The Outsiders Research Paper

485 Words2 Pages

Theme of The Outsiders Have you ever wondered what life was like in the 60’s from a 16 year old girl’s point of view with gang wars and all? If yes, then you should read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders is an exciting and unpredictable story told in the first person. It explains Ponyboy’s life in the 1960’s during a gang war. Susan Eloise Hinton or S.E. Hinton was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in July of 1950. When she was in high school, she wasn’t happy or impressed with any of the “boy meets girl” stories. They were too monotonous for her so she wrote her own version of what life in the 60’s was actually like. Thus giving everyone The Outsiders. It wasn’t as popular in the beginning but it eventually got a lot of attention. The profits from the book were used for her to go to Tulsa University and she got her degree. This is where she met her husband David Inhofe. They got married in 1970 and had a boy in August of 1983 named Nicholas Inhofe. She maintains a personal life with her family. …show more content…

Hinton uses Ponyboy in the book to show the society and class differences in the story. The Socs gang represents the privileged kids in the time period. On the other side, the Greasers represent the poverty and basically the underdogs of the story. When she wrote the book she used her initials so that the publishers wouldn't just ignore her because of her gender. She called herself a tomboy and her friends were