The Outsiders

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The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel by Susan Eloise Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 14 when she began writing the novel^[1], and 16 when it was published. The book follows two rival groups, the Greasers and the Socs (pronounced by the author "so-shes", short for Socials), who are divided by their socioeconomic status.

A film version was produced in 1983, and a short-lived television series appeared in 1989, picking up the story where the movie left off.

Publication

The novel took place in at least the year 1964. Susan Eloise Hinton was 14 when she started writing it. After about two years of writing the novel, Hinton realized that her work would continue after graduation. Finally, The Outsiders was published about a year and half later while she was in college. In the movie adaption of the book, released in 1983, SE Hinton was the consultant on the film, and she and the director, Francis Ford Coppola made sure the year was evident. The two movies playing on the outdoor theater, Muscle Beach Party and Blanket Bingo, were made in 1964 and 1965, respectively.

Plot Summary

this place was divided into two part the north side and the south side.The southside was for a group of poor people called greasers, while the northside was related for a group called the Socs which are wealthy people.the Socs always wear selfich thinking that they are better than the greesers, so they always make fun of them, and sometimes say that greesers had greesy hair(which is true they did) --24.155.205.183 (talk) 03:36, 1 December 2009 (UTC) Ponyboy Curtis and his brothers, Soda and Darry, belong to a gang of poor people called Greasers. Many of them have led hard lives already, and they are tough, angry and unforgiving. They often fight with the Socs, the group of wealthy, privileged boys who beat them up for fun. Ponyboy is shy and quiet. He gets good grades and likes to draw and read. Darry takes care of the family, since their parents died in a car crash. He is very serious, works most of the time, and is very hard on Ponyboy. He often yells at him to do better in school. Sodapop, the middle brother, is happy most of the time, and is very handsome and likable. The family often gets into fights over Ponyboy's future.

There are a few other members of their gang--Dallas Winston "dally", Keith Matthews"two-bit", Steve Randle and Johnny Cade. Dally is one of the oldest, and certainly the toughest of the Greasers. He seems to enjoy being a criminal and thinks that the law is a joke. Two-Bit has a prodigious sense of humour, got a black handled switch-blade which he stole, and jokes around a lot. Steve is Soda's best friend and they work at the same gas station, a DX. Johnny is lives with parents that dont care about him, so he doesnt care either were he is or was, or what doing or done....he is even shyer than Ponyboy but older. His parents abuse him, so he always seems scared. Johnny is the group's "pet". Recently, Johnny was jumped by a Soc wearing heavy rings.(maybe bob) Since then, Johnny carries a switchblade. One night, Dally, Johnny and Ponyboy go to see a movie and meet two Soc girls, Cherry Valance and Marcia. Ponyboy realises that Cherry is nothing like any Soc he has met before. Dally leaves after johnny telling him too because cherry got realy pissed off at him for always talking stupid things.then and then Two-Bit comes along. On the way home, Cherry's boyfriend Bob Sheldon and Marcia's boyfriend Randy Adderson catch them with Johnny, Two-Bit and Ponyboy and think that the boys were trying to "pick them up". It turns out that Cherry's boyfriend is the same boy who beat Johnny up. Marcia and Randy leave after Bob and Cherry threaten to start a fight, even though Two-Bit wants to. Ponyboy and Johnny go to the Greasers' hideout, a vacant parking lot, later that night. Johnny asks Ponyboy if he knows somewhere where there are just ordinary people, and no fights and Ponyboy says that he does. He, Darry and Soda often went into the countryside with their parents before their parents died. While thinking about this, both boys fall asleep on the grass sitting on a piece of cardboard.though they did and wake up several hours later. Ponyboy comes in and gets into such a fight with Darry and darry hits him across the face hard. Ponyboy bolts out of the house and runs back to Johnny, The boys go into the park just to cool off, but Bob, Randy and three other Socs find Ponyboy and Johnny there. They nearly drown Ponyboy in a fountain. Terrified and angry, Johnny stabs Bob with his switchblade, killing Bob and scaring the other four Socs away.ponyboy throws up after he sees bob on the floor dead.they walk off. The two boys run to find Dally, knowing he will know what to do.dally was at a friends house shirtless but he said he was asleep.. He gives them money and a loaded gun and tells them to hide in a church a short distance out of town. They stay there for a few days, reading to each other and talking about poetry and sunsets. (Johnny is thoughtful like Ponyboy, and they get along very well.) When Dally comes to find them, he takes them to get some food and then reveals that Cherry has become a spy for the greasers. Johnny tells Dally that he wants to turn himself in, but before they can, the church catches fire and several small children are trapped inside.

Without thinking, Johnny and Ponyboy rescue them, but a large piece of burning wood falls on Johnny and breaks his back. Dally rescues Johnny from the burning church, burning his own arm along the way. Ponyboy spends a short time in the hospital, then gets to go home. The next evening there is a big fight (rumble) between the greasers and the Socs, which the greasers win. Randy does not fight because he is sick of all the hate and anger around him. Cherry being a spy for the greasers pleases Ponyboy but also angers him: he doesn't want charity. After the rumble, Dally and Ponyboy go to see Johnny, who dies, telling Ponyboy to 'stay gold'. Dally is overwhelmed, and runs out of the hospital. Soon after, back at home, Darry and the others get a phone call from Dally, who has robbed a grocery store. The boys run out to find him and hide him, but the police are chasing him. Dally pulls out a gun. Ponyboy knows it isn't loaded, but he also knows that Dally knows the police think it is. The police shoot Dally down, and Ponyboy knows Dally wanted to die. Ponyboy faints and stays sick for nearly a week. Ponyboy is assigned to write a theme for his language arts class. Darry and Pony argues because Ponyboy wanted to go for a ride while he didn't do anything for the theme. This upsets Soda, so he runs out the house. Darry and Ponyboy catch up to him and Soda says that the fights between Darry and Pony is forcing him to take sides. Sodapop and Darry resolve to not fight a lot. Instead of Darry and Pony pulling Soda apart, Soda brings them in. Ponyboy finally decides to write his English assignment about everything that has happened since the beginning of the book, and it is hinted at that the book is Ponyboy's English assignment, because he starts with exactly the same line as the beginning of the story; 'When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.'

Children and Young Adult Literature portal

References

External links

• The Outsiders at the Internet Movie Database
• S.E. Hinton website
• Officaily Recognized Site