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

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