Conflict
The central problem in a plot.
Man against Man
Man against Nature
Man against Himself
Man against Society
The Outsiders is not just a
story about gangs and
fights. It is a book about
the people behind the
images.
Richard Cory
by: Edwin Arlington Robinson
Whenever Richard Cory went downtown,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown.
Clean favoured, and imperially slim.
Richard Cory
Discussion Questions
Stanza One
What might it mean that the people “on the pavement
looked at him?”
Where in the social status is he? Where are they?
Describe what Richard Cory looks like.
Richard Cory
continued
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
Richard Cory
Discussion Questions
Stanza Two
How does Richard Cory act toward other
people?
How do the people see him?
Richard Cory
continued
And he was rich - yes, richer than a king And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
Richard Cory
Discussion Questions
Stanza Three
Do you wish you could be in Richard Cory’s place?
Why?
Does Richard Cory have it made/does he have any
problems?
Describe the people who look up to Richard Cory.
Richard Cory
continued
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the
bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.
Richard Cory
Discussion Questions
Stanza Four
What do you think “So on we work…and cursed the
bread” may mean?
What do the last two lines reveal?
Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Whenever Richard Cory went downtown,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown.
Clean favoured, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich - yes, richer than a king And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.
The Outsiders is a book that
shows that “beneath the
trappings of madras or
leather, individual hearts
have much in common.”
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
By the time she was 17 years old, Susan
Eloise Hinton was a published author. While
still in high school in her hometown--Tulsa,
Oklahoma--Hinton put in words what she saw
and felt growing up and called it The
Outsiders, a now classic story of two sets of
high school rivals, the Greasers and the Socs
(for society kids). Because her hero was a
Greaser and outsider, and her tale was one of
gritty realism, Hinton launched a revolution
in young adult literature.
Since her narrator was a boy, Hinton's
publishers suggested that she publish under the
name of S. E. Hinton; they feared their readers
wouldn't respect a "macho" story written by a
woman. Hinton says today, "I don't mind
having two identities; in fact, I like keeping the
writer part separate in some ways. And since
my alter ego is clearly a 15-year-old boy,
having an authorial self that doesn't suggest a
gender is just fine with me."
Today, more than twenty-five years after its first
publication, The Outsiders ranks as a classic,
still widely read and one of the most important
and taboo-breaking books in the field. Finally,
someone was writing about the real concerns
and emotions of a teenager. The Outsiders
marked the beginning of a new kind of realism
in books written for the young adult market, and
Hinton's next four books followed suit.
She wrote her second book while she was in
college at the University of Tulsa, studying
to be a teacher. But "I don't have the nerve
or physical stamina to teach," she says. "I
did my student teaching, but I couldn't leave
the kids and their problems behind me; I'd
go home and worry about them. I think
people who are good teachers do one of the
most important jobs there is; I can't praise
them highly enough."
David Inhofe, who is now her husband, was her
boyfriend then and was instrumental in helping
her get her second book written. Hinton was
suffering from writer's block. Inhofe refused to
go out with her at night unless she wrote two
pages during the day, and slowly but steadily
over four months, she compiled the manuscript
that became That Was Then, This is Now, a story
of drugs, delinquency, and a tough kid making a
tough decision. She and David were married in
1970; the second book was published in 1971.
I.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Plot Development in The Outsiders
Refer to page 603 in Introducing Literature
textbook. According to this page,what is the
plot of a novel?
What three things does the plot do?
Look up conflict. Define it.
List two major types of conflict and their
definitions.
What is the major conflict in The Outsiders?
List several minor conflicts in The Outsiders.
What scene is the climax of the plot? Describe
it briefly.
How is the major conflict resolved?
II. Character Development in The Outsiders
1. Read Characterization on pages 109 and 598-599 in
Introducing Literature text. List three methods an
author uses to reveal a character’s personality.
**Which ones does S.E. Hinton use?
2. Make a list of major and minor characters. Think
carefully about which list to put each character in.
3. List the conflicts experienced by Ponyboy, and label
them as internal or external.
II. Character Development in The Outsiders
Continued
4. What characterization methods are
used to portray Ponyboy?
5. What is Ponyboy’s character like
initially?
6. What forces cause Ponyboy to
change?
II. Character Development in The Outsiders
Continued
7. What is Ponyboy like after he changes?
8. What is the turning point in Ponyboy’s
character development?
9. Write a sentence describing each of the
following characters:
Ponyboy
Dally
Johnny
Soda
Two-bit
Darry
Cherry
II. Character Development in The Outsiders
Continued
10. Why is Johnny such a nervous boy?
11. How do the others feel toward Johnny?
12. What is Ponyboy’s family situation?
Name 5 differences between the Socs and
the Greasers.
III. Setting in The Outsiders
1. Read Setting on page 131 and 605 of
Introducing Literature. Define it.
2. What is the setting of The Outsiders?
3. How does the author establish the setting?
4. Could this story take place in another
setting? Why, or why not?
IV. Theme in The Outsiders
1.
Read Theme on pages 145 and 605 of
Introducing Literature. Define it.
2.
Themes are important in what types of literature?
3.
Does The Outsiders fit this category?
4.
Write some themes expressed in The Outsiders
that can be applied to our everyday life. (Star
the most important)
V.
1.
The Outsiders Study Questions:
Ponyboy comments that self-defense is the only good reason for
fighting. Do you agree? Why, or why not?
2. Sodapop insists that if he, Darry, and Ponyboy don’t have each
other, they have nothing. Do you agree? Why, or why not?
3. Some critics say that The Outsiders is too sentimental. Do you
agree? Why,or why not?
4. Discuss the violence in The Outsiders. How do you define
violence? Do you object to it? Why do you think the author
included it?
5. Explain why you do, or do not agree with Johnny’s message to
Ponyboy.
VI.
Literary Terms that apply to The Outsiders
A.
Look up each term below. Read about it, then:
1. define it
2. give an example of it from the book if it applies.
a.
allusion
h.
symbol
b.
atmosphere
i.
tragedy
c.
dialect
d.
dialogue
e.
flashback
f.
irony
g.
point of view (3 types)
Outsiders.
* the one used in The
VII. Vocabulary Development in The Outsiders
1.
Below is a list of vocabulary words found in The Outsiders.
For each word—
a.
find the page and skim until you locate the word
b.
write the sentence that the word is used in.
c.
from the way the word is used in the sentence, make up a definition
of it
d.
look up the word in the dictionary. Write the definition that is
appropriate for the way the word is used in the novel.
unfathomable
sagely
roguishly
incredulous
quavered
ruefully
conviction
premonition
aghast
stupor
vaguely
indignant
contemptuously
subsides
eluded