Name: ______
Date: ______Block: ______
S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders
Test: ______
I. Literary Terms Application
Directions: Fill-in the blanks using the terms listed in the box.
characterizationconflictdynamic flashbackforeshadowinggenre narratorsetting
static theme first-person third-person
1. The ______of The Outsiders is 1960s, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
2. The ______of The Outsiders can be described as realistic fiction because it is based on the
real-life problems everyday teenagers face.
3. The ______of novel is Ponyboy, who tells his own story.
4. The novel is told in ______point of view because Ponyboy tells what happened to him using
the pronouns “I,” “me,” and “my.”
5. Ponyboy can be described as a ______character because he matures during the course of the
novel.
6. Bob Sheldon can be described as a ______character because his personality and/or outlook
on life does not change in a meaningful way.
7. The main ______of the novel is greasers vs. Socs.
8. An example of ______occurs when Ponyboy describes to Cherry how the Socs jumped
Johnny because the sequence of events in the story gets interrupted by the description of a prior event.
9. One of the messages or ______(s) of the novel is that everyone has problems.
10. When Ponyboywrites, “We were careful with our cigarettes—if that church ever caught fire, there’d be no
stopping it,” itis an example of ______because that is a clue that church will catch fire later
in the story.
II. Figurative Language Definitions
Directions: Match each term on the left with its correct definition on the right.
_____ 11. simile_____ 12. metaphor
_____ 13. personification
_____ 14. hyperbole
_____ 15. alliteration
_____ 16. onomatopoeia
_____ 17. symbolism
_____ 18. allusion / A. a reference to a famous literary work; often made to the Bible and
Shakespeare
B. extreme exaggeration made for effect(e.g. I’m so hungry I could eat a
horse.)
C. a comparison between two unlike things in which one becomes the other;
usually uses a “to be” verb(e.g. The road was a ribbon of moonlight.)
D. the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close
together(e.g. Peter Piper went to pick a pack of pickled peppers.)
E. a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as” (e.g. Her hair
was like golden flax.)
F. representing an idea or feeling with an object, character, sign, or color (e.g. a
dove represents peace)
G. ascribing human feelings, thoughts or attitudes to non-living, inanimate
objects(e.g. The tree branches danced in the wind.)
H. words that imitate the sounds they represent (e.g. moo, click)
III. Themes – take half and add to the test!
Directions: Match the themes on the left with the examples from the novel on the right.
____ 19. “Types” of people (such as Greasersor Socs) are not necessarily bad.
____ 20. Life is rough all over for everyone.
____ 21. A “broken” or nontraditional family
can still be a good family.
____ 22. Some people want to die.
____ 23. Don’t judge people based on looks.
____ 24. People from different social classes
can have similar needs and feelings.
____ 25. People who get angry with us aren’t
necessarily doing it because they
don’t like us.
____ 26. You can’t run away from your
problems.
____ 27. We are all outsiders at one time or
another.
____ 28. It is important to learn how to cope
when someone close to us dies. /
- Ponyboy, his brothers, and the Greasers
- Cherry and Ponyboy both think sunsets are beautiful.
- Darry yells at Ponyboy all of the time.
- Three Greasers sacrifice their own safety to save the school children from the fire.
- Ponyboy and Johnny hide in the church.
- Greasers have long hair, wear T-shirts and leather jackets, and look like hoods.
- Socs have problems, too.
- Ponyboy denies that Johnny is dead.
- Ponyboy likes to read and go to the movies, unlike the other Greasers.
- Dally waves an unloaded gun at the police.
IV. Figurative Language Practice
Directions: Read each quote from the novel carefully. Underline the key words, then, on the line provided, write “S” for simile, “M” for metaphor, “H” for hyperbole, or “P” for personification.
S –simileM – metaphorH – hyperboleP - personification______29. “…in the moonlight he looked like some Greek god come to earth.”
______30. “Her early leaf’s a flower;\But only so an hour.”
______31. “He would have run away a million times, if we hadn’t been there.”
______32. “There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose."
______33. “If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of
strangers, you’ll have Johnny.”
______34. “I looked fearfully over my shoulder and there was Two-Bit, grinning like a Chessy Cat.”
______35. “Johnny couldn't say boo to a goose.”
______36. “He’s got eyes that are two pieces of pale blue-green ice.”
______37. “Then I looked at Johnny. His eyes were shut and he was as white as a ghost.”
______38. “Steve had turned up the radio so loud it almost broke my eardrums.”
______39. “Man your brother is one doll. I might have guessed you were brothers—you look alike”
______40. “It scraped on my raw nerves like sandpaper.”
______41. “Dally grinned roguishly, ‘I’m never nice. Want a Coke?’
She was mad by then, ‘I wouldn’t drink it if I was starving in the desert. Get lost, hood!’”
______42. “Dally handed me a shirt about sixty million sizes too big.”
______43. “He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap.”
______44. Two Bit was suddenly there beside me, and for once his comical grin was gone and his dancing
gray eyes were stormy.”
______45. “One was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled, ‘Shut-up! We’re goin’ to get you out!’“
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