Centeno 1
Jesus Centeno Forbidden Books Sharon Holmes March 22, 2019 Being On The Outside Ever felt left out? The Outsiders is a book that takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma 1965, and it’s about a gang called the Greasers that is rivals with another gang called the Socs. They go through struggles with one another. The Socs are the ones who grew up being rich, but The Greasers gang grew up being poor. Through their journey, The Greasers lost a few members because they got in situations with the Socs and with the law. The Outsiders was banned because it showed teenagers being vulgar, teens smoking, being in trouble with the police , and engaging in gang violence. The Outsiders should not be banned because if these topics are real life topics, teens will eventually get exposed to topics like these. As said, The Outsiders was banned because it showed teenagers being vulgar and smoking, being in trouble with the police, and engaging in gang violence. This should not be censored from schools because as said, teens will eventually get exposed to these topics. According to MacArthur Tiger’s Tale, The Outsiders was challenged in south Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1986 from 8th grader’s parents from being in the reading list. The Banned books and Reading for Knowledge website states The Outsiders was challenged in West Virginia because of the violence, and themes about gangs. School officials around the United States were concerned about kids being exposed to these violent themes. They thought that kids would also be influenced by these real life situations even though The Outsiders was written mainly for that age group.
Centeno 2 Moving on, this text should not be banned at all because it has a really important lesson to it that teaches teens about real life issues. Teens can also relate to the main character Ponyboy because he struggles in fitting in and finding who he is. To some people, The Outsiders was banned because they found the themes of smoking a bad influence “Dallas lit a cigarette and handed it to Johnny. Everyone sat down to have a smoke and relax.” (11) this is an example when the characters smoke in a way to relax. Some schools do not agree that this is appropriate content because it can be a negative impact on someone’s life including gang violence as previously stated “Then there were shouts and the pounding of feet, and the Socs jumped up and left me lying there, gasping...people were jumping over me and running by me and I was too dazed to figure it out.” (6) this is in the beginning of The Outsiders where the main character Ponyboy gets jumped. The “jumping” goes on throughout the book. Additionally, The Outsiders should be read by everyone, and not be censored. The Outsiders lets people see what life is like for a person who grew up being poor, and grew up to be in a gang. A Rolling Stone Article says The Outsiders s old more than 15 million copies, and “inspired a Francis Ford Coppola film of the same name and helped shape an entire literary genre marketed to young adults.” As mentioned before, The Outsiders touches on some real life topics that can be controversial, and be too much for some kids or teens. “I was mad about the social situation at my high school, which was basically the Socs versus the Greasers like it is in the book.” This is what S.E Hinton said about how she got the idea for The Outsiders. In conclusion, the violent themes, smoking, and gang violence are real topics and it is important for people because they should be aware of these topics that mostly nobody talks about. All the places that banned The Outsiders are censoring these ideas from reaching new readers and inspiring them, this is limiting people from. In the end, The Outsiders and books in general should not be banned. This censors the ideas of an author, and violates their freedom
Centeno 3 of speech. Books have been banned in history because some people did not want to be proven wrong, or because the content might be too real, graphic, and controversial. This can also encourage people to go against somebody’s banning and read the books they were forbidden to read.
Centeno 4 SOURCES CITED Eby Margaret, Why ‘The Outsiders’ Still Matters 50 Years Later, Rolling Stone, April 26, 2017, accessed 3-22-19 Leal Lilly, The Outsiders, MacArthur Tigers Tale, February 5th 2016, accessed 3-19-19 R. Wolf Baldassarro, Banned Books Awareness: The Outsiders, Banned Books Awareness and Reading for Knowledge, May 8th 2011, Accessed 3-20-19