So here we go again, the continuation of my increased reading habits brought on by graduate school. This is the next installment of several YA titles that will get their chance on Fiction Friday. This week I read a classic of the genre that I hadn't picked up before. I have seen the movie, but it was so long ago, and under the influence, so needless to say, I didn't remember anything about it. That was good, because the book felt fresh and I had no images in my head of how it was supposed to look...well, except for the Karate Kid as Johnny. Enjoy.
(Penguin, 1967)
Greasers vs. Socs...Punks vs. Preps...Nerds vs. Jocks. No matter what labels are attached, teen literature is littered with stories of two opposing groups whose hatred for one another is based on appearances and social status. Perhaps it's because these differences are so important to us when we are trying to discover who we are and who we want to be. S.E. Hinton, being a teenager herself when she wrote this novel, understood that and that is why this novel remains so popular more than sixty years after it was first published despite the fact that the terms "greaser" and "soc" have long been forgotten.
Ponyboy Curtis is a greaser. He is a greaser because he wears his hair long and slicked back. He is a greaser because he lives on the East Side of his town instead of the richer West Side. He is a greaser because his friends are greasers. He is a greaser because others say he is a greaser. For all of these reasons, he identifies with being a greaser and takes pride in it. At least he did until one night causes him to question everything.
Do the kids who have nice clothes, cars, and money, really have it easier than those who have nothing? Or does every kid suffer from social pressures, issues with their parents, and the confusion that comes with getting older? Ponyboy doesn't have the answer to these questions, but two crucial encounters on that fateful night make him begin to think that perhaps there isn't much of a difference between those on the East Side of town and those on the West. Sure, they have certain material advantages and catch a lot of breaks when it comes to the cops, but that doesn't prove that their lives are as perfect as they seem to the outsider.
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Tragedy
makes Ponyboy realize that before we are greasers or socs, or any other artificial label, we are all people. Ponyboy Curtis is a greaser. He is a greaser because he wears his hair long and slicked back. He is a greaser because he lives on the East Side of his town instead of the richer West Side. He is a greaser because his friends are greasers. He is a greaser because others say he is a greaser. For all of these reasons, he identifies with being a greaser and takes pride in it. At least he did until one night causes him to question everything.
Do the kids who have nice clothes, cars, and money, really have it easier than those who have nothing? Or does every kid suffer from social pressures, issues with their parents, and the confusion that comes with getting older? Ponyboy doesn't have the answer to these questions, but two crucial encounters on that fateful night make him begin to think that perhaps there isn't much of a difference between those on the East Side of town and those on the West. Sure, they have certain material advantages and catch a lot of breaks when it comes to the cops, but that doesn't prove that their lives are as perfect as they seem to the outsider.
A compelling novel about friendship, loss, and family framed in the age-old struggle between social groups with different interests.
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