Symbolism In The Outsiders

“I knew I was going to be a writer.” This is what S.E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders, said in here Dear Readers page. She is meant to be a writer. In this classic story, greasers fight in a verbal and physical war with the Socs. What makes this book a classic, is that it uses many techniques to give more information to the reader, to make the story more compelling. S. E. Hinton uses multiple writing techniques such as symbolism, emotion in dialogue, and flashbacks. Symbolism is one of the key techniques used in the story. They are little pieces that do not look important, but you can tell exactly what is going to happen if you look closely. For example, the blue Mustang symbolizes something. When Pony flashes back to the time Johnny gets jumped, he says that there is a blue Mustang that the Socs came out of. Also, when Johnny kills Bob, the story describes the Socs coming out of a blue Mustang. This blue Mustang is symbolizing danger, an important part of this story. Another piece of symbolism in this book is the switchblade. This weapon is pulled out by Johnny and stabs Bob. And when Dally is in the hospital and wants to get out, he threatens the nurse with a switchblade. That is a lot of violence, therefore, the switchblade represents violence. Another piece of symbolism is the pop bottles. They just are these bottles of soda that people drink from. But greasers use these as weapons as well. Later in the book, the gang gets jumped and Pony pulls out a pop bottle