Aidan Moore-Gallagher

The Outsiders

The name of the novel and film is called “The Outsiders” and it was written by a 16year-old named S.E. Hinton,  while the film was directed by “Francis Ford Coppola “. The Outsiders is told through the eyes of one of the Greasers named Ponyboy. Who finds out that there is good in the world after going through a tough time with his best mate, Johnny. Both Ponyboy and Johnny find themselves in trouble after meeting a girl named Cherry, one of the Socs girls. When the Socs find out and come to confront them Johnny ends up killing one of them in order to save Ponyboy. The two find themselves to be on the run and go to the country to hide, but before they leave to come back to their hometown they go back to the church where they were hiding in. It ends up catching on fir with a bunch of little children stuck inside the burning church. Johnny and Ponyboy find themselves saving the children but before Johnny can get out of the church he end up getting hit in the back by a peace of timber from the church, leaving him with life threating burns and a broken back. Johnny ends up dying and Dally another Greaser can’t handle the loss of Johnny well and robs a store to only end up being shot in the middle of the streets by police. Both the film and novel are good but I believe that the novel is better because it explains what is happening more clearly with the characters.  Also the film leaves out a lot of things that happen in the novel which are crucial parts to explain the change in PonyBoy, the gang and the three brothers.

The film and novel are different as the film leaves out parts that the book has in it which means they don’t tell the same story in as much detail and leaves out important events. The novel focuses on Ponyboy’s journey through life as a greaser, while the film focuses more on the Greaser’s vs Socs and relationships in the greasers. Thought out the novel we are told what it’s like to be a greaser, and the help of Ponyboy’s narration helps see it through his eyes. The way the author describes the story and the events that take place makes you feel like you’re there, it also makes you feel the emotion in the story, example when Johnny dies, and you can feel the emotion and tension when this event takes place, like when Dally hits the wall after Johnny dies and races out of the hospital only to rob a store and gets gunned down in the street by police. In comparison, the film doesn’t show a lot of the sub plots, such as when Soda and his girl break up it leaves out a big part of the journey in their lives. Therefore the novel tells Ponyboy’s story better than the film does.

The characters in the novel and film are talked about and seen different from each other as they all have different personalities and are seen different from each other, like Ponyboy is to be seen as a nice, innocent boy while Darry is seen to be the more sensible one and cares for all the greasers and is tough and strong.  In the novel they are all talked about more and their stories are told. They all share a part in the journey and are seen different. Some are meaner than others, like Dally is rough, tough, and not afraid of anything and loves to break the law, while some care more, like Johnny who is nice, caring towards all the greasers and seems like someone who wouldn’t hurt anyone, but in the end they treat each other like brothers. In comparism to the film, doesn’t really show all of the greasers and doesn’t tell their story it just focus on the Greasers vs Socs. Example in the novel Soda is a big part of the story while in the film Soda is hardly seen or mentioned. The novel and film have different ways of expressing the characters in them.

In the film and novel the stylistic features are seen different as one is visual and the other written. In the novel Ponyboy’s narration is a stylistic feature which helps affect our feelings in the situation and brings more emotion to it. While the film has sunsets as a stylistic feature to express more feelings in the scene. Sunsets in the film are used to tell that it is the last moment of peace before something bad happens. Both novel and film show the stylistic features differently from each other.

In conclusion the novel was superior as it explained more and expressed the feelings and emotion better.  It also gave more detail into Ponyboy’s journey and experience and what it is like to be a Greaser and Soc. It also lets you feel like you are right there in the middle of the action. The novel was most effective in getting the ideas across.