This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of Hinton's groundbreaking novel about teenaged "greasers" by exploring concepts of the Other, the portrait of Ponyboy Curtis as an artist, and The Outsiders as a postmodern work, among other topics. While the novel is often recognized for its maturation themes and its novelty as a young adult work, it also explores ideas such as free will versus determinism and the definition of heroism.