Justin Sullivan

The Outsiders

S. E. Hinton

Realistic Fiction

Just Right

Just Finished

1.)    I just finished the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton a book about rival gangs. Ponyboy 14 years old, a member of a gang, and living with his two other brothers is not the typical teenager. One night when he is walking home with his friend Johnny and they are ambushed by a rival gang and out of fear for his life Johnny stabs an enemy. Everyone scatters and Ponyboy and Johnny hide in an abandoned church a week later they decide to leave right as they are leaving the church catches of fire with kids inside Ponyboy and Johnny run inside and save them. They are suddenly turned from juvenile delinquents to famous heroes.  While saving the kids Johnny suffered a severe burn and died a week later. Then Dally another member of the gang, is shot while robbing a grocery store. Ponyboy had lost so many people that were close to him including his parents.

2.)    I really enjoyed The Outsiders, you read the whole story from behind Ponyboy’s eyes I like it that way. The whole book had a lot of details and each of the characters were very different from each other, Ponyboy describes all the characters and you can relate to each of them in a different way. The plot of this novel was very well thought out and in almost every chapter there was a surprise. The book was never slow and very enjoyable to read. I rated it a 9 out of 10. I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes action and suspense.

3.)    I think the theme of this book is revenge throughout the whole book the gangs are getting back at each other even if the y didn’t do anything the gangs would still beat each other up and stab each other. There were other themes like friendship and trust but the biggest theme was revenge.

4.)    My favorite character was Ponyboy even though you think he is a thug or a hoodlum you soon realize that he grew up without any parents and had to fight for his own. He was also very relatable in some parts of the book he makes good decisions in times of need. Also something I really like about Ponyboy was that he always stood up for his friends and wouldn’t back down from a fight. He was very brave, courageous and always knew what to do.

5.)    My least favorite character was Johnny’s mom even though you rarely heard about her in the book I did not like her for one bit. Johnny always told the rest of the gang that his mom yelled at him and hit him. He always thought that his mom hated him and he was scared of her the only time she came to see Johnny was in the hospital. Even when Johnny was dying he did not want to see his mom when he heard that she was coming he passed out.

6.)    I did not expect the ending to be how it was when Johnny died I was surprised but when Dally was shot I was astonished by the ending. I thought that Johnny was going to survive and they would stop being in the gang. I had no idea that Dally would be shot and die that caught me off guard. The ending really summed up the book and I don’t think it could be any better.