Reviewing "The Outsiders"

Welcome back!

Alright, this time I'm going to be doing a review on "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, and why people want it banned.

I had the book read out loud in class and every time we ended it was like I was in my own little dream world, but every time we started reading it I kind of stared in front of me, visualizing what was going on. It literally hypnotized me.

Why, you may ask, would people want this book banned? Well very simple reasons.

I have looked around and basically it was challenged to be banned because of the slang it uses. Such as:

Greasers: Low income families that greaser their hair back.
Socs: High income, rich, mostly stuck up families.
Booze: Any type of alcohol.
Cooler: Jail.
Cancer stick: Cigarette.
Weed: Marijuana.
Hacked off: Anger/ upset.
Heater: pistol.
Fly: Attractive.
Fuzz: Police.
Jumped: Attacked.
Lift:
Lightening up: Lighting a cigarette.
Lone it: To leave someone, some thing alone.
Rank: A gross stench, something unusual.
Rolled: To rob.
Rumble: Deadly fight between gangs.
Scrap: To fight.
Tuff: Cool, with it

The next most common reasons for the book being challenged is the teenage violence in the book. Parents generally worry that their children are being exposed to things they aren't prepared for and insist their schools pull it from the curriculum, though some say it promotes unchristian values, but most people that make such a claim haven't read the book themselves, and go mostly on what others say (That probably want the book banned in the first place).

Another reason is that most of the characters were from "Broken homes" either parents fighting, totally ignoring the kid, or many other reasons. I personally think it's an irrelevant reason to want the book banned. So what if the kid is having trouble at home? It's a character? What do you think it's going to do to your child? Make them want to start a fight with their role model? I think not.

Another big reason though, for it being banned is under-age drinking. I agree with that reason, but the book is intended for older kids, around probably grade 7 or 8. Not your nine-year-old daughter.

Over-all this is a very good book, though intended for more mature audiences. Hinton's writing was phenomenal, and over-all hypnotizing, despite the "Bad things" in this book.