The Outsiders
Author’s biography:
Hinton’s full name is Susan Eloise Hinton. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 22, 1950. When she was a kid she loved to read animal stories. She wrote The Outsiders when she was 16. It remains her most famous novel.
S.E. Hinton writes popular fiction for young adults. Her realistic way of describing teenage life has brought her fans worldwide. She also wrote more teenage novels, they included That Was Then, This Is Now; Rumble Fish; Tex; and Taming the Star Runner. All these novels deal with teenagers being put through tough situations, just like The Outsiders.
Summary: The story begins with Ponboy, a greaser, which is a group of people of the lower class that uses grease on their hair. Pony lives with his two brothers, Sodapop and Darry, their parents died in a car accident. In town, there’s also another group called the Socs (Socials), they are the upper class. One night, Pony, Johnny and Dally (all of them greasers) went to the movies, Dally started harassing some Soc girls until Johnny tells him to stop and he goes away, then the girls, Marcia and Cherry, tell them to sit beside them to protect them. Two Bit arrives and the three greasers and the two Socs begin walking towards Two Bit’s house. On their way they encounter the two girls’ boyfriends, Bob and Randy, and they go with them to prevent a fight between the gangs.
Ponyboy got home late so Darry was angry at him and hit him, so Pony ran off with Johnny to the park. Bob and Randy with a group of Socs found them there and tried to attack them, but Johnny used his knife to stab Bob and they all went away and left him bleeding to death. Terrified they went to Dally who sent them on a trip to the country where they hid in a church for one week while doing things to their appearance as a disguise.
Dally finally checks up on them and they go to eat, while eating Johnny says he wants to go back to town and turn himself in. When they were coming out they saw the church burning down so they went to see what was happening. A group of children was inside the burning place and the three of them went to the rescue. Pony got out almost fine, Dally burnt his arm but he’s okay, Johnny got his back broken by the falling roof and pretty serious burns so he’s in critical condition.
The three of them get back to their hometown in ambulances, with Ponyboy and Dally proclaimed as heroes in the newspaper and Johnny getting charges for manslaughter, it also states that Pony and Dally will go to court so that a judge decides if they go to a boys’ home.
When Ponyboy goes to the hospital to visit Johnny and Dally, he realizes Johnny is in a much worse state, Dally on the other hand can’t wait to fight in the rumble, a fight among greasers and Socs.
At the rumble, the greasers defeat the Socs, after the fight Ponyboy and Dally went to visit Johnny and find out he’s dying. Dally stormed out and went to rob a store, he pointed a gun at the police and they killed him. Ponyboy got home and told the others that Johnny died and when he realizes Dally is dead too he passes out.
Pony wakes up in bed at home having been out for seven days due to a concussion from the rumble. He attends his hearing, where the judge decides he can stay with his brothers and that he’s not responsible for Bob’s death.
The situation in Pony’s house gets worse and tense, Soda tells Ponyboy that he wants Dally and him to stop fighting. They finally agree and Pony finds that for the first time he can remember his friends’ deaths without pain. They all understand the value of family and Pony decides to tell their story at school, he writes a term paper that ends up being the story itself.
Favorite character: Our favorite character is Darry, because we really like the way he cares about his two younger brothers despite the fact that he isn't their father and he isn’t much older either.
Character we disliked: We didn't dislike any specific character but a group. We disliked the group that was with Bob when they attacked Johnny and Pony, because they left their friend (Bob) there to die alone.
Conclusion/recommendation:
We would recommend this book, firstly due to the fact that it is a classic, and secondly because it is an interesting book that shows a good example of friendship and sticking together with the ones that you care about. While the book is sometimes slow in its storytelling, we think it delivers a simple plot but sufficiently engaging for most people.
By Juan Sebastián Mengual S.
and Andrés Sandoval T.
Step 11 Blue
