It is perhaps this more than anything that makes teenagers continue to read it to this day. We also see through Ponyboy the need felt by most adolescents to fit in and be part of a group, and yet also the need to be an individual and the struggle to figure out who you are within the restrictions set by society, friends, peers and family. Through Darry we can sense the pressure of parental expectations - something that the reader can relate to. Despite most people reading the book are unlikely to have ever been caught up in a murder, through his detailed narration of the events we can identify with his attempts to follow his moral compass and please Darry, his older brother, whom he looks up to. The rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, only heats up when one gang member kills a member of the other. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze. The novel also reflects both the immediate and long-term fears that adolescents face through the thoughts of Ponyboy, which again makes both him and the story itself easy to relate to. The Outsiders: Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The young adult readers can relate to aspects of the characters from both sides of the class divide, making them realise that they’re not so different after all. The novel uses the greasers as well as the rival, wealthy ‘Socs’ to challenge stereotypes about class and what it means to be an outlaw. The greasers become almost anti-heroes: coming from the wrong side of the class divide, with several of them having had run-ins with the law, yet are fiercely loyal to one another and hardworking. It makes the characters and therefore the novel as a whole more authentic, and makes the reader challenge any pre-conceived ideas they have about what a ‘bad’ person is. His character, as well as that of the other characters, is one of the elements that I love most about the book.
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