The
Outsiders
By S.E. Hinton
Power point by Dave Sykes, Mesa Verde Middle School, PUSD
“The Voice of Youth”, S. E. Hinton
In 1967, Viking Books published The
Outsiders by a young woman named Susan
Eloise Hinton. Her novel about teens
growing up in Oklahoma in 1965/1966 was a
hit with young people all over the country
and earned her the nickname, “The Voice of
Youth”. She gave young people an author
who was “one of their own”, someone who
saw the world from their point of view and
wrote about the real questions and fears
they experienced.
(Scholastic Books)
Setting:
• 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 Lesson:
• Nothing 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
Greasers-
Main Characters:
Socs-
Greasers and
Socs (from Hollywood) :
The Greasers:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ponyboy Curtis
Sodapop Curtis
Darry Curtis
Johnny Cade
Dally Winston
Two-bit Mathews
Steve Randle
The Socs
•Cherry Valance
•Bob Gardner
Socs’ “65”
Ford,
Mustang
Convertable
Greaser’s“
32” Ford,
Coupe
(Photos from the movie, American
Graffiti )
Socs and
Greasers
The Times:
Contemporary Personalities :
Dr. M.L. King Jr.
President Johnson (L.B.J.)
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. Armstrong
David R. Scott, crew of
Gemini VIII
Teen Music Trends:
Elvis Presley
The Beach Boys
New Trends in Music:
The Beatles
Americas Top 20 TV Favorites in 1966
T.V. 1966
Stars and Idols:
Paul
Newman
In The
Hustler
(1963)
Steve Mc Queen in
The Great Escape (1963)
Sean Connery and Ursela AndresJames Bond comes to the screen.
Political Tension at Home and
Abroad:
March from Selma, Alabama 1965
Civil Rights March.
Ia Drang Valley ,Vietnam 1965,
The fighting heats up.
Vietnam
LZ XRAY, 1966 (Courtesy of the
U.S. Army)
L.B.J decides
to increase our
role/mission in
Vietnam.
(U.S. A. F.
Museum)
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)
U.S.M.C.
Gunner,
Near the
DMZ
1967
1st. Cav. Moves
through the Ira
Drang Valley, 1966
Raquel Welch with the
Bob Hope Show at
Da Nang, 1968
The Civil Rights Movement
Gains Momentum
An attempt to register black voters leads to “Bloody
Sunday” at Selma, Alabama
Police confront civil rights
marchers in Alabama, 1965
The "Greensboro Four" (1960)
waiting to be served at Woolworth's
Civil Rights Leaders 1965
Nothing 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
(Nick Brockunier)
“Stay gold Ponyboy…!”
- Johnny Cade
(Nick Brockunier )