“𝑺𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒔 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 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆.”
After World War II, the combination of increased wealth and birthrate in the United States led to a younger and more affluent population. By 1958, more than one-third of the population of the United States was under the age of 15. Film and fashion capitalized on the new adolescent market, and popular films The Wild One (1954) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955) told teens what being tough and cool looked like.
“𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏' 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖...”
By the 1960s, rebellion against the old order was in full swing, with many Americans protesting the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. In 1967, the year The Outsiders was published, almost 500,000 Americans were deployed, and war protests were common.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈.”
The Outsiders captures some of the unrest of America as a whole, but shows it in the conflict between the Socs and the Greasers in Tulsa, Oklahoma. S.E. Hinton began writing the novel at the age of 15, frustrated by social divisions in her high school and the lack of realistic fiction for teens.
“𝑫𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆.”
As much a tragedy as a coming-of-age story, Ponyboy’s narration tells how mistrust and a sense of “us-versus-them” leads ultimately to the death of three teens: Bob needlessly attacks Johnny and Ponyboy and is killed by Johnny in self-defense, Johnny dies from injuries after risking his life to rescue a child, and Dally dies after provoking a police officer to shoot him.
“𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.”
The brutality of these three teens’ deaths is jarring in how they could have been prevented. If Bob and the other Socs had realized sooner that there were more similarities than differences between themselves and the Greasers, he wouldn’t have attacked Johnny, and the other deaths wouldn’t have occurred. Though Ponyboy is the narrator, Johnny is the central character on whom the story turns.
“𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑫𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔.”
Made into a film in 1983 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Outsiders has endured in popularity, ending up on Broadway and winning the 2024 Tony Award for Best Musical. Though I wasn’t personally captivated by the novel, many teens (and adults) find it to be a classic and a must-read, evidenced by over one million ratings on Goodreads, with an average of 4.13 out of 5. I asked a few teenaged writing friends of mine for their thoughts.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒕.”
“There are so many things jam packed into this story,” Aundrea said. “The sibling relationships between Darry, Ponyboy, and Soda, the found family aspect of the Greasers, Dally’s entire character, the class divide, growing out of what you were born into (on both sides of the class divide), and of course the “stay gold” aspect. When I think of The Outsiders, I usually think of the found family because I loved it so much. But it seems like a cautionary tale of sorts, like each character is a completely different reaction to their circumstances.”
Teen author Isabella added her thoughts. “My biggest takeaway from The Outsiders is that we can sometimes guard ourselves too much, and care too little, and it can lead to self destruction, as we saw with Dally. He channeled his pain through anger and it ended up killing him.”
Joanne commented, “I think what struck me the most about The Outsiders is that there was so much conflict and so much pain in the book, but in the end, the Greasers and the Socs are all human. They’re all human, have people whom they love, family whom they want to protect, and I think this book portrays humanity in a very beautiful, broken way.”
“I loved the themes of ‘us versus them, but not really’. The fact that it walked the line between being a story of social conflict and understanding that all people are people and we have things in common. ‘We saw the same sunset’”, Haniah Avery commented. “I liked how Hinton pointed out green eyes. How Ponyboy says he doesn't like anyone with green eyes, but then he meets Cherry. He talks to her, they learn what they have in common. And guess what, she has green eyes. The realism. The raw feeling. Ponyboy is an amazing narrator. He immerses us in the world. He tells us about his universe through his lens in the best way.”
Perhaps the most memorable quote of The Outsiders is Johnny’s plea to Ponyboy to stay gold, to stay young. In a novel where all the characters are forced to grow up far too quickly, it is a poignant thought.
“𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅, 𝑷𝒐𝒏𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒚. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅 . . .”
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