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Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960s, mirroring the author's own hometown. In the novel, the city is infamously divided on socioeconomic lines between the middle-class greasers and upper-class Socs. The story often describes the town as being metaphorically split between the right and wrong side of the train tracks.
Some important places in the narrative are the drive-in movie theater and the abandoned church in Windrixville. The drive-in is where Ponyboy first talks to Cherry Valance, a Soc girl and Bob's girlfriend. It is partially Ponyboy's conversation with Cherry that helps him alleviate his hatred for the Socs and realize that "things are rough all over." The abandoned church is the place that Johnny and Ponyboy hide from the police after Bob's stabbing. The church holds the best and worst of Ponyboy's memories. Some of the most delicate and beautiful moments in the novel happen during their time in the church, watching sunsets and hoping for better lives. When the church catches on fire and endangers a group of children, Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally risk their lives to save them. However, Johnny's heroism ends up killing him, and Dally's grief drives him to his unnecessary death.
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