EPEOLATRY

BOOK 5

The Outsiders (1967)

by S.E. Hinton

“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.”

The Outsiders is a poignant story of the rivalry between the teenagers of The Greasers and The Socs - two hoods of socioeconomic differences. The story has a great flow of stream which can truly metaphorise the classic as well as contemporary conflicts in various parts of a nation thriving with immigrants. The story is told from the perspective of a Greaser but it isn't totally one-sided, it portrays the relativity of good and evil - the similarities though all the differences among the groups. It describes the relationship between three orphaned brothers - Ponyboy (the protagonist narrator) the youngest, Sodapop and Darrel the oldest among themselves and hoods. Ponyboy is defined as a reluctant hoodlum who is inclined towards literature and drawings and an introvert that dig real things around.

The book being published in late 60's is very well structured i.e. there are scenes where Ponyboy loses his consciousness multiple times which actually distances the narrater after some intense action so that the reader is given some rest which is needed and it is even effective in skipping some unnecessary plots and that makes this a true Classic!