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The Outsiders continues to be relevant to adolescents, opening discussions on acceptance, rejection, and stereotyping. Middle school teacher Joanne S. Gillespie describes her unit on the novel, which includes art projects, blogging, and student-generated questions.
Reading the first sentence, "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home," seventh graders at my independent suburban Maryland school are captivated by S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, the story of lower-class greasers and their feud with the financially well-off Socials (aka Socs). I never tire of teaching this novel because it addresses timeless adolescent issues and students love it.
Getting Started
The Outsiders fits Hazel Rochman's definition of a good story: "A good story is rich with ambiguity, with uncertainty. You sympathize with people of all kinds, and neither side wins" (148). In The Outsiders, Randy, a Soc, puts down Ponyboy, a greaser, when he says, "You can't win, even if you whip us. You'll still be where you were before-at the bottom. . . . Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs" (117). The difficult struggle of Ponyboy and his friends has a powerful impact on my students.
The harmful effects of stereotyping are woven throughout the novel. Before I distribute the book, students talk about labeling. Using socioeconomic status, clothing, music, sexual orientation, religion, and so forth, students think of names to describe people. Within minutes, they generate long lists to share.
Next, they write a personal anecdote about a time when they were labeled and a brief explanation of how they felt. They are eager to share their stories. One boy remembered his first week at a new school: "I was still shy and was looking for a friend. Two girls were sitting on the ground and I was just walking by when they called out, 'Hi, Buddha!' They said it in a very sweet voice but I was very confused. I was like, what? Then they said they called me that because I was fat. I felt so bad. I was so ashamed. I felt self-conscious and I moped around for weeks." A thirteen-year-old girl recalled hugging her girlfriend...