A Teacher’s Way Inside "The Outsiders"

The Outsiders, first novel by then - 16 - year - old S. E. Hinton, is hard for an upper - middle - aged teacher to identify with. The narrator is 14 - year - old Ponyboy, and the conflict is mainly about guys who grease their hair and fight the Socs with neat haircuts and fancy cars who look down on them. But the character of Darry, the narrator’s 20 - year - old brother, gives me a way into the novel.

[Photo: Promotion for the 1983 movie, with Patrick Swayze as "Darry," Rob Lowe as "Soda," and C. Thomas Howell as "Ponyboy."]


When we first read about Darry, we’re told how strong he is, how he works to support his orphaned brothers. But he’s “hard” (2). Ponyboy writes that Darry’s “always hollering at me” and that he “rarely grins.” A bit later, when Socs have jumped Ponyboy, Darry rescues his little brother and shakes him too hard. Darry keeps asking “Are you all right?” (6) Ponyboy doesn’t like the shaking, and Darry says “I’m sorry,” but Ponyboy doesn’t believe it: “Darry isn’t ever sorry for anything he does.”

Darry is sorry again when he slaps Ponyboy (50). Ponyboy has come home late, and both Darry and the middle brother Soda are waiting up, worried. When Ponyboy says “I didn’t mean to” come home so late, Darry mocks him, “I didn’t mean to!...I didn’t think!...Can’t you think of anything?” Seconds later, he slaps Ponyboy, who runs from the house. Darry “screams” after him, “I didn’t mean to!”

When they meet again, it’s in the hospital where Ponyboy has been treated for injuries from rescuing children from a fire. Ponyboy has a joyful reunion with Soda before he notices Darry leaning in the doorway, fists “jammed in his pockets,” and his eyes “pleading” (97). Ponyboy realizes, “horrified,” that his brother is crying. Suddenly all the words that he’s heard from the rest of the gang come back to him, that “Darry did care about me” and “was trying too hard to make something of me” (99). This time, when Darry says, “I’m sorry,” Ponyboy hugs him tightly.

Any teacher can look back on times when he said something in the moment that was hurtful, usually thinking that he’s saying it for the student’s own good. When the damage has been done, it feels awful, and when the student forgives, it’s a huge relief, so much so that I can name the times this has happened over decades in the field. This very real moment in the book helped me to connect emotionally to the story.

[Composed in thirty minutes to be a model for students, who will write about their own "way into" the novel, showing how a character, theme, plot line, or something else, develops throughout its chapters.]