The Outsiders (novel)
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The Outsiders is a novel written by S.E. Hinton and first published in 1967. Hinton wrote and had the book published when she was just 16 years old. The book is about two rival gangs, the greasers and the socs (pronounced sosh), from different sides of the tracks. Although some would say that the greasers were considered to be outsiders, the title "The Outsiders" can be seen as referring to both groups and how they both are set back by economic or social or creative limits. The group fails to gain any standing even when they save kids from a burning church. The newspaper headlines read "Juvenile Delinquents Turn Hero".
The Outsiders was #38 of the American Library Association's top 100 banned books of 1990. The book was challenged in South Milwaukee because of violence, language, drug and alcohol abuse content and "virtually all the characters were from broken homes." A movie adaptation of the novel was made in 1983 by Francis Ford Coppola. It starred C. Thomas Howell (Ponyboy Curtis), Matt Dillon (Dallas Winston), Ralph Macchio (Johnny Cade), Diane Lane (Sherri "Cherry" Valance), Leif Garrett (Bob), as well as brat-packers Patrick Swayze (Darrel Curtis), Emilio Estevez (Keith "Two-Bit" Matthews), Rob Lowe (Sodapop Curtis), and Tom Cruise (Steve Randle). Tom Waits and Nicholas Cage also make cameos. Matt Dillon went on to star in the related film, Rumble Fish. In September 2005, Coppola re-released the film, including 22 minutes of additional footage, entitled "The Outsiders: The Complete Novel," reinserting scenes that were left out of the previous version, making this new version much closer to the book.
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler The main characters are Ponyboy Michael Curtis, Johnny Cade, Steve Randle, Dallas Winston, Darry Curtis, Two-Bit Mathews and Sodapop Curtis, a gang of greasers in Tulsa. The story is narrated by Ponyboy, who has two older brothers named Darry and Sodapop. The three boys are orphaned after a car accident kills their parents and Darry is left to provide for them.
In the beginning, Ponyboy comes out of a movie house and is beat up by the Socs, but saved by his two brothers.
At a drive-in one night, Pony and his best friend Johnny befriend two Soc girls, Cherry and Marcia. While walking them home, their boyfriends Randy and Bob catch up to them, and the girls go with them to prevent a fight. Later that night Pony comes home late and and angry Darry slaps him. Ponyboy runs out and finds Johnny at the vacant lot. They decide to walk and calm down.
While in a park, Bob and his Soc friends drive by, and they get out of the car to harass Ponyboy and Johnny. The Socs proceed to chase after the two boys and attempt to drown Ponyboy. Johnny takes out his switchblade and kills one of the boys. The two boys seek help from Dallas Winston, who gives them a loaded gun, money, and directions to an abandoned church to hide out in.
While hiding out in the church and disguising their appearance, the boys bond even more, and discover they both have a love for the beautiful things in life that are often not obvious while going through the daily struggles living on the wrong side of town. Pony shares the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" with Johnny, confessing he never quite understood it.
Dally comes to visit them a week later, and he tells them Cherry is willing to testify that her murdered boyfriend Bob went looking for a fight and Ponyboy and Johnny fought back in self defence. Johnny decides they will go back and turn themselves in.
On the way back, they see that the church they had been staying in is on fire. When they hear children trapped inside, both boys fo inside the burning building to rescue the children. When Johnny is trapped inside, Dally goes to rescue him.
They are taken back to the hospital in town, Johnny seriously injured with a broken back. Ponyboy reconciles with his family, and the gang prepares for a big "rumble" (fight) with the Socs. Dally breaks out of the hospital to attend, and takes Pony back to the hospital after the win the rumble, to see Johnny. While both boys are visiting with him, Johnny dies, after telling them fighting isn't worth it, and Ponyboy should "stay gold".
While Pony returns to tell his family the news, Dally, who has lost the one person he loved, robs a convenience store and is wounded. He runs to the park where he bluffs the police with his unloaded gun, and he is shot and killed in the street.
Ponyboy then falls into a depression of sorts, and is only helped out of it when he finds a letter Johnny left for him, explaining "staying gold" in the poem meant to never lose the appreciation for the things you find wonderous when you're young. He tells Ponyboy that's the way to be, and urges him to tell Dally.
Since we know it is too late for Pony to do that, he decides to write the story of his friends and their struggles for his English composition, where the first sentence is that of the book we are reading.