A timeless classic: The Outsiders

The Outsiders, written by S.E Hinton (1967), is a coming-of-age story that I recommend to anyone in high school. The novel is about societal status, growing up, self-discovery, and disobedience. The novel is narrated from the perspective of Ponyboy, a 14-year-old who along with his two brothers, Sodapop, aged 16 and Darry, aged 20, just lost their parents in a car accident. Pony and Soda are permitted to remain under Darry’s guardianship if everyone behaves correctly. The plot revolves around the rivalry between two gangs. The Greasers live on the poor side of town and take care of each other’s needs. They are dependent only on one another as they struggle to survive in poverty and chaos. The other gang, the Socs, are rich, spoiled kids that come from good families. The Greasers often view life as unfair due to their circumstance, making them feel like outsiders looking in, as they observe the “perfect” lives that the Socs live. This class divide leads to violence as the Socs pick fights with the Greasers to show their power and intimidate them. Ponyboy realises fights are useless and that there are much more important things in life, like watching sunsets…

Chloe Stephen, Year 9