The Outsiders

“The Outsiders” is a novel written by S.E.Hinton in 1965, published in 1966, and later made into a film in 1983, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The novel and film both follow a similar plot featuring the main character, Ponyboy’s, life as a Greaser. The plot describes the rivalry between two groups, the Greasers and the Socs.  Ponyboy meets Cherry, a member of the Soc’s which leads to the accidental killing of a Soc.  The heroic rescue of children from a house fire results in the death of his bestfriend Johnny. Conflict between the two groups finally results in a violent rumble and the shooting of a Greaser, Dally. Through these events Ponyboy comes to the realisation that gang violence and rivalry is pointless. The novel best conveys the story line because more depth is provided. I found the film to be rushed and left out some important scenes that gave significant background information. The novel leaves the reader with a much stronger understanding of the hopelessness of gang violence. It creates a much more emotional response than the film does. A minor theme of the plot is how difficult it is for a child in a dysfunctional family. Again, the novel is able to show this more vividly by making it more descriptive.

The plot of the movie differs from that of the novel as it focuses on the gang rivalry and the strong bond between Ponyboy and Johnny. In the novel, Ponyboy narrates the story and provides a broader perspective of the other characters. In the film, it is more based on Ponyboy and Johnny and doesn’t go into great detail and depth about the rest of the characters. In the novel, S.E.Hinton writes about Mickey Mouse, Sodapop’s horse and about Sodapop’s relationship with his girlfriend, the film doesn’t show this.

Understanding the characters is a very important part in any storyline. However, with “The Outsiders”, the film glosses over many of the character details and the relationships between them. This results in the viewer not knowing and understanding individual characters in the way the novel reader does. Dally’s death is much more emotional in the novel because the reader understands and has a better bond with him and feels more sympathy and devastation.

The use of sunsets as a motif differs in the film and novel. The novel goes into more depth on why sunsets are repeated and explains further how much Ponyboy loves and enjoys them. When the sunsets are used in the film it isn’t obvious and not a lot of attention is taken. At the drive-in movie Cherry and Ponyboy are talking about sunsets and more is said in the novel than film.

The novel elaborates more and gives better knowledge about characters; the film only gives a lot of information on Ponyboy and Johnny. Since there isn’t a lot of information provided on the other characters this means the audience isn’t able to form a bond with them.  Throughout the novel stylistic features and the storyline’s depth had profusion amounts of detail. S.E.Hinton wrote a very realistic and entertaining novel that captures problems in teens lives the film was also well put together but lacked some major extracts.