Critical Analysis of The Outsiders

Critical Analysis of The Outsiders By S. Boyd Revised by B. Lamkin

Portfolio Requirements • As we read The Outsiders, you will be required to complete a portfolio analysis of the book. • You will be given a file folder for this project • Portfolio front-page expectations include your name, title, and picture related to the book. • Complete all of the expectations as indicated on the following slides. • Neatness and clarity will count as part of the grade. Answers should be typed. • Skip lines between each answer. • Some questions can be answered without finishing the entire book. These are designated with a star *. • This will be completed with a partner however that simply means the discussion of the answers is with the partner, many answers may be different when written/typed. Each person must have own answers.

By the time she was 17 years old, Susan Eloise Hinton was a published author. While still in high school in her hometown--Tulsa, Oklahoma--Hinton put in words what she saw and felt growing up and called it The Outsiders, a now classic story of two sets of high school rivals, the Greasers and the Socs (for society kids). Because her hero was a Greaser and outsider, and her tale was one of gritty realism, Hinton launched a revolution in young adultliterature. S. E. Hinton

Since her narrator was a boy, Hinton's publishers suggested that she publish under the name of S. E. Hinton; they feared their readers wouldn't respect a "macho" story written by a woman. Hinton says today, "I don't mind having two identities; in fact, I like keeping the writer part separate in some ways. And since my alter ego is clearly a 15-year-old boy, having an authorial self that doesn't suggest a gender is just fine with me."

Today, more than twenty-five years after its first publication, The Outsiders ranks as a classic, still widely read and one of the most important and taboo-breaking books in the field. Finally, someone was writing about the real concerns and emotions of a teenager. The Outsiders marked the beginning of a new kind of realism in books written for the young adult market, and Hinton's next four books followed suit.

She wrote her second book while she was in college at the University of Tulsa, studying to be a teacher. But "I don't have the nerve or physical stamina to teach," she says. "I did my student teaching, but I couldn't leave the kids and their problems behind me; I'd go home and worry about them. I think people who are good teachers do one of the most important jobs there is; I can't praise them highly enough."

David Inhofe, who is now her husband, was her boyfriend then and was instrumental in helping her get her second book written. Hinton was suffering from writer's block. Inhofe refused to go out with her at night unless she wrote two pages during the day, and slowly but steadily over four months, she compiled the manuscript that became That Was Then, This is Now, a story of drugs, delinquency, and a tough kid making a tough decision. She and David were married in 1970; the second book was published in 1971.

Section I: Author Facts On a piece of paper write Author Facts then answer the following questions. • *1. After reading the previous slides, write down five of your favorite facts about the author S. E. Hinton. • *2. Which fact surprises you the most? Explain.

Character Map Design a character map that describes each character’s personality and appearance and illustrates the relationships between the characters

The Outsiders is a book that shows that “beneath the trappings of madras or leather, individual hearts have much in common.”

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's 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.

Section III: Interpreting the Frost poem On a piece of paper write Nothing Gold Can Stay then answer the following questions in complete sentences. *1. What do you think the poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” means? Use at least two direct quotes (lines) from the poem in your answer of 4-6 sentences. • Johnny writes a note to Ponyboy and places it in Ponyboy’s book, Gone With the Wind. The note explains Johnny’s interpretation of “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” What is his interpretation?

Section IV: Conflict On a piece of paper write Conflict then answer the following questions. *1. Define Conflict. *2. List the TWO main types of conflict. *3. List the four subtypes of Conflict.

Section V:Plot Development in The OutsidersOn a piece of paper, write Plot Development then answer the following questions. Use the literary terminology links on the Gr. 8 Web page to define plot. What three things does the plot do? What is the major conflict in The Outsiders? List several minor conflicts in The Outsiders. What scene is the climax of the plot? Describe it briefly. How is the major conflict resolved?

Section VI: Character Development in The OutsidersOn a piece of paper, write Character Development then answer the following questions. *1. Read about Characterization on the Gr. 8 Webpage. List three of the five methods an author uses to reveal a character’s personality. *2. Which ones does S.E. Hinton use? *3. Make a T-Chart of major and minor characters in the Outsiders. Think carefully about which list to put each character in. 4. List at least two conflicts experienced by Ponyboy, and label them as internal or external.

Section VI:Character Development in The OutsidersContinued 5. What characterization methods are used to portray Ponyboy? 6. What is Ponyboy’s character like initially (in the beginning of the book)? 7. What forces cause Ponyboy to change?

Section VI: Character Development in The OutsidersContinued 8. What is Ponyboy like after he changes? 9. What is the turning point in Ponyboy’s character development? 10. Write a detailed sentence describing each of the following characters (can answer after reading ch. 1-6): Ponyboy Johnny Soda Darry Dally Two-bit Cherry

Section VI: Character Development in The OutsidersContinued • 11. Why is Johnny such a nervous boy? • How do the other characters feel toward Johnny? • What is Ponyboy’s family situation? • Name 5 differences between the Socs and the Greasers. Write in complete sentences.

Section VII:Setting in The OutsidersOn a piece of paper, write Setting then answer the following questions. Read about Setting on the Gr. 8 Webpage. Define it. What is the setting of The Outsiders? How does the author establish the setting? Could this story take place in another setting? Why, or why not? Explain in a detailed paragraph.

Section VIII: Theme in The OutsidersOn a piece of paper, write Theme then answer the following questions. Read about Theme on the Gr. 8 Webpage. Define it. Describe at least three themes expressed in The Outsiders that can be applied to our everyday life (place a star by the most important).

Section IX: The Outsiders Study Questions: On a piece of paper, write Study Guide then answer the following questions in healthy paragraphs of 5-7 sentences. • 1. Ponyboy comments that self-defense is the only good reason for fighting. Do you agree? Why, or why not? • Sodapop insists that if he, Darry, and Ponyboy don’t have each other, they have nothing. Do you agree? Why, or why not? • Some critics say that The Outsiders is too sentimental. Do you agree? Why, or why not? • 4. Discuss the violence in The Outsiders. How do you define violence? Do you object to it? Why do you think the author included it? • 5. Explain why you do, or do not agree with Johnny’s message to Ponyboy.

Section X : Literary Terms that apply to The OutsidersOn a piece of paper, write Literary Terms then answer the following questions. • A. Look up each term below. Read about it, then: • *1. DEFINE IT • *2. Provide an example of the term from the book. • a. allusion h. symbol • b. atmosphere i. tragedy • c. dialect • d. dialogue • e. flashback • f. irony • g. point of view (3 types)

Section XII:Vocabulary Development in The OutsidersOn a piece of paper, write Vocabulary Development then answer the following questions. • *1. Below is a list of vocabulary words found in The Outsiders. For each word— • find the page and skim until you locate the word • write the sentence that the word is used in. • Based on the context clues of the word is used in the sentence, make up a definition of it • look up the word in the dictionary. Write the definition that is appropriate for the way the word is used in the novel. • unfathomable sagely roguishly incredulous • Quavered ruefully conviction premonition • aghast stupor vaguely indignant • eluded subsides contemptuously

End of book • Be sure you have completed the Reading Analysis Portfolio as precisely as possible. • The following are all of the sections covered. It is IMPERATIVE that each section is clearly marked in your portfolio and lines were skipped between each answer: • Section I: Author Facts • Section II: Character Map • Section III: Nothing Gold Can Stay Analysis • Section IV: Conflict • Section V: Plot Development • Section VI: Character Development • Section VII Setting • Section VIII: Theme • Section IX: Study Guide Questions • Section IX: Literary Terms • Section X: Vocabulary Development

Critical Analysis of The Outsiders