The Outsider As Character Type
The outsider is an enduring character type in fiction, TV series, and movies. There are many reasons for this. When an outsider arrives in a new environment, he or she upsets the current status quo. This naturally generates dramatic questions. What will be the outcome of this upset? Will the outsider replace a current leader? Change the direction of a group? Another form of this character type is someone within a group who changes. An example of this is S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders . The POV character is Ponyboy. He's a Greaser. Wears his hair long, carries a switch blade, and fights in rumbles with his gang against others, mainly SOCs, pronounced SOSHes. He's also a high school freshman who gets straight As. His family is a brother named Soda who has already dropped out of high school, and an older brother, Darry, who at 20 works two jobs to support his brothers after the death of their parents. Darry also yells at Ponyboy a great deal out of concern ...