FREE ESSAY ON THE OUTSIDERS

THE OUTSIDERS

The Outsiders
Introduction
In this book analysis, about the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton I 
will discuss character and plot development, as well as the setting, the 
author's style and my opinions about the book. In this part of the 
analysis I will give some information about the subjects of the book, 
and about the author.
The author wrote the story when she was just 16 years old, in the 1950s. 
The book was successful, and it was sold, and still being sold, in many 
copies as a young adults novel. There was a movie made about it, and 
today there are still many schools that use this book in junior high and 
high schools for English classes. There were plays made about the book 
too. The Outsiders is about a gang. They live in a city in Oklahoma. 
Ponyboy Curtis, a 14 year old greaser, tells the story. Other characters 
include Sodapop and Darry, Ponyboy's brothers, Johnny, Dallas, and 
Two-Bit, that were also gang members and Ponyboy's friends. This story 
deals with two forms of social classes: the socs, the rich kids, and the 
greasers, the poor kids. The socs go around looking for trouble and 
greasers to beat up, and then the greasers are blamed for it, because 
they are poor and cannot affect the authorities. I hope you would enjoy 
and learn something about the book from reading this analysis.
Plot Development
The plot development in the book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, was 
easy to follow. In this part of the book analysis I will give some more 
details about the plot development. There were no hooks or hurdles in 
the beginning of the book, the first sentence starts right away with the 
plot-without any forewords. This is the beginning of the first sentence: 
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the 
movie house... (page 9). As you can see, it goes straight to the point 
without any prologues or any kind of introduction. The plot development 
in the middle of the story was sensible and easy to understand. It was 
clear and simple, and the events have occurred in a reasonable order. 
The ending of the story was a bit expected. I anticipated the death of 
Johnny because a broken neck usually means death. The death of Dally was 
not as predictable as Johnny's death because it was said that: He was 
tougher than the rest of us-tougher, colder, meaner. (page 19). I did 
not think that such a tough person would get himself killed because of a 
death of a friend, although it was said a short time before the death of 
Dally that: Johnny was the only thing Dally loved. (page 160). The 
climaxes at the end of the story were the deaths of Johnny and Dally. 
Here are quotations about the deaths: Johnny's death: The pillow seemed 
to sink a little, and Johnny died. (page 157). Dally's death: He was 
jerked half around by the impact of the bullets, then slowly crumpled 
with a look of grim triumph on his face. He was dead before he hit the 
ground. (page 162).
To conclude I can say that the plot development was simple and easy to 
understand and to follow. The author organized it in a way that fits the 
actual content of the plot.
Character Development
The characters in the book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, were not 
very heroic-they were just humans-it was easy to believe that this is 
the way they should be. The characters in the plot give the reader a 
feeling this can be a true story. The author has created the personality 
of the characters through the descriptions of Ponyboy-the narrator-and 
through their actions. Following are some examples of these methods of 
getting familiar with a character. Here is an example for a description 
of Ponyboy: Steve Randle was seventeen, tall and lean, with thick 
greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls. He was cocky, smart, 
and Soda's best buddy since grade school. Steve's specialty was cars... 
(page 17). The reader can find this kind of descriptions almost 
everywhere in the story, but especially in the beginning. I think the 
author put them there because the reader does not know the characters, 
and he needs to get familiar with them. The descriptions make the reader 
know the characters better and understand their actions. A good example 
of an action that was taken and suggested something about a character is 
the way Dally was killed. He wanted the police to kill him, so he robbed 
a store, and the police officers shoot him. This shows that Dally was 
sensitive to a death of a friend although he acted like a tough guy. The 
dialogues in the stories show the thoughts and the feelings of the 
speakers. The way the gang members talk shows that they are gang members 
and street boys, because they speak in street slang. When the socs talk 
to greasers, the reader can feel their aversion to them. Following are 
some examples for dialogues that indicate something about the 
characters. Here is an example for a dialogue with slang in it: ...so I 
can 
still help Darry with the bills and stuff...Tuff enough. Wait till I get 
out...I told you he don't mean half of what he says... (page 26). The 
highlighted words and phrases are ones that will not be used in formal 
writing and they even contain grammar mistakes. Here is an example for 
the hate the socs have to the greasers: 'Hey, grease,' one said in an 
over-friendly voice. 'We're gonna do you a favor, greaser. We're gonna 
cut all that long greasy hair off.' (page 13). The reader can feel the 
hatred of the socs to the greaser in this dialogue when they tell him 
what they are going to do to him. The central figure of the story is 
Ponyboy that is also the narrator. Here I would analyze his character. 
The physical description of Ponyboy can be found in the first page of 
the book, page 9: I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray 
eyes. I wish they were more gray, because I hate most guys that have 
green eyes, but I have to be content with what I have. My hair is longer 
than a lot of boys wear theirs, squared off in back and long at the 
front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely 
bothers to get a haircut. Besides, I look better with long hair. He is 
smart, according to page 12: ...I make good grades and have a high IQ 
and everything.... He is a bit naive sometimes, like in page 45 when he 
tried to convince himself that the only difference between socs and 
greasers is that greasers like Elvis and do not like the Beatles and 
socs like the Beatles and do not like Elvis. Sometimes, Ponyboy is 
daydreaming and not connected to reality, like in page 158, when he 
tried to convince himself that Johnny isn't dead: ...That still body 
back in the hospital wasn't Johnny. Johnny was somewhere else-maybe 
asleep in the lot... 
The supporting cast in the story is the gang and other characters. The 
gang members have long descriptions from Ponyboy's point of view, and 
they are part of the plot development. The other characters in the book 
do not have long descriptions, and they usually appear in small parts of 
the plot to help its development.
To conclude I can say that the characters have contributed a lot to the 
coherent development of the plot. The characters are believable and they 
enhance the feeling of realism in the story.
Setting
In this part of the book analysis about the book The Outsiders by S.E. 
Hinton I will discuss the setting. The setting is appropriate to the 
plot-the streets in the wrong side of town.The author's descriptions 
are deep but easy to understand. The neighborhood where the gang lives 
is a place that fits the plot well, and helps to understand it. A good 
example for a description would be the one in page 85, of the dawn: 
...The dawn was coming then. All the lower valley was covered with 
mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in 
small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a 
thin golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was 
touched with gold. There was a silent moment when everything held its 
breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful. This kind of 
description made an image in my mind of a beautiful dawn-this was a word 
picture.The story happens in the 1950s in the US, it lasts a few days. 
The author usually describes every part of the day using Ponyboy. The 
mood the setting creates is of the neighborhood, and street life. This 
really contributes to the judicious plot development-it makes it more 
believable and reasonable. 
To conclude I can say that the setting fits the plot and the characters 
in a very good way. This is the best setting that can be for this kind 
of plot and characters, because other setting would make the story 
ridiculous because a street gang can only fit into the streets.
Author's Style
In this part of the book analysis, about the book The Outsiders by 
S.E. Hinton, her style of writing would be discussed. The word usage in 
the dialogues between the gang members is of street slang. In the 
descriptions there are less simple words and more descriptive and 
artistic words (look at Setting and Character Development for examples). 
There is suspense in the book-usually in the middlstyle of writing would 
be discussed. The word usage in the dialogues between the gang members 
is of street slang. In the descriptions there are less simple words and 
more descriptive and artistic words (look at Setting and Character 
Development for examples). There is suspense in the book-usually in the 
middle of chapters
To conclude I can say that the author's style is easy to read and not 
complicated. Reading the book is enjoyable and there is no need to look 
up words in the dictionary.
Critic's Choice
In this part of the book analysis I will write my opinions about the 
book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The book really focuses on what 
some kids in the US have to go through. One problem is how Ponyboy has 
to grow up without parents. Another problem is that the characters are 
in a gang and at war with another gang. A problem with the family that 
was shown in the story is that kids today may have parents that are 
alive, but they might not have enough time for them. Also, kids are 
worried about not fitting in and might join gangs to act cooler. It 
also shows how if a member of a family has an injury it's tough for the 
family and friends. This happens when Johnny gets hurt and he did not 
want to see his parents. Also, it was a problem for Ponyboy because he 
was worrying about him the whole time. I think The Outsiders is an 
average book. It really does show how these things can affect a family 
and friends.The book was rather good. It would have been better if it 
was written in the 90s, and not in the 50s. This is because then young 
people that live today time can correlate with it.
I think people who enjoy action and some adventure, should read this 
book, because the action, the writing, and the adventure are powerful. 
There is always something going on. For example, when Ponyboy was 
walking through the park, and three socs came out of the bushes and 
jumped him. This is one of the many times that problems between the two 
gangs end in destruction. One other reason to read the book is that the 
end of each chapter of the book does not leave you in suspense. You do 
not have to keep reading to solve a problem. There is always something 
big going on, such as when Johnny broke his back trying to rescue 
children from a burning church. A thing that reduced the realism of the 
story was the names of the people (i e Ponyboy, Two-Bit, 
Sodapop). I have never known people with these strange names-there are 
no parents who would give their children names like these.
To conclude I can say that the book was not very good but it was not too 
bad either. The writing is clear and easy to understand.
Summary
In this part of the analysis I will give a general summary of the whole 
analysis of the book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and discuss the 
difficulties I had preparing it.I found the book hard to relate to in 
some parts because of the different time it was written in-the 1950s. A 
good example for it was that Ponyboy thought the big difference between 
socs and greasers was that the greasers loved Elvis and the socs loved 
the Beatles. Since I was not born at Elvis' and the Beatles' time and I 
do not like either of them-I cannot relate to it. The were two other 
reasons for why it was hard to relate to the book: the first reason is 
that my life is not like the lives of the characters in the book. The 
things that Ponyboy and his brother did, I would never dream of doing. 
For example, I would not beat up people or gang up on people. The second 
reason is that I think it would be hard to live a life without parents 
as Ponyboy does.
To conclude I would like to say that the book has made me see the way 
people that are living on the streets-in the wrong side of the 
town-behave and feel within themselves. It is like going behind the 
scenes of a gang.