Susan Elouise Hinton was 15 when she started writing " The Outsiders." S.E. Hinton has wrote 9 other books. Some examples are "Rumble Fish", "Hawks Harbour", and "Tex". In total she has wrote 9 books.

The basic plot of this book is about the separating of 2 groups of people known as "greasers" and "socs". The main characters of the story are Ponyboy, Soda-pop, Darry, and Johnny. They are all greasers that live in the old and more unfortunate part of town. The socs are the more lucky ones driving nice cars and living in the better part of town. The socs and the greasers get in fights all the time, so you can more or less label them as gangs; altough, the greasers are really only trying to find their place in the world while the socs just cause trouble. The conflict of this story occurs when Johnny and Ponyboy are at a local park when they are jumped by a few socs. The socs begin to drown Ponyboy in a nearby fountain wich leaves Johnny to stab the soc Bob. This results in Ponyboy and Johnny running away from their city and becoming fugitives.

The location of this story is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the mid 1960`s.This town has a huge social and economic separation, therefore creating the 2 different groups. The story takes place in fall, most likely mid October/November. The atmosphere of the story is very dramatic, at times sad, and also humorous. The dramatic and sad feelings come into effect with the various deaths and other life changing issues dealt with throughout the story.

The main character in this story is Ponyboy because the story is about his life and what happens in his life. One trait of his personality would be his love and appreciation of life. Ponyboy somewhat relates to the boy from the story " On the sidewalk bleeding", Andy. He just wants to be a normal kid and live his life without the separation and labeling in his city. Some examples of this is when he be-friends the soc, Cherry; Another, is his love of watching sunsets. A second trait would be his hatred of the socs. An example of this trait is that he participates in a brawl between the greasers and the socs.

The outsiders was a very good book to read. I enjoyed the dramatic effects in it and the development of Ponyboy and how he deals with the conflict of the story. This is by far my favorite book I have read.