The Outsiders
The characters in the book, "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, were not very heroic-they were just humans-it was easy to believe that this is the way they should be. The characters in the plot give the reader a feeling this can be a true story. The author has created the personality of the characters through the descriptions of Ponyboy-the narrator-and through their actions. Following are some examples of these methods of getting familiar with a character. Here is an example for a description of Ponyboy: "Steve Randle was seventeen, tall and lean, with thick greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls. He was cocky, smart, and Soda's best buddy since grade school. Steve's specialty was cars..." (page 17). The reader can find this kind of descriptions almost everywhere in the story, but especially in the beginning. I think the author put them there because the reader does not know the characters, and he needs to get familiar with them. The descriptions make the reader know the characters better and understand their actions. A good example of an action that was taken and suggested something about a character is the way Dally was killed.