Why I love S.E Hinton's 'The Outsiders'

‘The Outsiders’ has been my favourite book since we started it in year 8 as a text for English. We were told to read the first chapter for the next lesson, but I ended up reading the entire novel. The Outsiders for me was the book that got me into reading. I didn’t really like it that much before, I read really terrible books I thought I would like but never really got into. The Outsiders absolutely grabbed 13 year old me and dragged me into the world of books. I’m 17 now and still read through it again to add to the annotations on my copy.

Despite being published in 1967, The Outsiders still holds all of the truths S.E Hinton discusses within her novel. The kids today may not be named Ponyboy, Sodapop or Darrel, but for every character within the novel you can find their counterpart in the modern day. The gangs may not be greasers vs. socials, but the key themes still ring true.

One of the key themes the novel deals with is the issue of poverty. Hinton perfectly highlights the difference between right and poor in Ponyboy and Cherry’s relationship... there isn’t much different between them besides their class status. The idea that the two ‘see the same sunset’ on both east and west, greaser and soc territory, can be applied to the modern day. In every town there are degrees of wealth, of course, in every town you can compare the lives of the richer and poorer. At the end of the day though, we’re all human, we all see the same sunset.

Expanding on that, The Outsiders too shines light on how misunderstood the working class are. Being a greaser is frowned upon within Ponyboy’s town, a girl in his class who discovers he’s a greaser is shocked and scared. Many, even in the modern day, have the tendency to group together the working class and apply a certain amount of fear to them. The most infamous within the UK, ‘chavs’. The greasers within The Outsiders aren’t portrayed as something to fear. They don’t carry out unnecessary murder or rapes like the term ‘gang’ may suggest they do. Hinton confronts readers with the reality of gang situations. They’re not all bad. Ponyboy would never want to hurt a fly, Darry is just the family man, in the end, even the rougher character (Dally in particular) are all only looking out for each other. They group together in likeness because it’s the only thing they have.

The Outsiders is, and always will be relatable to teenagers. The values it puts across can always be applied to the teenagers of the modern day. I love this novel so much because to me, Ponyboy will always be relatable, it’s a classic for a reason.