““The Voice of Youth”The Voice of Youth”S. E. Hintons’ career as an author began while she was still a student at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Disturbed by the clashes of the two gangs in her high school, the Greasers and the Socs, Hinton wrote The Outsiders, an honest, sometimes shocking novel told from the point of view of a 14-year-old Greaser named Ponyboy Curtis.

The Outsiders was published during Hinton’s freshman year at the University of Tulsa, and was an immediate sensation. Today, with more than fourteen million copies in print, the book is the best-selling young adult novel of all time. The book was also made into a film in 1983, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featuring budding young stars, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe.

““The Voice of The Voice of Youth”Youth”

Hinton has stated that the reason she wrote The Outsiders was so that she could deal with gang violence in her high school.

“One day, a friend of mine was walking home from school and these "nice" kids jumped out of a car and beat him up because they didn't like him being a greaser. This made me mad and I just went home and started pounding out a story about this boy who was beaten up while he was walking home from the movies-the beginning of The Outsiders. It was just something to let off steam. I didn't have any grand design. I just sat down and started writing it. I look back and think it was totally written in my subconscious or something.

One of my reasons for writing it was that I wanted something realistic to be written about teenagers. At that time realistic teenage fiction didn't exist. If you didn't want to read Mary Jane Goes to The Prom and you were through with horse books, there was nothing to read. I just wanted to write something that dealt with what I saw kids really doing.”

““The Voice of Youth”The Voice of Youth”The Ousiders brought with it publicity and fame. S. E. Hinton became known as “The Voice of the Youth.” This overnight success also brought a lot of pressure, resulting in a three-year-long writer’s block. Her boyfriend (now husband) eventually helped break this block by suggesting she write two pages a day before going anywhere. This ultimately led to her second novel, That Was Then, This is Now, which was also made into a film in 1985, starring Emilio Estevez. Ms. Hinton went on to write several other novels, including Rumble Fish and Tex.

In 1988, she was awarded the first annual Margaret A. Edwards Award, given in honor of “an author whose book or books, over a period of time, have been accepted by young adults as an authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives.”

S. E. Hinton still lives in Oklahoma with her husband, where she enjoys writing, riding horses, and taking courses at the university.

Dear Reader,

It is very difficult for me to write about myself, and especially The Outsiders, which was written at a horrendous time in my life, was published by a series of mind-boggling synchronicities, and has gone further than any author dared dream. But I’ll give it a shot.

I wrote The Outsiders when I was sixteen years old. Actually I began it when I was fifteen, as a short story about a boy who as beaten up on his way home from the movies.

But I didn’t just write The Outsiders, I lived it. Looking back, I realize how important it was to me to have another life at that time. To be someone else. To deal with the problems I had to face, and write my way to some sort of understanding and coping. This is all in hindsight. At the time, I was mad about the social situation in my high school. I desperately wanted something to read that dealt realistically with teen-age life.

The letters saying “I loved the book” are good, the ones that say “I never liked to read before, and now I read all them” are better, but the ones that say “The Outsiders changed my life” and “I read it fifteen years ago and I realize how much it has influenced my life choices” frankly scare me. Who am I to change anyone’s life? I guess the best reply is “It’s the book, not the author” and “It’s the message, not the messenger.” A lot of the time I feel that The Outsiders was meant to be written, and I was chosen to write it. It’s certainly done more good than anything I could accomplish on a personal level.

If this sounds like I am overwhelmed by the decades of incredible response to what began as a short story I started when I was fifteen years old, well, I guess that’s the truth. Stay Gold.S.E. Hinton

 Taken from the Author’s Foreword in The Outsiders Speak Platinum Edition, published by Penguin Group (1995)

SettingSetting• Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1965/1966• The gas stations, dreary streets

and housing of the “poor side of town” that the Greaser’s call home.

• The manicured lawns of upper middle class suburbia where the Socs live.

• The theaters drive-ins and burger joints that are common ground.

• The high school both neighborhoods attend.

• The United States coming out of the innocence of the “50s” into a time of great social and political change.

The LessonNothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,Her hardest hire to hold.Her early leafs a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief;So down goes down today.

Nothing gold can stay.

by Robert Frost

While the Socs live carefree lives of privilege, the Greasers all come from hard-knock backgrounds. They like to listen to the music of Elvis Presley and Chet Atkins. Their attire usually consists of tight fitting t-shirts, leather jackets, and snug jeans. They smoke, they drink, and they work at low paying jobs. Many Greasers are engaged in criminal activities, which causes many people to incorrectly assume that all Greasers are juvenile delinquents (JDs).

• Ponyboy CurtisPonyboy Curtis

• Sodapop CurtisSodapop Curtis

• Darry CurtisDarry Curtis

• Johnny CadeJohnny Cade

• Dally WinstonDally Winston

• Two-Bit MathewsTwo-Bit Mathews

• Steve RandleSteve Randle

The The GreaserGreaser

s:s:

• Middle to lower middle Middle to lower middle class familiesclass families

• Outlaws, “bad boys,” Outlaws, “bad boys,” tough attitudestough attitudes

• Gang members (some Gang members (some criminal, mostly social)criminal, mostly social)

• Emotional, quick to show Emotional, quick to show angeranger

• Slicked back, long hairSlicked back, long hair• Leather jackets, Leather jackets,

white t-shirtswhite t-shirts• Drive beat-up carsDrive beat-up cars

GreasersGreasers

The Socs, (pronounced "soashes", as in "social"), are spoiled kids from well-to-do rich families. They have no reservations about "jumping" Greasers without provocation. They listen to the Beatles and wear madras shirts.

•Cherry Valance Cherry Valance •Bob GardnerBob Gardner•Randy MatthewsRandy Matthews•MarciaMarcia

• Middle to upper middle classMiddle to upper middle class• The “good, cool, popular” kidsThe “good, cool, popular” kids• Role models, athletes, class Role models, athletes, class

presidentspresidents• Hang in cliques, not “gangs”Hang in cliques, not “gangs”• More self-contained and cool, More self-contained and cool,

not as quick to show out-of-not as quick to show out-of-control angercontrol anger

• Khakis, madras and polo shirtsKhakis, madras and polo shirts• Clean cut – hair cut (above the Clean cut – hair cut (above the

collar)collar)• Nice carsNice cars

The The SocsSocs

The SocsThe Socs

Soc’s‘63 Red Corvair

Socs’ ‘65 Ford MustangConvertible

Socs &Socs &GreasersGreasers

(Photos from the movie, American Graffiti )

The TimesThe Times

Memorable Memorable Personalities Personalities

President John F. KenneyAssassinated 1963

Robert F. KennedyAssassinated 1968

Memorable Memorable Personalities Personalities

President Johnson (L.B.J.) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

The Apollo 11 crew from left to right: Neil Armstrong, Commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and , Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 launched from the Kennedy Space Center.

On July 20, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon.

General W. Westmoreland, Commander of U.S. Forces in Vietnam 1965 (Painting- Byrd Archives)

Lt. Rick Rescorla 7th air Cav. Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam 1965, leads his men in a bayonet charge against the NVA. [Photo Peter Arnett] (Died 9/11/21 in the WTC, tower #2)

Neil A. ArmstrongDavid R. Scott, crew of Gemini VIII

Teen Music Teen Music TrendsTrends

Elvis Presley The Beach Boys

New Trends New Trends in Music:in Music:

The Beatles (1965)

T.V. 1966

Americas Top 20 TV Favorites in 1966

Stars and IdolsStars and IdolsPaul Paul

NewmanNewman In The Hustler(1963)

Steve Mc Queen Steve Mc Queen in The Great Escape (1963)

Sean Connery Sean Connery and Ursela AndresUrsela AndresJames Bond James Bond comes to the screen.

Political Tension at Political Tension at Home and AbroadHome and Abroad

LaDrang Valley ,Vietnam 1965, The fighting heats up.

March from Selma, Alabama 1965 Civil Rights March.

VietnamVietnam

(U.S. A. F. Museum)

LZ XRAY, 1966 (Courtesy of the U.S. Army)

L.B.J decides to increase our role/mission in Vietnam.

The 1st (Air) Cav. Div., 7th Cav. At Ia Drang, 1965(U.S. Army Photo)

67th TFS pilots Da Nang in 1965.(U.S. Air Force)

Raquel Welch with the Bob Hope Show at Da Nang, 1968

U.S.M.C.Gunner, Near the DMZ1967

1st. Cav. Moves through the Ira Drang Valley, 1966

The Civil Rights Movement

Gains Momentum

An attempt to register black voters leads to “Bloody Sunday” at Selma, Alabama

Civil Rights Leaders 1965Civil Rights Leaders 1965

Police Police confront civil confront civil rights rights marchers in marchers in Alabama, Alabama, 19651965

The "Greensboro Four" The "Greensboro Four" (1960)(1960)waiting to be served at waiting to be served at Woolworth'sWoolworth's

HippiesHippies

http://youtu.be/8lmhwDPkHas

““Stay gold Stay gold Ponyboy…!”Ponyboy…!”

Johnny CadeJohnny Cade