Problems, whether it seems like it, or not -- everyone has them. Have you ever stopped and thought if all your worries may be someone else’s vision of the good life? You may be worrying over things like: “How do I get this girl to notice me? Will I be able to get into a good college? Will my parents be able to buy me that car I asked for?” And while you’re troubling yourself over all that, there will always be someone out there who’ll have problems like: “How do I get people to stop bullying me? Will I have something to eat today? Will Mom finally notice the bruises and tell Dad to stop beating me?” Those are the problems of more people than you think; they very well could be the problems of the people you hate the most. S.E Hilton’s The Outsiders explores among its many messages the existence of plights and misfortunes beyond our own. This book is essential reading to all adolescents because puberty is an emotionally difficult time for every teen; no matter whom you are. This book can help teens understand how they are not alone, and how their problems are not as grave as they seem.
The Outsiders was written in 1965 while S.E Hilton was still in high school. She was inspired to write The Outsiders when she witnessed one of her close friends getting beaten up by “nice” kids who didn’t like the fact that he was a greaser (a term S.E Hilton uses in The Outsiders as a symbol for the poverty stricken, and troubled youths of the 60’s). The Outsiders was first published in 1967 during the height of the greaser phenomena. The term greaser originated during the 50’s as a term for street gangs and hoods; it is made clear in the novel though that the The Outsiders’ main character Ponyboy and his group are not a hood, but just a group of friends who grew up on the wrong side of town.
The Outsidershas received a majority of positive reviews throughout its time. The Chicago Tribune quoted that the novel was “Taut with tension, and filled with drama.” One reviewer, only known by the username ‘Isknightsr1’ in www.librarything.com stated in her review that she read the novel fifteen times while she was in high school. She loved the book’s message that we humans need to understand that we have more in common with our peers than we think.
The novel begins with Ponyboy getting jumped by the Socs (a term used in the book for the high class social elite) while walking home from the movies. He gets ruffed up but is saved by his brothers and friends before the bullies could do any serious damage. He is shocked enough though, to recall the experience of his best friend Johnny who nearly got killed by the Socs a few months earlier. The boys go see a drive in movie with their friends a weekend after the incident and during the movie Ponyboy meets a Soc girl that helps him realize that not all the Socs are bad. The boy’s fortunes take a turn for the worst when later that night they are ambushed by the same Socs who beat Johnny. In their drunken rage they nearly drown Ponyboy in a park fountain when Johnny stabs one of the assailants in the back with his switchblade. This is the event that sets the tone for the rest of the novel.
Ponyboy and Johnny and then forced to go into hiding; with their friend Dallas’ help they end up lying low in a abandoned church within the outskirts of town. They stay there for five days until Dallas pays them a visit. After affirming their safety the boys go have lunch in town; it is during their lunch that Johnny decides he wants to return home and confess to the killing. This comes as a shock to the other boys and they soon decide to make the trip back to town. On their way back to the abandoned church to collect their belongings they find it in flames; they quickly come to the realization that they started the fire when they left a lit cigarette in the church before heading out to lunch. After the boys begin to hear the cries of children from inside the burning church Ponyboy and Johnny quickly rushed to save them without hesitation. This scene is a pivotal point in the novel because during the act of saving the children Johnny sustains a fatal blow from being crushed by the church’s collapsing roof that he later dies from. When they get back to their town Ponyboy speaks to the best friend of the Soc that Johnny killed. It is in this conversation with the Soc (Randy) that Ponyboy hears the troubled story of Bob (the Soc that Johnny killed); How Bob was a kind and sweet boy when he was sober but was always driven to drink and to do destructive things because of everyone’s inability to say “No” to him. The fact that Bob’s parents or peers never disciplined him drove him to his path of self-devastation. It is after hearing this that Ponyboy realizes that the rich Socs had problems too.
The realism of The Outsiders shocked many people during its time. S.E Hilton herself explains that the novel’s graphic images and compelling drama are not simply there to boost sales. S.E Hilton quotes: “One of my reasons for writing The Outsiders was that I wanted something realistic to be written about teenagers. At that time realistic teenage fiction did not exist.” S.E Hilton’s point can also apply in our modern times. Where books like Twilight and Harry Potter fly off the shelves; I am not saying these books are bad but I can say without a doubt that these books are not realistic interpretations of present day teenage life and never will be. The moral of The Outsiders is as relevant to our contemporary society as it was in the past; because not matter how our technology evolves teenagers shall always be teenagers, problems and conflict shall forever be present in our lives, and social factions will never really disappear. Reading The Outsiders can help troubled youths across humanity because of not only its timeless morals, but also because it is a great read.
The Outsiders is truly an immortal classic that I hope will never go out of publication. Its characters and plot are unmatched in contemporary teenage literature, and its message will under no circumstances lose its importance. My review may seem overly positive but you are free to pick up and read a copy of S.E Hilton’s The Outsiders to decide for yourself.
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