S. E. Hinton's Influence On The Outsiders

Imagine this, a 15 year old girl going to a small high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma decides to write a novel that would soon be one of the most famous young adult novels ever written. That is exactly what Susan Eloise Hinton did. S.E. Hinton was born on July 22, 1948. As a sophomore in high school, Hinton wrote The Outsiders and had it published before she graduated. S.E. Hinton grew up among two feuding groups (the greasers and the soc’s) that sparked the idea for her most famous novel, The Outsiders, which she wrote in high school after her friend was jumped. S.E. Hinton has always enjoyed reading and writing but was never happy with the young adult books available at the time. This inspired her to write her own. Hinton was influenced by authors

Hinton’s famous novel The Outsiders was influenced by many factors. One of these factors was that she lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This rural location allowed for more unnoticed violence. “Hinton’s frank depiction of the cruelty and violence that teens can perpetrate upon one another was a new development in books for adolescents” (Susan Eloise Hinton 1). Since Hinton was a teen when the book was written, most of the characters are also teens and very few adults are mentioned. “Hinton’s works usually involve her depictions of society” (Hunt 1). These are all examples of the influences she had from her hometown. S.E. Hinton considered herself a tomboy, this also had an influence on her novel The Outsiders. “I was a tomboy- I played football, my close friends were guys” (Hinton 182). Since the book was influenced by her life, most of the characters are male. More guys tend to get in more trouble and this helped create the violent storyline. “Gave birth to the new realism in adolescent literature” (Susan Eloise Hinton 1). Some of her other actions and experiences that happened in her group of friends also influenced her

Critics may say that the novel has a very strong theme of general violence and also a theme of gang violence. “Hinton’s frank depiction of the cruelty and violence that teens can perpetrate upon one another was a new development in books for adolescents, and led some adult critics to condemn the novel's realism” (Susan Eloise Hinton 1). Another factor that affects the critics reviews is that the novel was written by a teen and may not be the best quality. This also leads them to believe that parts of the novel are extremely over exaggerated or falsified. “Some critics believe that her novels are more graphic than factual” (Susan Eloise Hinton 1). Few critics may also want to add that they believe the novel has a few too many plot resolutions, meaning that the story ends in more places than