Too Much Feeling: S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders (1967), Conflicting Emotions, Identity, and Socialization

Abstract

This article argues that emotions are utilized for norm breaking, identity formation, and socialization in S.E. Hinton’s YA novel The Outsiders (1967). Drawing on the history of emotions studies, it investigates how emotional expressions are utilized to negotiate and contest given emotional norms on the one hand, and Young Adult literary conventions on the other. The point of departure is intersectional and focuses on the relationship between emotion, power, and socialization. In particular, the article considers how intersections of age, gender, and class relate to depictions of feeling and establishing of new emotional norms. The article shows that the feelings that the main character Pony expresses are part of a reiterative process of negotiation of power; they work as instruments for changing emotional norms connected to his age, class, and gender.