Question

S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was only 15. In an interview, she said, “Every teenager feels that adults have no idea what's going on. That's exactly the way I felt when I wrote The Outsiders. Even today, the concept of the in-group and the out-group remains the same. The uniforms change, and the names of the groups change, but kids really grasp how similar their situations are to Ponyboy's.” Do you think this is true? In your answer, describe a situation today, either your own experience or the experience of someone you know, that is either similar to or different from a situation one of the characters faced in The Outsiders.

Answer 1

Today's teenagers experience something similar, we always identfy each other by how we dress, or where we're from, or even from what our interests are. With the rise of social media, we're able to connect, but also be divided more than ever from the easy access information. The most divisive thing I have experienced is politics, because it's not even obvious at first, but as soon as others find out about your political views, you automatically fall under a category.