Have you ever read a book called the outsiders? Maybe you read it in your free time, or maybe you did a book report on it when you where younger. But did you realize how much it can teach you?
The driving question:
How can the Outsiders teach us about worldview?
For the last five weeks, my class has been reading the outsiders. We would read a chapter, then have a group discussion about what happened. In these discussions, we would ask open ended questions, and try to answer them. This is a way to really think about the plot and characters in a in-depth way. The idea is to think about the “why” behind everything that happens. In some of the discussions, we had to prepare. We had to write down ideas beforehand, and sometimes we had specific roles, like a drawer that had to draw one of the scenes.
The book summary (warning: spoilers ahead)
The book starts in a town in Oklahoma, where there are two rival gangs: the Greasers, and the Socs. The Greasers are really poor, and they wear a lot of hair grease. The Socs are richer, and are the upper class. Ponyboy is a greaser who has no parents, and lives with his two older brothers. One day, he is up late with his friend Johnny, and they fall asleep in a park. When he goes back home, his older brother Darry hits him for staying up late. This makes Ponyboy run away with Johnny. When they are get to the park, they get attacked by some Socs, and they try to drown Ponyboy. In self defence, Johnny kills one of the Socs. They take a train far away, and hide out in a church. Once Johnnys friend Dally finds them, they are ready to go back home. But some children are playing with matches and light the church on fire. Johnny saves the kids, but is badly injured. When they get back, Johnny is in hospital, and the others get into a big fight with a large group of Socs. They win, but in the hospital, Johnny dies. There is then a court case to see whether or not Ponyboy is aloud to live with his brothers. Then, ponyboy writes about his experiences in his english essay.
Worldview
Worldview is how you see The world. Its built up from your values, and experiences. They are many things that can influence your worldview: The era you are in, where you live, how old you are, your social class, religion, and much more. Here is a analysis of one of characters worldview:
Another assignment I did was making a trailer for The Outsiders, but set in 2021. I did this with the same group I would have for the exhibition.
The Exhibition
The whole project led up to one night. Three days before the end of school, there was a giant exhibition where all the parents get to come to school and see the work that the students did. For the exhibition, me and my group created a tableau of a scene from the book. A tableau is a giant pose that shows the whole scene. After the first tableau, we performed a second one that is modernized to 2021. Our scene was the court case, and we had a judge, and the other characters in a court. In the second tableau, we had a zoom call with a social worker. Overall, the exhibition was a massive success.
This is a giant American flag that we made for our court-room set:
Answering the Driving Question
The outsiders teaches us about worldview because there are many characters with different opinions. Also, its set in a different place, and time then when and where I am, so I get see the perspective of others. This shows you that worldview can really vary between people.
Conclusion
I can most definitely say that I learned a lot from this project. I learned about worldview, and I learned how to really get the most about a book. I also got create a set for the tableau, and film a trailer. Thanks for reading, come back any time!
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