INTRODUCTION

S.E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders is a description of class warfare and teenage gang violence. It also portrays human hopes, frailties, and ultimately possibilities.
 
 

TASK
 

Using on-line resources do the following activities:

Before reading The Outsiders read about the author S. E. Hinton.
 

Chapters 1 and 2:   Ponyboy and Cherry are from two different social groups in their town, but they discover that each of them see the same sunset.  While looking at the sunset, write a descriptive paragraph about what you see, think, and feel.

Chapters 3 and 4:   Research and present information about the characteristics of gangs. Use the following search engines to answer these questions:

yahoo
infoseek
netscape

        1.  Who belongs to gangs?
        2.  Why do the members relate among themselves?
        3.  Where are gangs located in the United States?
        4.  What are some gang identifications?
        5.  Is there a profile of a gang member?
        6.  Why do members join?
        7.  Is juvenile gang membership and racism related?
 
 

Chapters 5, 6 and 7:  Research, print, and present a current web article from Time, Newsweek, or CNN on teenage or gang violence. Cite your reference.

Chapters 8, 9, and 10:  Re-read the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay".  Discuss with a peer what Ponyboy believed Frost was saying.  Also, discuss what each of you believe Frost was saying in this poem.

Chapters 11 and 12:  Using one of the following search engines infoseek, netscape, or yahoo to
research and present findings on one of the following topics about violence:

        1.  violence in television programs
        2.  violence in movies
        3.  violence in music
        4.  violence in video games
        5.  violence in sports
        6.  violence in schools
 
 
 

CONCLUSION

You will now be able to recognize class differences, violence in our society, characteristics of gangs and peer pressure as a teen.