Essay On The Outsiders

Having a connection to a book is a great (thing) for people to have as it allows them to connect their world with someone else’s, whether real or fiction, and different people can gather different meanings from books based on the readers own personal experiences and values. Teenage fiction writer S.E. Hinton’s most popular novel, The Outsiders, is an influential book that has been incorporated into many school’s curriculums and has impacted many readers as it is capable of teaching values to all ages. The novel, about rival gangs that represent social issues during the 1960’s, is a novel that was meant to be relatable to the authors friends, who were classified as ‘greasers’. The characters, family life, and social classes portrayed in the …show more content…
While controversial during its publication date because of its gang violence and delinquency, the novel is now often viewed as different type of coming of age book, as it its usually used to teach literature in middle school. Told in the main character’s point of view, Ponyboy, a 14-year-old boy living with his two older brothers, Soda and Darrel, the story is about his group friends who are considered greasers and their issues with their families and more importantly, their rival gang, the socs. The main issue between the greasers and socs is their social class, which causes a gap between them. The socs, the rich kids who find enjoyment in beating on the greasers, take it too far one day, and Ponyboy’s life is changed after a murder takes place. Ponyboy goes through many struggles throughout the book and loses friends, but he seems to have his life back in track by the end of the book. First time readers are in for a surprise when they discover that the whole book is actually a meaningful essay of written by Ponyboy of everything he had had just been through, in his hope that his experiences will make a difference to others, just as the goal Hinton had when writing the