THE OUTSIDERS - book summaries and study materials

Study Help Practice Projects

1. Rewrite the end of this story with Johnny surviving. What changes would his living have brought about in the other characters? For example, would Dally still be alive? 2. Create a role-playing game. Make two decks of cards. One deck displays characters — Ponyboy, Darry, and so on — […]

Study Help Essay Questions

S.E. Hinton

1. The Outsiders takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the 1960s. What are the demographics of Tulsa during this time period? Why did Hinton choose this locale? There are no minorities in this story. Did Tulsa have a substantial minority population at that time, and, if so, what ethnic background […]

Study Help Full Glossary for The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton

amplifier 1 a person or thing that amplifies 2 Electronics a device, especially one with electron tubes or semiconductors, used to increase the strength of an electric signal. booze-hound [Slang] a drunk. buckskin a yellowish-gray horse. chessy cat [Slang] Cheshire cat, a proverbial grinning cat from Cheshire, England, especially one […]

Critical Essays Has Society Changed?

S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders, written in the mid 1960s, makes the reader wonder how, if at all, the story would be different if it were told today. The novel includes the usual references that date a story, generally related to pop culture — for example, models of cars, movies, and music — […]

Critical Essays The Movie versus the Book

S.E. Hinton

Sixteen years after a sixteen-year-old wrote this book, Francis Ford Coppola turned this novel into a movie. The book is a coming-of-age novel, but the movie focuses on the characters’ loss of innocence. The movie follows the story line very closely. The reader is only told that this story takes […]

Critical Essays Themes in The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton

As the title suggests, The Outsiders is a theme in itself. Looking at life as an outsider and feeling as though one is being treated as an outsider is a matter of perspective or point of view. Someone who always feels like an outsider may conclude that life is unfair. […]

S.E. Hinton Biography

S.E. Hinton

Early Years Susan Eloise Hinton was born in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Outsiders was published in 1967, when Hinton was only 17 years old and attending Will Rogers High School. She began writing the first draft of the novel when she was 15, and writing and rewriting took a […]

Character Analysis Jerry Wood

S.E. Hinton

Jerry Wood is the man at the scene of the fire at the church hide-out. He accompanies Pony in the ambulance after the fire. Jerry stays with Pony at the hospital until his brothers arrive. Although Ponyboy confides everything to him, Jerry continues to see Pony, Johnny, and Dally as […]

Character Analysis Randy Adderson

S.E. Hinton

Randy Adderson is Bob’s best friend; he is a fellow Soc. After Bob’s death, Randy stops Pony on the street and tells him that the fighting between the Socs and the greasers is pointless. Randy refuses to fight in the big rumble because “Greasers will still be greasers and Socs […]

Character Analysis Bob Sheldon

S.E. Hinton

Bob Sheldon is the Soc who originally beat up Johnny. He is Cherry’s boyfriend, and, like Johnny, he is a victim of his own family. Unlike Johnny, his parents do not physically or verbally abuse him; however, they do something equally as harmful: They allow Bob to shirk responsibility for […]