Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion

This thread is for spoilers.

Did you read this book in school and again as an adult?

Did you views change with having life experience?

I never read this as a kid. I first picked it up after my kids read it in school. My youngest is now an English teacher reading it with her seventh graders.

As an adult, I both love and hate Darry for holding his family together. Fighting and leading a gang is not a good choice. However, he does work very hard to keep the brothers together. At 20, he is just not mature enough to make good choices at times.

Are there any men in the group? The book was written by a teenage girl so it is safe to say she got the voice of the 1960's teenager correct. How did she do on adolescent males? I have three daughters in their 20s. On my side of the family, I have only 1 nephew. On my husbands side, it is not quite as lopsided, but nieces still outnumber, no I know way more about adolescent girls.

She gave the adolescent males more heart and feeling than might have been naturally occurring in the wild. I read it some time ago and it gave me a lifetime's worth of empathy for folks who are doing the best they can with limited choices and little adult assistance, mentoring, guidance.

For those of you who saw the movie, do you have thoughts?

Even though Matt Dillon does not fit the physical description of Dally, he was the perfect actor. He definitely fit the spirit, attitude and swagger.

Did you know his nurse was played by Susie Hinton herself?

Did you catch the dedication in the movie? It was dedicated to Sanger School District. The movie was their idea! The librarian there wrote to Francis Ford Coppola sending him a copy of the book and a petition requesting he make it into a movie. The K-12 district had 324 students at the time. Sometimes the little guy can really inflence the big guy!

I never read this as a kid or in school but I can certainly see how this I might enjoy this much more as a younger person being able to identify with groups of friends who may not be from the same walk of life. I was in HS in the late 80’s and we didn’t have gangs like this. But I can say from being a part of the band and not a part of the cheerleaders there was a divide because we were considered to be geeks. I know it’s not exactly the same as the divide in the book, but any social division can cause strain and dislike just because you believe you are different.

Ponyboy realizing that the greasers (lower case g) and the Socs(capital S) were really alike- they can all watch a sunset and they all have their own rough times and troubles to deal with. There are a lot of strong themes for middle school students to be able to talk about.

I liked the 60’s slang words:
Heater-gun
Cooler-jail
Fuzz-police
Hacked off-mad
Reeling pickled-drunk
Weed-cigarette

I think as far as Darry goes, being a father figure to his brothers is a hard thing for a 20 year old. But he had to have been brought up right to even be willing to take on the responsibility. Of course he’s going to make mistakes but so do we all who have kids. I might not agree with the smoking but he didn’t drink and he made sure Ponyboy stayed in school so he could become somebody.

I’m glad to have read this and now must see the movie!

Lori wrote: "I never read this as a kid or in school but I can certainly see how this I might enjoy this much more as a younger person being able to identify with groups of friends who may not be from the same ..."

Make sure you get the "novel" version. It has deleted scenes that add a lot - things from the book that were left on the cutting room floor in the original release.

I graduated from high school in 1980 and was very uncool. I was not in band and they were not uncool either. I remember when they wanted band jackets and to have a treble clef. The jackets passed around a petition that only athletes could have "Letter" jackets. They were different jackets. Why should not everyone have a school jacket if they want? When my kids were in school that was the case and you could letter in academics. None of my kids had a school jacket, though.

Lori wrote: "I never read this as a kid or in school but I can certainly see how this I might enjoy this much more as a younger person being able to identify with groups of friends who may not be from the same ..."

What instrument did you play?

I remember having a letter jacket. Everyone was able to have one by then. It was probably an athlete status symbol and they didn’t like sharing😝

I played alto saxophone in the concert and marching bands.

I’m afraid I didn’t get far with this book. I simply can’t muster much interest in such aimless, destructive lives. I feel sorry for them but don’t want to dwell in their company. I could see that it was well written and the characters had depth.

They were self- destructive. That is one of the big themes of the book. A lesson Ponyboy learns. Fighting is a self- destructive behavior. It is also explored by a member of the Soc.

I first read this over 40 years ago, when I was in grade 7 or 8. It had a huge impact on me. It was nice to revisit it again.