The Outsiders Background Information

S.E. Hinton Susan Eloise Hinton Born in 1948 in Tulsa, OK She was a self-confessed tomboy growing up wanting to be a cowboy or a writer At 16 she wrote The Outsiders because she was aggravated with the social climate of her high school.

S.E. Hinton Wrote under the penname S.E. Hinton after publishers expressed concern that males, the prime target audience, would not take the novel seriously if written by a woman.

S.E. Hinton Suffered from writer’s block after writing The Outsiders and plummeted into depression After some soul searching and a nudge from her boyfriend she wrote That Was Then, This is Now in – (Good novel for student choice lit circle end of year)

Other Novels Rumble Fish 1975 (eventually into a movie) Tex 1979 (eventually into a movie) 1983 The Outsiders movie is released 1988 Taming the Star Runner (made into movie) 1995 The Puppy Sister and Little David, Big David (Children’s books) …20 years later 2004: Hawkes Harbor (adult lit)

The Setting of The Outsiders Oklahoma

Hairstyles of the Fifties and Sixties Women wore their hair either soft and curled or pulled into a ponytail and secured by a colorful scarf. Men often wore their hair in a buzz cut or flat top.

The Duck Tail To accomplish this look, lots of hair grease was required. In this case, a little dab ain't “gonna do ya.” This is where the term “greasers” was first established. There were no blow dryers to create a look. To make hair stay in a certain style, you had to either spray or grease.

Fashion of the Early 1960s This look was made popular in the 1950s and continued through the early 60s. A poodle skirt is a wide swing skirt with a poodle appliquéd or transferred onto the fabric.

Girls usually wore flared skirts, but the pencil skirt became popular in the late ‘50s. All dresses and skirts came to or below the knee.

Men’s Fashion For casual dress, men often wore cardigans (sweaters) over their dress shirts. The cardigan sweater seen here was a popular style which was used for the "letter" sweater-popular among the younger men and athletes.

Madras

English Leather Popular, yet expensive cologne

Corvair (Chevrolet) Red Corvair was a popular car prior to the ‘65 Mustang

Mustang

The Coolest of the Cool The “coolest” of the young men often wore leather jackets over T-shirts with jeans and loafers. Often, this outfit would make people think that the wearer was a “hood.”

Drive-In Movies

Allusion a reference to a person, event, thing or to a part of another text

Allusions in The Outsiders Paul Newman Robert Frost Great Expectations Gone With the Wind The Beatles Elvis

Paul Newman Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid The Hustler The Long, Hot Summer

More recently… “Doc”

and you may have even seen him at the store!

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens This is the story of Pip, an orphan boy adopted by a blacksmith’s family. Pip learns how to find happiness. He learns the meaning of friendship and the meaning of love and he becomes a better person for it.

Gone With The Wind American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music.

Elvis Elvis Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".

Robert Frost Nothing Gold Can Stay

Analysis of Nothing Gold Can Stay This simplistic, beautiful poem illustrates the coming of age with plants and nature. When your young your gold. Every thing is new and beautiful. The flower. After a short time, hence “But only so an hour.”, you prepare for adulthood, like when “Leaf subsides to leaf,” as a tree prepares itself for winter. “So Eden sank to grief.” refers to looking back on your past and wishing you were still a kid. “So dawn goes down to day,” is becoming an adult. You can’t stay a kid and “Nothing gold can stay.” | Posted on | by a guest Nothing Gold Can Stay 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.