The Outsiders

The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton, was written in the 1960's in Tulsa, Oklahoma about 14-year-old Ponyboy and his lower class gang, the Greasers, and their struggle against the higher class gang called the Socs. The novel depicts struggles that kids and young teens can grasp and relate too, which is why it has become so popular for students to read in schools. The Outsiders depicts normal, everyday people, and how they overcome the struggles and hardships life throws at them, and eventually become stronger people.

Ponyboy Michael Curtis is one of these normal people who is forced to deal with many trials to become a strong person. As the protagonist and narrator of the novel, the reader sees the events of the novel through his eyes. Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers Sodapop Patrick Curtis and Darrel (Darry) Shayne Curtis, because their parents were killed in a car accident. The three of them, along with Johnny, Dally, and a few others, make up the lower-class gang called the Greasers. He, like the rest of the Greasers, has long hair that is "squared off in back and long at the front and sides" (1). His hair defines him as a Greaser and he's proud of it since none of them can afford cars or rings to identify themselves with. The Greaser's are like his family and he cares for them as family, so when two of them die it tares him up

Ponyboy's closest friend is Johnny Cade. Even though he is 16-years-old, he is physically small for his age. Often referred to as the "gang's pet" (12), he comes from a physically and verbally abusive home. Since his parents never care if he comes home or not, most nights he sleeps at Ponyboy's house after they go to the movies. Johnny idolizes Dally, one of the most hard core Greasers, because he is the opposite of Johnny. Dally is tough and strong where Johnny is scrawny. People look up to Dally whereas Johnny's a "dark puppy that has been kicked too many times" (11). Johnny tries incredibly hard to be like him, to have people respect and fear him, and if he hadn't died at the end of the book he, like Dally, would have seen the inside of a jail cell. But Johnny was always there for Ponyboy because Ponyboy never treated Johnny like a pet. He was there when Ponyboy met Cherry at the movies and was the one who killed Bob Sheldon to save Ponyboy's live when Bob and a few other Socs were trying to drown him.

The third person who truly helped the story progress is Sherri (Cherry) Valance. Cherry is the girlfriend of Bob Sheldon, the Soc who ends up being killed by Johnny when he is trying to drown Ponyboy. She is not a typical cheerleader and she gets Ponyboy to see that the Greasers aren't the only ones who have it bad and that money has nothing to do with happiness. Not only that, she doesn't treat Ponyboy any differently than anyone else. When they went to the concession stand "Quite a few kids turned to look at us -you didn't see a kid grease and a Soc cheerleader together often. Cherry didn't seem to notice." (30) While Cherry does spy for the Greasers, she is more concerned for her own ambition to balance the power between the Socs and the Greasers and finally stop the fighting between the two gangs.

One of the characters that helped the story move along was Bob Sheldon. Bob is Cherry's boyfriend and the Soc who gets killed by Johnny when he tries to drown Ponyboy. He is the very make up of what the Socs are like "white trash with Mustangs and madras" (55). He is essential to The Outsiders because he was killed and helped lead Ponyboy to become a better, stronger person. Without Bob's death, Ponyboy would not have gone through the whole ordeal that changed him, for then Johnny and Ponyboy wouldn't have been by the church when it was burning down and saved the school children that were in it and then Johnny wouldn't have had part of the roof collapse on him and ultimately lead to his death, and if Johnny hadn't died, Dally would not have robed a store and been shot down by the police. So even though Bob was not an amazing character, he was the one who made all the cards topple over and start a domino effect that would change Ponyboy forever.

The other character that didn't so much as move the story along as give it depth was Tim Shepard. He is a Greaser but not part of Ponyboy's gang "He was one of those who enjoy being a hood" (138). He and Dally are rivals as well as friends which gives a broader picture to the story and shows that Ponyboy and his struggle against the Socs isn't the only struggle or ordeal out there and that even though the Greasers and the Socs rival each other and defiantly don't get along, there is a chance that they could bridge the gap like Tim and Dally and be rivals as well as friends.

The setting of the novel is very important because it is what shapes the characters personalities and influences every decision they make. The first important place in the novel is the first time Ponyboy gets jumped on his way home from the movie because it draws the reader into the world he lives in and shows what it's like to always be slightly afraid. It also shows how "almost as close as brothers" (3) the Greasers are to Ponyboy when Darry and Sodapop come to his rescue and he's trying to figure out what is going on and realizes it was stupid of him to walk home by himself.

The second setting of the novel is when Ponyboy and Johnny were at the church hiding and it catches on fire. "Faintly, just faintly, you could hear someone yelling. And it sounded like it was coming from inside the church." (91). All Ponyboy can think about is that he and Johnny started the fire and if the little school children died or got hurt it would be all their fault. The guilt and fear pouring through Ponyboy is tangible and makes the reader's throat contract.

The last major setting is the rumble between the Socs and the Greasers. It takes place in an empty lot with not too many lights. To Ponyboy, the setting is surreal, especially when Darry "stepped forward under the circle of light made by the street lamp. For a minute, everything looked unreal" (141-142), almost like out of one of the many movies he's seen. The events that take place in this last setting makes Ponyboy determined to take after Darry because he was "going somewhere" (138) and wasn't going to "grow up to be old hoods" (138).

These realistic characters and tangible settings is what makes the plot of The Outsiders. Every teenager who has gone though a history class knows at least a little of what it was like in the 1960's in any lower class neighborhood, and that is why picturing Oklahoma though Ponyboy's eyes is so easy.