Year 9 English

The Outsiders

Essay

Guide

C.McDonnell

THE QUESTION:Choose the question that you connect with the most.

Everyone needs to feel that they belong.

Discuss how the writer explores this idea through the main characters and the key events of the novel.

OR

S.E. Hinton wrote ’The Outsiders’ to challenge the stereotypes that existed within her society.

Discuss how she has used narrative conventions to convey this message.

Analyse the question

Highlight the key words.

Re – write the question in your own words.

Try to answer the question in one sentence.

Key wordsQuestion 1

Everyone needs to feel that they belong.

Discuss how the writer explores this idea through the main characters and the key events of the novel.

NEEDS

BELONG

MAIN CHARACTERS

KEY EVENTS

BRAINSTORM FOR Q 1

Key wordsQuestion 2

S.E. Hinton wrote ’The Outsiders’ to challenge the stereotypes that existed within her society. Discuss how she has used narrative conventions to convey this message.

CHALLENGE

STEREOTYPES

HINTON’S SOCIETY

NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS

BRAINSTORM 2

Essay FormatMost text based essays have the same format; what changes is what you put inside each paragraph.

An INTRODUCTION that tells me where you are heading.

BODY paragraphs (Each one makes a separate point)

A CONCLUSION that ties it all together and gives your personal opinion

WRITING YOUR INTRODUCTION

• Start with a universal or broad statement

• Include the title of the novel and the writer.

• Provide a nutshell statement (An elegant plot summary)

• State what you will be saying in response to the question.(This is your Thesis statement - think of it as your claim + your reason)

• Use the key words of the question.

HERE IS A SAMPLE NUTSHELLThe Outsiders is the story of the orphaned Curtis brothers. They belong to a gang of East Side Greasers, and the novel focuses on their struggle to stay together as a family in the face economic hardship and violent conflict with a rival gang, the wealthy West Side Socials.

(http://www.shmoop.com/the-outsiders/)

A Sample Introduction to question 1

• Start with a universal statement.To belong is to matter. This is one of the central ideas in • Mention the title of the novel and the author, and give a brief outline of the

novel.The Outsiders, which was written by teenager S.E Hinton in 1967. The story is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1963, a period when the concept of being a teenager was first acknowledged. The story focuses on the lives of teenagers from broken or dysfunctional families and their efforts to find a sense of belonging with each other. Make a statement relating to the question. (Thesis)By examining specific characters and their reactions to key events in the novel, we can see how the need to belong is often what drives our actions.• Give a brief outline of the main ideas that you will cover in this essay.This is especially evident when we look at the narrator Ponyboy Curtis and his two friends, Johnny and Dally..

A sample Introduction to question 2• Start with a universal statement.

To make judgements about people based on stereotypes is a dangerous thing to do, because we can never know what life is like for a person unless we can step into their shoes.• Mention the title of the novel and the author, and give a brief outline of the

novel.The Outsiders ,written by S.E Hinton, is a novel set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1963. It is a story about two rival teenage gangs from different social classes. Hinton’s novel helps us to get inside the shoes of kids who would normally be regarded as no-hopers because of their social status and tendency to hang in gangs..Make a statement relating to the question. (Thesis)In order to challenge these stereotypes Hinton has used narrative conventions, including character and conflict to help us understand what life was like for teenagers in her society.• Give a brief outline of the main ideas that you will cover in this essay.This is especially evident when we look at the Curtis boys and their friend Johnny Cade. We can also get an understanding of wat life is like for the privileged kids who seem to have it all..

BODY PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

Your body paragraphs should follow the “TEEL” structure

T: Topic Sentence / make your point

E: Elaborate and expand on the topic or subject of your paragraph

E: Example, be specific – use quotes or examples from the text.

L: This concluding sentence links back to the topic of your paragraph or the topic of the essay.

You may also know this formula as:

PEEL

OR

SEX Link

Sample body paragraph Dally Winston is a character who shows how teenagers can change for the worse when they lose their sense of belonging. Dally tells Johnny how his parents wouldn’t “give a damn if I were in jail or dead”. As a result of this, the Greasers are like a substitute family for him. Dally feels particularly connected to Johnny. This is evident when he nearly tears the transmission out of the T Bird at the thought of Johnny going to Jail. “You don’t know what a few months in jail can do to you”, he tells Johnny. So at the end of the novel Dally is distraught about losing Johnny and confronts the police with a gun. In this way we can see how people react when they lose their sense of belonging and feel isolated and alone.

PLANNING YOUR BODY PARAGRAPHS

• You should try to write three or four body paragraphs to get your points across.

• Each paragraph should make one point.

• You should to the question at the end of each paragraph. NOT to the next paragraph.

CONCLUSION

• Don’t just re-state your main points

• Use the key words of the question.

• Try to say something memorable that sums up your response to the text.

Here are some general observations about the novel’s narrative structure.

NARRATOR · Ponyboy Curtis

POINT OF VIEW · Ponyboy gives a first-person, subjective account of events, explaining how we should interpret events and people in the story.

TONE · Youthful; melodramatic; slangy; simplistic

TENSE · Past

SETTING (TIME) · Mid-1960s

SETTING (PLACE) · Tulsa, Oklahoma

PROTAGONIST · Ponyboy

Accessed from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/outsiders/facts.html April 2 2014

Narrative conventions continued

MAJOR CONFLICT · Against the background of the clash between the poor greasers and the rich Socs, the greaser Ponyboy struggles to mature.

RISING ACTION · Johnny kills a Soc; Johnny and Ponyboy flee; tension mounts between the greasers and Socs.

CLIMAX · Johnny’s death, in Chapter 9.

FALLING ACTION · The greasers win the rumble; Dally dies; Ponyboy recovers from his emotional and physical trauma.

THEMES · Bridging the gap between rich and poor; honor among the lawless; the treacherousness of male-female interactions

MOTIFS · Literature; eye shape and color; Ponyboy’s losses of consciousness

SYMBOLS · Two-Bit’s switchblade; cars; Bob’s rings; greaser hair

FORESHADOWING · The Socs jump Ponyboy while he walks home alone, previewing their later attack on him and Johnny; Johnny threatens to kill anybody who jumps him again, foreshadowing his murder of Bob.

Accessed from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/outsiders/facts.html April 2 2014

Some observations about themes

In The Outsiders, Hinton works hard to show that even though lower-income people might be less educated than their wealthier counterparts, it doesn't mean they're less smart.

Appearances in The Outsiders tell only half the story; ultimately, actions speak louder than appearances.Ponyboy writes his story to encourage others to stop judging Greasers by their appearances.

Darry is isolated by his decision to care for his younger brothers, but the love and satisfaction he gets from doing so more than makes up for it.When Johnny dies, Dallas feels completely isolated from the rest of humanity.

The Outsiders makes an argument for a society in which wealth is more evenly distributed among society's members.The Outsiders argues that violence and criminal activity aren't isolated to people in the lower economic classes, but that people in the lower economic classes are punished more often and more severely for any crimes they commit.

http://www.shmoop.com/the-outsiders/themes.html

REMEMBER!• Plan carefully.

• Complete the whole essay at home!

• Try to memorise your nutshell and some powerful quotes.

• Make sure your examples are written in your plan.

• Proof-read your essay and fix any errors.

• Write your notes from your full draft.

• Have everything ready the night before.

Here are two really useful websites:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/outsiders/facts.html

http://www.shmoop.com/the-outsiders/