Reflect on the significance of the title—who are the outsiders, and what are they outside of? What does it mean to be an outsider and why has this become a twentieth-century phenomenon? Support your arguments with examples from recent history.

There are two famous novels with similar titles to Hinton's story. Both concern young men, circumstantial murder(s), and existentialism (the philosophy that the individual is solely responsible for his fate). The two novels are Richard Wright's The Outsider and Albert Camus's The Stranger (published in England as The Outsider). Compare Hinton's novel with one of these other "outsider" stories.

Many people deny that social or economic class plays a significant role in American society or government. Using examples from this novel and other teenage books or films (such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink through the recent Clueless...