S.E.Hinton:“The Outsiders“

°a fantastic novel especially for the youth (of every country)

°read it and you will be fascinated by the style,by the topic and by the characters who are really  close to life

°about the author: ”The Voice of the Youth”

 °one of the most popular& well-known writers of young

    adult fiction

   °born in Tulsa,Oklahoma(~1950),still lives there

    °son:Nick(*August 1983)

     °husband:David

      °at 17:first novel-“The Outsiders”(1967)

       °1971:”That Was Then,This Is Now”

        °1975:”Rumble Fish”(shortest novel)

         °1979:”Tex”

          °1988:YASD/SlJ Author Achievement Award

           °1988:”Taming the Star Runner”

            °1995:”Big David,little David”&latest release:

              “The Puppy Sister”-both for children

 1.1          

°to sum up: ”The Outsiders”,written by S.E.Hinton,published in 1967,deals with the problem of the society's treatment with street-fights,crime and murders among the members of the two hostile gangs:thegreasers and the socs!

Ponyboy,the main character of this fictional text,a teenage greaser lives on the poorer side of town,only with his two elder brothers Darry and Sodapop,because his parents died in a car accident.

The book is about his struggles to overcome the problems in his life with his family,his friends,the constant battle between greasers and socs,and most importantly,accepting who he is.

The big trouble begins in an Oklahoma neighboorhood when Ponyboy and some members of the greasers go to a drive-in cinema,where they meet Marcia and Cherry,members of the rich socs and girlfriends of two of them.They spend the evening with them and because of that ”big fault” the girls' boyfriends want to have a revenge of Ponyboy and his friend Johnny.

They,the socs,try to drown them and Johnny,who does not want Ponyboy to die,gets scared and stabs one soc,named Bob.

After this act of self-defense they hide in a church of a small town.There they become heroes for saving many kids out of the burning church.During this rescue Johnny brakes his back and is crippled for the rest of his life.The two gangs decide to have a decisive fight,”the remble”,in which the greasers win and so get back their side of town.

Some hours after the fight Johnny dies in hospital.Johnny's death is the reason for Dally,also a greaser,not see any more sense in life and so he roles out a store and lets himself shoot by the police.

After reshaping all these events in his mind,Ponyboy becomes delirious and when he wakes up he starts to write his story down...

1.2

setting:°set in the 1950’s in Oklahoma

        °mostly on the eastside of the town where the                                   

          greasers live

       °in autumn

1.3

“The Outsiders”  -Susan Eloise Hinton’s first novel

                   -got a lot of publicity&fame for

                    that

                  -in March 1983-the movie of this

                   novel was released

                 -with a great cast,like Matt Dillon,

                  Tom Cruise & Patrick Swayze

1.4:about the special kind of language

     *many slang expressions:to crack-to read

                                 to wreck-to destroy

                                 nup-no

                                 taff-cool

     *many visual expressions:“bore Darry to death”(p.9)

                                  “he attracts girls like honey draws

                                   flies”(p.19)

                                  “would die of shock”(p.122)

                                  “middle of nowhere”(p.81)

                                  “fun to swipe everything that isn’t

                                   nailed down”(p.22)

                                  “that made the hairs on the back

                                   of my neck stand up”(p.42)

      *similes:”ears like a lynx”(p.17)

      *adverbs:loudly,slowly,tirely,wistfully…

      *exact descriptions of outward appearance

      *double negotiations

ÞÞÞÞÞ°typical language of youth,kind of street expressions

        °written in everyday language(colloquial)

        °easy to read&to understand(especially for youngsters)

1.5:tasks/first read this!

p.50: “It ain’t fair! I cried passionately.”It ain’t fair that we have all the rough breaks!”I didn’t know exactly what I meant,but I was thinking about Johnny's father being a drunk and his mother a selfish slob(…)It just didn’t seem right to me."

p.23:”Why did the socs hate us so much?”

p.131:”Sixteen years on the street and you can learn a lot.But all the wrong things,not the things you want to learn.Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot.But all the wrong sights,not the sights you want to see.”

p.141:”What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is a reputation for being a hood,and having greasy hair?I don’t want to be a hood,but even if I don’t steal things and mug people and get boozed up,I’m marked lousy.Why should I be proud of?Why should I even pretend to be proud of it?”

So you can get some closer to the character.How will Ponyboy build up his future?° will he be in a gang?,°will he study?,°will he ever get arrested?-What do you think?(let him write a letter to one of his brothers,in the age of thirty)

Or:read this letter from Sodapop to Ponyboy and find out the literary devices I described!(afterwards you can check the solution!)

p.89:”Ponyboy,Well,I guess you got in some trouble,huh?Darry and me nearly went nuts when you ran out like that.Darry is awful sorry he hit you.You know he didn’t mean it.And then you and Johnny turned up missing and what with that dead kid in the park and Dally getting hauled into the station,well,it scared us something awful.The police came by to question us and we told them as much as we could.I can’t believe little old Johnny could kill somebody.I know Dally knows where you are,but you know him.He keeps his trap shut and won’t tell me nothing.Darry hasn’t got the slightest notion where you’re at and it’s killing him.I wish you’d come back and turn your selves in but I guess you can’t since Johnny might get hurt.You sure are famous.You got a paragraph in the newspaper even.Take care and say hi to Johnny for us.”

1.6:

 °main topic of this novel is  

   crime(gang-

fights,murders,robbing)

 °it’s also a current topic in

  america as you can see here:

 °much crime of youth

 °over 2 thousands suicides a year

 °60 percent were firearm-related suicides

 °over 2,500 murders a year

 °5 percent of students in grades 9 to 12 reported

  carrying a weapon

 °every year more arrestings

 °more than 840,500 gang members were estimated to

  be active in the U.S.A.

 °during the 1998 to 1999 school year,34 school-aged

  children were murdered in or around school ground

 °many fights of rap musicans(like Notorious B.I.G and

  2Pac)

 1.7:

socs greasers

°rich and middle class °well organized °clean-shaven °”beatle”-haircuts °striped shirts  and light-red or tan-coloured jackets °west-side °big cars

°fairly poor&working class °not organized °look hoody °long hair °blue jeans and T-shirts °leather jackets,boots °east-side °old-souped-up cars

°Bob-who was killed °Steve Randle(Randy)-his friend(17) °Cherry Valance-Bob’s girlfriend(“sympathic,warm girl”) °Marcia

°Ponyboy Michael Curtis(14) -very intelligent,put up a year in junior school,not rough,likes to read(…) °Darrel Shayne Curtis,jr.(Darry-20) -the leader,who has had to forgue an education so that he can support&raise his two younger brothers °Soda(Sodapop)Patrick Curtis(16) °Two-Bit(Keith Marthens 18,5) °Dally(Dallas)Winston(17) °Johnny Cade(16)

Solution:

*"huh"-onomatopoeia

         *"nearly"-adverb

         *"keeps his trap shut"-colloquial

           expression

         *"won’t nothing"-double negotiation

         *"little old"-juxtaposition

àonly some examples;you perhaps can find  more