StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in her novel The Outsiders - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay stresses the novel, ‘The Outsiders’, that is a narration of the life of two rival gang members from the point of view of one of them, Ponyboy Curtis. The author uses different language techniques to convey key themes in her novel ‘The Outsiders’. …
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.1% of users find it useful
How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in her novel The Outsiders
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in her novel The Outsiders"

How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in her novel The Outsiders? Grade (October 21, 2015) How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in her novel The Outsiders? Introduction The novel, ‘The Outsiders’, is a narration of the life of two rival gang members from the point of view of one of them, Ponyboy Curtis. The two rival gangs, the ‘Greasers’ and he ‘Socs’, are from two opposite side of the economic spectrum, with the ‘Socs’ being from the wealthy and well-to-do society, while the ‘Greasers’ are from the lower social-economic backgrounds (Hinton, 2002). Through a series of both coincident and unfortunate gang rivalry occurrences, the protagonist in this novel, Ponboy, ends up learning the lesson that regardless of one’s social status, life can be painful to all. The author, S.E. Hinton, uses different language techniques to convey key themes in her novel ‘The Outsiders’. The key themes in the novel ‘The Outsider’ are innocence, discontentment and social-class strife, and the language techniques that have been used to convey these key themes are hyperbole, allusion and point of view respectively. Analysis Hyperbole Hyperbole is a language technique that has been applied by the author of the novel ‘The Outsider’, to indicate the essence of preserving childhood innocence. Ponyboy’s innocence has been projected through the exaggeration of his brother’s characters, to seem tougher, corrupted and daring. Darry, Ponyboy’s brother, has experienced the world in a way that Ponboy and his little brother, Sodapop have not yet experienced. Thus, hyperbole has been applied by the author to show that Darry is ruthless, for example in the statement “hollering at me all the time the way Darry is, or treating me as if I was six instead of fourteen” (Hinton, 2002, p3). This is pure hyperbole that the author has applied, considering the fact that Ponboy had already stated that his younger brother, Sodapop, is already “sixteen-going-on-seventeen” (Hinton, 2002, p3). Therefore, Ponboy asserting that Darry treats him like he is six years old instead of fourteen is an exaggeration, since Ponboy must be already older than seventeen, which is his young brother’s current age. The application of this hyperbole language technique is meant to show the actions of Darry as extreme ruthlessness, and thus contrast it with Ponyboy’s innocence. Further, hyperbole is also used to describe Darry’s world experiences as being more than most of his age mates, but then exaggerated in a sense that makes it appear almost impossible, through the statement “Darrys gone through a lot in his twenty years, grown up too fast” (Hinton, 2002, p4). The phrase ‘grown up too fast’ is an exaggeration, considering the fact that it is impossible for anyone to grow too fast. Further, hyperbole has been used to depict Darry as extremely unreasonable and dangerous, when Ponyboy states, “Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police” (Hinton, 2002, p4). The expression that Darry would kill his brother is just an exaggeration and is highly unlikely, while at the same time, the statement has served to show that Ponyboy is innocent, since he does not get into trouble with the police. All these exaggerations are language techniques meant to contrast Ponyboy from Darry’s character, and portray Ponyboy as still innocent. Allusion Allusion is a language technique that is applied to compare a fictional or real historical event, person or place to a current scenario, in order to indicate what a character in literature thinks or feels about the current situation. The Allusion language technique has been applied by the author of this novel right at the beginning of the novel, to advance the theme of discontentment, especially associated with Ponyboy as the narrator with his present situation. The first evidential application of allusion in the novel is in the statement, “I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman--- he looks tough and I dont” (Hinton, 2002, p1). In this statement, Ponyboy is indirectly informing us that he would have liked to be tough, based on the present situation of gang rivalry that he faced, but unfortunately he was not tough. Ponyboy also goes ahead to say, “I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes. I wish they were more gray” (Hinton, 2002, p1). This is an indication that Ponyboy would have wanted his looks to be different, probably like those of the rich-kids gang ‘Socs’, rather than being a Greaser. The application of allusion here advances the theme of discontentment, which is the central theme around which the whole novel is build, where the rich and the poor quarrel due to discontentment. Point of view Point of view is a language technique applied to allow the audiences learn the focus of a story from one of the character, who can be a first, second or third-person narrator, as a way of advancing a given argument the author thinks is relevant in real life. Point of view as a language technique has been used by the author to advance another major theme of the novel, which is social-class strife. The author’s intention is to show the strife existing in real life between the rich and the poor, and how it causes chaos in the society. Thus, point of view is used as a language technique in the novel by adapting first-person narration, where Ponyboy is the character that tells the story from his own point f view. For example, the statement “Were poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon were wilder, too”, is an indication of the perception that the poor are also wild (Hinton, 2002, p4). Reference Hinton, S. E. (2002). The outsiders: S.E. Hinton. New York, NY: Spark Publishing Group. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1701206-how-does-sehinton-use-language-techniques-to-convey-key-themes-in-her-novel-the-outsiders
(How Does S.E. Hinton Use Language Techniques to Convey Key Themes in Essay)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1701206-how-does-sehinton-use-language-techniques-to-convey-key-themes-in-her-novel-the-outsiders.
“How Does S.E. Hinton Use Language Techniques to Convey Key Themes in Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1701206-how-does-sehinton-use-language-techniques-to-convey-key-themes-in-her-novel-the-outsiders.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF How does S.E. Hinton use language techniques to convey key themes in her novel The Outsiders

The review of the novels We the Animal and This is how you lose her

In the novel ‘We the animals', Justin Torres uses a similar tone to introduce the role of ethnicity.... The tone engrosses the reader as he or she is able to relate to the contents of the novel; it shows language similar to the daily use, allowing the reader to be further involved in the plot.... This paper is a review of two novels ‘We the Animal' and ‘This is how you lose her'.... The author elaborates the Dominican stereotype, according to which Yunior is constantly tempted by his friends to cheat on his girlfriend but somehow he always managed to remain faithful to her under the simple pretext that ‘he was into Magda for real' (Diaz, 2012, p....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

How does Being an Outsider Affect Ones Life

The author of this assignment "how does Being an Outsider Affect One's Life" underlines that immigrants face many problems when they move to a new country.... The immigrants do not look like Canadians and feel like outsiders.... Immigrants may feel like outsiders, who have to gain acceptance to become a part of their new world.... In the story, a mother who is an immigrant is upset because she feels that her daughter is rejecting her....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

The Rationale for Banning The Outsiders

This essay will examine why the outsiders, a popular novel by S.... The original novel was published by the teenage author in 1967, and it incorporated a number of themes and topics which some people found extraordinarily objectionable.... hellip; Despite these objections, the novel remains popular to this day, the author remains popular among readers of different generations, and the themes which were objected to permeate modern artistic efforts....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

How Does Language Define Who We Are

As a result, she faces great difficulty in her day to day life as most people in public places such as banks, restaurants and hospitals ignore her or are rude to her.... Perri Klass, a pediatrician by profession, related just such an experience from her personal life in her witty essay "She's Your Basic LOL in NAD.... Writer Amy Tan, daughter of Chinese immigrants, born and bred in New York, begins her essay "Mother Tongue" with the following words, "I am fascinated by language in daily life" (p....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Discuss the themes expolred in George Eliot's Adam Bede

George Eliot's personal life experiences are reflected in her novels.... Every character is the personification of every theme, which the writer intends to convey to the readers.... She dealt with a number of social, political, psychological and… Her very first attempt, ‘Adam Bede' proved to be a path-breaking novel in the Victorian age and was a huge success.... In this novel she has explored various themes like – Class Discrimination, Love, Motherhood, Identity of Women, Human Infanticide, Industry, Nature, Adultery and Reputation in the society....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Life and Works of S E Hinton

The unexpected remarkable reviews of the outsiders drastically catapulted her writing career.... She attended Will Rogers High School, “where, in her junior year, she began writing the outsiders, the riveting story of gang rivalry that would launch her career as a writer”.... According to Hinton, the social situation at her school inspired a great deal of the outsiders, to wit: “I wrote the outsiders because I (1) like to write (2) was mad about the social situation in my high school where everyone got in their little group and wouldn't make friends outside it and (3) I wanted to read it....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Life and Works of S.E. Hinton

The unexpected remarkable reviews of the outsiders drastically catapulted her writing career.... Hinton boasts of seven bestselling novels (the outsiders (1967), That Was Then, This Is Now (1971), Rumble Fish (1975), Tex (1979), Taming the Star Runner (1988), Puppy Sister (1995) and Hawkes Harbor (2004)), three classified as omnibus of novels (Outsiders / Rumble Fish / That Was Then, This Is Now (1995), An S.... Peck averred in his book review written in New York Times, “the outsiders” shocked readers with its frank depictions of adolescent smoking, drinking and “rumbling”....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Poet Kathleen Driskells Use of Sound

Doing this allows Driskell to work with the concept of culture and with central ideas from the reader to convey deeper universal principles of mankind.... nbsp; Driskell uses a combination of literary techniques to show a specific theme and to prove a different point to the reader.... hellip; This is followed by the use of sound and literary techniques, all which provide an understanding of the themes that are a part of her poetry.... At one point, Driskell writes “For a week, the vet placated me, / keeping her hooked on an IV, telling / me maybe, maybe, though he knew there was no chance, but just pregnant / with our first son… I would have nothing of anything but life” (3)....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us