Response to YA Book 10/20: The Outsiders

                 “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton is a young adult novel depicting the life of a young “greaser” in 1965. It is a coming of age story of 14-year-old Ponyboy, and his fellow gang members.

            The story is centered on the class difference between the wealthy “socs” and working-class greasers. This may be a possible reason on why this book was challenged; it’s a commentary on a touchy subject that bothered parents. The book also involved underage drinking and smoking, gangs and gang fights, violence, strong language, slang use, an exposé on family dysfunction, obscenities and more. It’s believed that exposure to this material can be harmful towards a child’s mind, however we have to learn these things sooner or later. In the book, Ponyboy runs away from home after being slapped by his brother. Both Ponyboy’s parents are dead, and his two older brothers, one of whom is a high school dropout, are raising him. The three of them are in a dangerous and violent gang, who frequently curse, drink and smoke, although they are underage. They are also contributors to violent and illegal acts, such as gang fights and shoplifting.

            “The Outsiders” is a bildungsroman (my dad told me this word), a coming of age story. In the book Ponyboy and the gang must deal with conflict that helps them mature. This is the theme of the book. At the beginning of the story, Ponyboy is still a child emotionally. He follows his brothers and the gang around, and he doesn’t make his own decisions, although he is an intelligent and sensitive young man. In the middle, he experiences a pivotal moment when he begins to transition into a mature adult, he must learn how to survive by himself, similar to what adults must do. In the end Ponyboy is an adult, he takes care of himself and understands more than the gang.

            There are several reasons for the book being challenged, its overall reason is that in the book kids act up, and this bothers parents. The theme of the book is coming of age.

Baseline Argument Essay: I've Been Homeless for Six Years

            In “I’ve Been Homeless for Six Years”, by Alessandra Potenza, young adults speak about their time living out on the streets. These homeless teens barely make it, unable to find food or shelter. Despite these hardships, they’ve managed to stay more or less healthy, and live. However, there is still homeless youth across the country dealing with these issues, and many more to come. Should the government contribute more to preventing the homeless youth epidemic of the U.S? Although the homeless adolescence has managed, government funding would help them flourish into a stable adult.

            Accordingly, many homeless youth are out on the streets for different reasons, “their parents lost their jobs and can’t pay the rent. Some have run away from poverty, abuse, violence, or alcohol and drug problems, or aged out of the foster care system. Others have come out as gay and been rejected by their families.” Clearly, these individuals have dealt with emotional complications that can be hard to get through. After these teenagers have been tossed out into the streets, they must deal with the difficulty of finding shelter, “A shelter for homeless youth in Seattle assigns available beds by lottery. There are only 4,000 shelter beds for unaccompanied homeless youth across the U.S.” This demonstrates the high demand there is for shelter, but not enough supply for the enormous number of homeless kids.

            Some people, however, overcome these odds. For example, “Joey Perrins-Lane experienced firsthand what it means to be homeless in a smaller city. He was 15 when he found himself on the streets in Eugene, Oregon. His mother kicked him out after discovering he used drugs. With no place to go, he slept on the streets—his first night was in an alley next to an all-night donut shop—and in parks, with a pocket knife to keep him safe. In the morning, he hid his few belongings in the bushes and went to school, where he kept silent about his situation for fear of being kicked out. In August of 2012, in search of a new start, he hitchhiked to Columbus, Ohio, and dropped out of school. Addicted to cocaine and Oxycontin, he slept in abandoned buildings, begging for money during the day. But in Columbus—a city five times as big as Eugene—he also found public transportation, soup kitchens where he could get hot meals instead of dumpster diving, and, eventually, a youth program that helped him get off drugs.” As you can see, Joey Perrins-Lane went through an emotionally challenging transition, but he managed to get through it and fix himself up. Although he had a background of drugs, and got kicked out of the house with barely anything, and no one to talk to about his situation, he eventually got help. Another example, is of a young woman named Apple, “In California, where she was homeless for seven years, she found support in the homeless community itself and felt less isolated.” Apple had been homeless for a long time, but found emotional relief within the homeless community who understood her and was going through what she was going. She’d learned to manage, although she had limitations, as well as Joey Perrins-Lane.

            These young adults have learned to live life although they’ve not had the same opportunities an average American child is offered. These teenagers have managed to learn, and develop emotionally, socially and economically without money. Imagine what they could do with government funding? These limited teenagers could flourish into succeeding adults, if given the chance to with government funding.

            Overall, government funding would be a great start to prevent homeless youth in the U.S. However, although these stories of homeless adolescence are inspiring, they aren’t representative homeless youth. Most others maybe far more limited, and we shouldn’t judge the entire youth homelessness based off of these stories. This is reason to push for more government funding, so these kids will never even end up on the streets, but maybe in a shelter.

Reading Response: Faithful Elephants

               In Faithful Elephants, by Yukio Tsuchiya, World War II has burst forth in Japan. The Ueno zoo, in Tokyo has been ordered to kill all the dangerous animals residing there for safety precautions. These animals include three elephants, John, Tonky and Wanly. The zookeepers must suffer through killing these three faithful elephants. Throughout the story the symbolism and the setting are used to set the tone of fear or hope.

 In the story, symbolism plays a major part in communicating the emotions of the plot. For example, "the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at Ueno zoo. Their petals are falling in the soft to set the tone of breeze and in the sparkling sun." The cherry blossoms are the emotions/tone of the story, the quote suggests that it's peaceful and lovely; there is hope at this time. However, at the end of the story it says, "the cherry blossoms fell on the grave like snowflakes." Snow it cold, and can be hard, the tone is sad and full of fear. Additionally, "squeezing out what little strength they had left, Tonky and Wanly made their appeal. They stood on their hind legs and lifted their front legs up as high as they could. Then, raising their trunks high in the air, they did their banzai trick. Surely their friend would reward them with food and water as he used to." The banzai trick is a symbol of hope for the elephants. Although they are weak, they still have hope for food and for living. Without symbolism, the story wouldn't have the same affect on the reader emotionally.

  

Furthermore, setting also has grave importance to Faithful Elephants. The setting is also a tone setter.  For example, "the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at Ueno zoo." This tells the reader that the story is set in spring, and spring signifies rebirth and hope. Another example is, "Both died leaning against the bars of their cage with their trunks stretched high, still trying to do their banzai trick for the people who once fed them.” The cage is a symbol as well as the setting of these two elephants death. Although a cage is meant to restrain an animal and is sort of a fearful thing, the cage also gave a hint of hope. On the elephant’s last breath, they attempted to make others happy in this cage. The setting has importance to further elaborate the emotions of the event-taking place.

Finally, the setting and the symbolism are both important and are linked together. Many sentences in the story were tied together with symbolism and setting. Without the two, the sentiment wouldn't have been communicated properly, and it wouldn't have fit well. For example, "Bombs were dropped on Tokyo every day and night, like falling rain." Tokyo is the victim of the falling bombs of death, fear and confusion.

Overall, throughout the story the symbolism and the setting are used to set the tone of fear of hope. Without these two aspects, the communication to elaborate the sentiment would not have been properly executed.