The Outsiders Impact On Society

We’ve all had family at some point or another, whether you believe that to be true or not is completely subjective, but family is not just bound by blood or genetics, race or creed. Sometimes family is a matter of acceptance and chemistry or the duality or culmination of many different things. Humans have always wanted to feel wanted, to feel as though they belong, like their existence means something to someone and that they matter, a perennial philosophy. To show us who we are as people, to make us feel as though we are normal and acceptable, to imbue us with values and teach us of the human condition in a real setting, a believable time with similarities to draw between ourselves and the characters. Que the reason I believe that The Outsiders,
is an American classic novel that is very important piece of American literature. Why though? Why do I believe this novel to be such an immaculate story? Countless reasons. Moral lessons, love, sadness, relatable characters and a story filled with drama to name a portion. This book is placed in a 1960s town, and as with all towns there are good parts and bad parts, people from all walks of life. The main protagonist and narrator of the story being Ponyboy Curtis, a high schooler from the “bad part” of town, belonging to a gang dubbed “The Greasers”. Alternatively, there exists another group called “Socs”, which are those more fortunate and rich kids from the more prosperous section of town. Turmoil drowns the two crews, procuring fighting, deaths, heroics and inevitable realizations with a conclusion to drop jaws. Written in 1965 America by a woman named Susan Elois (S.E) Hinton when she was in high school, and published two years later, “The Outsiders has gone on to sell more than ten million copies.” (Michaud, 2014) as if those facts weren’t impressive enough, the book even went on later to be adapted into a movie starring an award-winning cast.
When this breathtaking novel was written, no one could imagine the impact that it would have on not just the author and her status, but the rest of America.
Pages and pages emerged to become a keystone movement that would affect much more than her status as an author, but also how school systems taught their students. For too long there were stagnant waters that students were forced to swim in order to be taught literature. The books were hundreds of years old, and the ones that weren’t, completely not relatable to the younger and even most of the older generations. For what did books written have hundreds of years ago have to really captivate younger minds? To them it was nothing but meandering around complex ideas that had no correlation to their daily grind. “The Outsiders helped change the way school’s taught literature, the emergence of an authentic, relatable novel helped teachers reach students who had grown bored with the use of traditional textbooks in English classes.” (Parr, 2015) The text had shaped a new scene, a new way to teach and new source material to draw attention in, while teaching writing styles, techniques and actually holding the attention of readers. Molding non-readers, or those thought to be, to avid readers. The same knowledge was being endowed into the students, but enjoyment and readability had been restored and it was an invigorating
experience. Searching for ourselves and a place that we belong is always a primary exercise for most people in the world, it always has been and it always will be.
There have always been regimes, countries, gangs, groups, parties and there always will be. This novel allows you to see yourself and to really relate to the characters in that format, to feel the way the characters feel, to understand the reasons they do the things they do. What makes that important is the insight into the human condition and the psychological understandings of why gangs and these groups come to be. This novel nails the relatable experiences to the placard of reality and the hardships we go through every day. Whether you were brought up in public schools or private, or even as long as you were not born yesterday, there were always cliques and groups, and most of us were not always a part of the ones we wanted to be in. In this way, the novel sheds light on the social statuses and the feeling of being ostracized as well as a periscope to the giving end as well. At one point the protagonist meets a girl, which is considered an upper class and wealthy lady. She is a cheerleader and the girlfriend of a member of the “Socs”, a quote that reverberates an important moral of this point is “It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.” (Hinton, 1967, p 40).
But that isn’t the conclusion of the knowledge that is instilled by this quixotic and encapsulating story. The culmination of this entire story takes you on a rollercoaster of feelings. As stated it does have an outstanding progression as well as character development that is coveted by authors and critics alike, but the seal to lock this novel in as an American classic is the myriad of deeper meanings and reasoning that can be drawn from almost every chapter of this masterpiece. Every character feels real, and this story, sounds as if it could be non-fiction even. The Outsiders is unparalleled in my mind when it comes to relatable dramatic and lifelike experiences as well as characters reaction and social acceptance. The deaths that take place shock you to the point of virtual reality, as if you’ve witnessed it yourself. The Tragedy that takes place has you rooting for words on a page, to figments of someone’s astounding imagination. To be able to take letters and words, to type them onto a page and create an entire world filled with every aspect of the human body and setting in such a way to bind readers to the page is incredible. The characters in this story, the protagonist as well as others, are the underdogs. The main character and narrator of this fictional centerpiece lost his parents while still in high school, had good grades and was a dashing young man with a promising future ahead of him. Though because he resided on the west side of town, he was treated as a lesser person. Think of the time frame here, of that simple fact inserted into this fictional work and think of todays’ society, or the society of yesteryear, this has always been the case. Rap songs are made about it, people from all walks of life can be beautiful individuals that save lives or progress to change the world, but depending on where you grew up, the friends you have and had, you could be labeled as a loser, or in this case a “Greaser”. A moral procured from this piece is that a regional difference, a monetary difference or any form of avarice doesn’t dictate one’s quality of person nor the future to which they are entitled. Being a crusader of their own future or captains of the ship they build themselves are what really matters in a person and overcoming the confines of the hand that was dealt. Choosing your group and being accepting of others despite the unique appearance, not being afraid of and not labeling just “good” or “bad”, but rather judging the person by the character by their inside. Relaying that message during this twisted tail of the gang, at one point there was a fire and a few of the boys put their lives on the line to save others from the blaze, speaking of the situation a previously unknown character says “I swear, you three are the bravest kids I’ve seen in a long time…. Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?” (Hinton, 1967, p 95). Portraying that anyone can truly be a hero. Something this book projects and yet is still a timeless lesson that is even overlooked in modern times. Another inciteful reason for inspiring me to anoint this scripture as an important American tale is the progression through the events, from spiral to ascent until the conclusion has been evoked. An excellent literary example of a passionate and well thought out system that gives details and paints the world that is being spoke of through a fictional character that you can’t help but feel as though you know personally. The writer being a woman in the 1960s, in high school even, solidifies the defiance and the fact that an exemplary mind doesn’t just come from those you would expect. Instigating a following and being taught in today’s school system has obviously shown that it is an important narrative. For the reasons listed above as well as many more, I believe The Outsiders is a very important and relevant piece of American Literature.