The Outsiders
Author : S.E. Hinton
First Published in 1967
Language : English
Genre : Young-Adult Fiction
"Stay Gold, Ponnyboy, Stay Gold..."
excerpt from the Outsiders
If you love Catcher in the Rye, you will absolutely love this novel.
The Outsiders is another first person perspective novel that narrated by 14 years old boy Ponyboy Curtis. Refer to the name, you will able to directly grasp the character of Ponyboy, yes he is good and sensitive boy- and the youngest among his environment.
Ponyboy living with his two older brothers, Sodapop (yes it is his real name) who is sweet, handsome and delighted 16 years old boy, and Darry who is tough, strong 20 years old boy. As the oldest brother, Darry has been caring for his brothers since their parents died in car crash. Darry has given up to go to college altough he received scholarships and chose to working so hard to make Ponyboy continue go to school.
Ponyboy admire Sodapop very much. There is no one able to resist the Sodapop's charm. But Sodapop isn't smart enough like Ponyboy, he was drop out from high school and chose to work in gas station with his best buddy Steve.
The Curtis boys are living in low-income neighbourhood and living as greaser. Greasers were a predominately white ethnic youth subculture that originated in the 1950s as an expression of rebellion. The name greaser came from their greased-back hairstyle, which involved combing back hair with wax, or gel. Tailed hair is the Greaser's pride.
Contra with Greasers, there are living Soc (short of Socials), wealthy boys who drive fancy cars, nice clothing and love to jumps into Greasers just to chanelling their boredom.
At first of the chapter, Ponyboy was walking alone after watching a movie and get jumped with some Socs boys. They are beating him out of nothing and Ponyboy screaming aloud until his brothers and several friends come to rescue him. Ponyboy was considering lucky, because several weeks ago, his bestfriend, the gang's pet Johny has been beaten up badly with Soc guy who using three heavy rings. Darry was really mad at him and said that Ponyboy should using his brain sometimes. Ponyboy felt that DArry couldn't ever stand on him, Darry only love Sodapop.
At the next day, Ponyboy went into movie with Johnny and other friend, Dallas or Dally. Dallas is the toughest and meanest all of the gang. He ever spent his days in juvie, and ever live in New York to saw man get killed. They encountered two beautiful girls, Marcia and Cherry. They are Soc girls, prefered to leave their drunk boyfriend and watching movie just two.
Ponyboy never met any Soc girls, and talk to them closely. All the girlfriends of his friends are coming from greaser. Ponyboy didn't like them much because girls from Greaser like swearing too much. By talking with Cherry, Ponyboy enjoyed it and understand that even Soc people have their own problem. They are even see the same sunrise as him.
Dally tried to annoyed that two girls, but Johnny stand up for them. Johnny who barely talk or protest, ask Dally to leave them out so Dally didn't say much and leave them.
The meeting with those two girls lead to their biggest problem. When they try to drive the girls home, bunch of soc guys in blue mustang car encounter them. Two of them are Marcia and Cherry's boyfriends ; Bob and Randy. They tried to pick a fight with greaser, but Cherry stopped them and follow his boyfriend to drive her home.
Because arrive very late, Darry got mad to Ponyboy and even beat him accidentally. Ponyboy got hurt mentally and he runaway from home with Johnny. They wandered to the park because they assume there won't be any people in there. But blue mustang care tailed them. Ponyboy and Johnny outnumbered, Bob tried to drown Ponyboy and Johnny tried to stop him by stabbed him. Bob was dead.
Afraid, they runaway both the greasers and the socs. Ponyboy and Johny run to Dally and ask for his help. Dally give them dough and a gun, he suggested them to runaway to the abandoned church in the country.
The next plot is their runaway, separated from the world, with limited stocks and warms. Along their runaway, the reader will know how the character of Ponyboy and Johny really is. Johny who used to be so quiet, in fact he is envying Ponyboy and his brothers so much. Johnny has parents whom ignoring and abusing him all the time. Although the whole gang love Johnny, but it won't be the same like how Ponyboy's brothers take care of him.
At the church they tried to killing time by reading Gone with the winds, and for the first time of Johnny life, watching sunrise and adore it. while watching, Ponyboy read him a poems from Robert Frost:
"Nature first green is gold,
her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing Gold can Stay"
That poems is the main soul, has a deeper meaning and later the meaning is revealed at the end of the novel and changed Ponyboy live.
By reading the sensitivity of this novel, I amazed that a male writer could describe the beautiful love of Ponyboy brotherhood as good as female writer. But then I checked, It is really a female writer and the best part is she write this novel at 15 years old. You wouldn't believed if it is female by reading how good she write the character of boys and boys dialouge as a boy! At first I didn't give a though at all if it was turns out to be female writer, especially by her name. Oh golly you wouldn't believe she was 15 years old especially when she wrote this wisdom:
"Y'all were heroes from the beginning. You just didn't 'turn' all of a sudden"
Why I said if you love catcher in rye, you'll love this novel, because the Outsiders seems a lot to be influenced by catching in rye, The word of phonies, and how harsh their words (though not harsh as cacther in rye).
This novel is good because it plot, character and ending. I found myself crying twice when reading it, at first when i know how Darry love Ponyboy so much and knowing what Darry've been through, and second when somebody died. Yes i just can give you this hint.
If you love to read about brotherhoods and loyalty so much, you won't give a second thought to read this book. This book is speak brilliantly, and i couldn't still believe its written by teenager. Well simply I put it that this book is about teenager, written by teenager from the point of view teenager. Golly Lovely!!
"Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights you want to see"
Johnny to Ponnyboy -The Outsiders
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The Perks of being Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
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