“‘True friends are truthful friends,’ “ The Outsiders by S.E Hinton and Letters
From The Inside by John Marsden are very similar. There are some significant similarities such as the same main themes. Friendship and crime & punishment are recurring ideas throughout the texts and I believe that we need to have a further look into them.
In both texts friendship was a frequent idea. In Letters From The Inside the main friendship is Mandy and Tracey’s. In The Outsiders there are lots of friendships and I am going to talk about Dally and Johnny’s.
In Letters From The Inside there are many examples of how Mandy and Tracey have a strong friendship. Their friendship is the base of the book because without it there would be no plot. Their friendship goes through tough times but they still stay in contact. This shows that their friendship is strong and it is clearly visible throughout the book. Another friendship that is visible in the book is Mandy and Cheryl’s friendship. It is not a major part of the book but it is still visible. “Cheryl…She’s cool…I trust her totally.” This shows that she has a good relationship with Cheryl but it’s not the main friendship in the book. I think that the friendships are important in this book as it is the base of the whole book.
In The Outsiders there are many examples of friendship. Johnny and Dally are an example of this. They have a very complex and entwined friendship which is displayed throughout the book. They go through tough times like when Johnny continues to care about his parents. Dally is annoyed because he was once in
Johnny’s shoes. He learnt to not love his parents but Johnny couldn’t. “Shoot, my old man don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don’t bother me none.” But Dally stops talking about it so to

spare Johnny’s feelings. This shows that Dally is a true friend because he accepted Johnny didn’t want to talk about it and he moved on. I think that another example of their friendship is when Johnny is in hospital, after the church burning. Dally is also checked in at the hospital but he breaks out of his room to see Johnny. This shows that he puts his friendship over his own health.
I think that their relationship is complex because they don’t openly show affection. I think they don’t because they are boys and that is just not a boy thing to do. Friendship is sometimes hidden but very strong.
In Letters From The Inside and The Outsiders friendship is a theme that is very visible and it is a main part of both books.
Another theme which connects the two books is crime and punishment. In The
Outsiders you see this idea when Johnny commits the crime of killing Bob. You also see it when there are fights on the streets and when people get jumped.
You also see the crime of Dally pointing the ‘gun’ at the police cars. The punishment for Johnny is his death. It may not have been the punishment that the police gave him but God gave that to him as his punishment, while the cause of his death was a redeeming act. The punishment for the street fights and the
‘jumps’ was a taste of reality. I think that this was conveyed by Bob getting killed. It showed everyone else that ‘jumping’ isn’t a fun thing to do and there can be major consequences. The punishment for Dally pointing the ‘gun’ at the police cars is he himself getting shot. I think that this wasn’t really a punishment as such because Dally knew that the police would shoot him if he pulled his ‘gun’. Crime and punishment is clearly resident in The Outsiders and is a big theme in the book.
In ‘Letters From The Inside’ another theme is crime and punishment. This conveyed through Tracey. Tracey committed the crime of killing on one 26 th of
December and was punished with a prison sentence at Garrett Prison in A Block.
I think that the theme is a big part of the book because it is the whole point
Tracey put the ad in the first place. She wanted to know what a normal life was and if she wasn’t in prison then she wouldn’t need to know what a normal life was like. Crime and punishment is in this book but you need to dig a bit deeper to uncover what the crime actually is.
In Letters From The Inside and The Outsiders, crime and punishment is a significant theme.

All in all I think that ‘Letters From The Inside’ by John Marsden and ‘The
Outsiders’ by S.E.Hinton are similar books as they have similar themes. In
Letters From The Inside friendship is the bigger theme and in The Outsiders crime and punishment is the bigger theme. In both books the other theme is a close second and both themes have significant roles in the play.