The Outsiders

"I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going down under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was good in it, and they wouldn't believe you if you did. It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing. There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand them and wouldn't be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore."

It is the early 1960’s in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ponyboy Curtis, a newly turned fourteen year old, finds himself caught up in the growing tensions between the poor gang he and his brothers belong to, the lower class "Greasers," and the elite "Socs," rich kids from the other side of town. Raised by his older brothers, Ponyboy, is somewhat outside of the gang himself. Smart and very sensitive, he loves books and movies, and constantly struggles to find his place of belonging amidst the inevitable severity of his life. He dislikes fighting and constantly questions the nature of the hate between groups as well as his place it it.

"Soda fought for fun, Steve for hatred, Darry for pride, and Two-Bit for conformity. Why do I fight? I thought, and couldn't think of any real good reason."

I remember my mom praising this book when I was little and, as she said, "not old enough to read it." Somehow, even when I was "old enough," The Outsiders slipped under the radar of my reading aspirations. Now, I am infinitely grateful to finally have read it; it has opened up windows in my mind and heart to real problems that are still prevalent today. It may not be Greasers and Socs anymore, but there is still so much animosity that can exist between people with differences, whether is be social classes, cultures or subcultures, ethnicities, lifestyles... I love this book because it is a story that radiates truth: whatever walk of life you are on, we are all human beings and, deep down inside ourselves, we are not much different from the next person.

Sometimes, as a female, I find it hard to relate to a book consisting almost entirely of males. This is definitely not the case with The Outsiders. It was beautiful to witness, through Ponyboy's voice, the wide range of emotion faced by the young men in the book. I was touched to see the fierce loyalty and brotherly love that Ponyboy and his gang held for one other.

The compassion this book invokes in its reader reminds me of the film Boys Town, when Father Flanagan says, "There is no such thing as a bad boy"... I wanted to open my arms to Ponyboy and bring him out of the near constant violence and hate that the surrounded him. I'm amazed that such a powerful work was written by a sixteen year old girl (who, at that time, earned a "D" in her creative writing class). In Ponyboy, S.E. Hinton captured the spirit of a boy whose pure heart was yet untainted by the adversity that encompassed his world; a bright light in a cavern of darkness.

One of the most powerful passages is from a note written to Ponyboy from his dying friend,

"I want you to tell Dally to look at [a sunset.] He'll probably think you're crazy, but ask for me. I don't think he's ever really seen [one]. . . There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don't think he knows."

I cannot recommend The Outsiders highly enough. Read it.