The Outsiders

Hopping back over to the classics section of the library (not that Othello isn't a classic) I found the section sadly much smaller than it used to be. Probably they just shuffled the books back amongst general fiction, which is fine, except that it doesn't let me be as snooty with my book choices. Boo.

However, The Outsiders was in the classics section that remains, a short little book (redundant?) but tremendously engrossing. It reminds me of Catcher in the Rye (I forget what I said last time about Catcher in the Rye, I know I did a bit of a study of the author a year or so ago... this of course being the reason why people should add tags to their posts. My response? Never!!), starring a sort of low-born, low-brow, but good natured, sensitive, and highly intelligent protagonists.

The degrees vary- I think I'd rather hang out with Ponyboy Curtis from The Outsiders than uhhhh Catcher in the Rye kid... whatsisname Holden Caufield. I'll have you know I didn't need google to remember that, I used my brain. It's a little thing called effort, BRAIN effort.

The Outsiders is about a gang of "greasers" in the 60's that have to contend with being born on the wrong side of the tracks, without any of the breaks that the "socs" (short for "socials", and I read that it's supposed to be read as soshes or something... well nuts to that, I read it as "socks". Harder consonants, sock hops are a thing, socks to the jaw, I wouldn't be surprised if the greasers didn't have socks. Plenty of good reasons to read it my way) have.

The protagonist, Ponyboy, over the course of the novel, learns to empathize with others, particularly the socs, that they've got their own problems, and more importantly, are just as human as his greaser buddies. He also gets insight into the hardness of his eldest brother (Darry), his own selfishness in regards to the worries of the middle-older brother (Sodapop- yes, that's his name), and figure out a bit of what makes Dally (a violent hood, but still a "brother" in the greaser gang) tick.

"If we listen to each others hearts, we'll find we're never too far apart." Yeah, that's basically the message of the book, summed up in the line from the final song in A Goofy Movie. How often am I going to go back to that Goofy Movie well? Hey, it's not MY fault that movie is so relevant!!

When I was walking around with this book in hand I ran into a highschool fellow goer toer at the time I went, and he asked what I was reading. The Outsiders. Oh, I read that in middle school.

How have I not heard of this book until now? Second question, why is it not a bigger deal?

Let me just copy a couple of things down from the book.

First, there's this letter that Johnny wrote to Ponyboy before Johnny (spoilers!!) died.

"Ponyboy, I asked the nurse to give you this book so you could finish it. The doctor came in a while ago but I knew anyway. I keep getting tireder and tireder. Listen, I don't mind dying now. It's worth it. It's worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for. Some of their parents came by to thank me and I know it was worth it. Tell Dally it's worth it. I'm just going to miss you guys. I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everythings new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep that way, it's a good way to be. I want you to tell Dally to look at one. He'll probably think you're crazy, but ask for me. I don't think he's ever really seen a sunset. And don't be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don't think he knows. Your buddy, Johnny."

Boy that's sad. Especially with Dally (spoilers!!) having died already, commiting suicide by cop in his grief over Johnny dying. Man, I am spoiling everything!

Let me try and find the actual poem from the book that was just referenced:

Okay, so Johnny and Pony are talking about a sunset and so:

"The mist was what was pretty," Johnny said. "All gold and silver."
"Uhmmmm," I said, trying to blow a smoke ring.
"Too bad it couldn't stay like that all the time."
"Nothing gold can stay." I was remembering a poem I'd read once.
"What?"
"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."
Johnny was staring at me. "Where'd you learn that? That was what I meant."
"Robert Frost wrote it. He meant more to it than I'm gettin', though." I was trying to find the meaning the poet had in mind, but it eluded me. "I always remembered it because I never quite got what he meant by it."

I greatly enjoyed this book. You know it was written by S.E. Hinton, a 16 (wait, maybe 17) year old girl in high school in 1967 (okay, published in '67, probably written the year before, but whatever). It's classified as a "young adult" novel, but I think that's lame. It's a good book, well written, that just happens to have young protagonists. Call Harry Potter "young adult" novels all you want.. those things are written like rubbish. Don't get me wrong, very fun books, but stylistically very lame.

Read The Outsiders. It's only 135 pages. They go by in a flash. Sorry about all the spoilers.