reader to understand a lifestyle alien to them. Even though the novel is set in
1966, it is a novel that's theme can be found in any society and time period.
The student can relate to this novel, because the narrator of the story is their
own age and reflects many problems that they themselves may run into someday.
The language of the text is easily understood as are the themes in the story. It
contains themes that would interest a young mind, showing many students the
seedier side of life. What it would be like to live under such circumstances in
constant fear of their lives. It deals with gang warfare, alcohol, drugs, child
abuse, murder, survival and growing up. These are areas that a pubescent
teenager can easily lose themselves in. It forces the reader to realise that in
many cases teenagers have no choice in what lifestyles that are born into in
this case either becoming the rich kid or the kid from the wrong side of the
tracks. The novel has been incorporated into a Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 movie
adaptation, starring many popular young actors of our time. The use of both text
and movie creates a more vivid understanding and appreciation of the novel for
there are no major variations between the two texts. I believe "The
Outsiders" is a relevant novel to study as in today's society the concept
of violence is an ever present theme. It is a theme that dominates adolescents
all over the world. As to survive in today's society many adolescents are faced
with the turbulence of growing up in a volatile society and many face the
prospect of dealing with some form violence or gang warfare or know of a friend
who has. I believe students would enjoy this novel because it is about
"people roughly their own age, contemporary time, the obvious, but none the
less potent, parental relationships, challenging authority, establishing ones
own personality and future relationship with peers and sex" (Aidan
Chambers, Booktalk, Bodley Head, London, 1985.) Another obvious problem would be
is if gangs existed in the mythical school, however both problems do not occur.
The only problem to deal with is gender as females do not tend to dominate in
gang warfare, they are considered as the prize of a gang or a reason to cause a
war.