<p>The Outsiders: Literary Techniques 6H & HP Name: Period:</p><p>Writer’s Technique: Writers often use words in distinct ways to create a mood, evoke an emotional response from the reader, or otherwise assist the reader in comprehending implied meaning.</p><p> Read the definition of each of the writer’s techniques below along with the examples taken from The Outsiders, and answer the questions that follow. </p><p>1. Foreshadowing: preparing for events that come later in the plot by dropping subtle hints or mentioning certain details: the appearance of a blue Mustang foreshadows trouble for the Greasers. Read the following example of foreshadowing and address each question thoughtfully.</p><p>“I saw Johnny’s cigarette glowing in the dark and wondered vaguely what it was like inside a burning ember . . .” (47).</p><p> a. What simple reason likely leads Ponyboy to ponder the inside of an ember? ______b. Explain what plot event the image foreshadows. ______c. Why is it significant that the cigarette is Johnny’s? ______d. What does this image imply about the boys’ suffering? ______</p><p> e. Why is it important that this example of foreshadowing happens before Johnny stabs Bob? ______The Outsiders: Literary Techniques, p. 2 6H</p><p>2. Flashback: an interruption in the plotline, returning to an earlier incident which has bearing on the current situation: deaths of Ponyboy’s parents. In reality, the entire novel is told from the perspective of a flashback. The concept of a flashback is often closely associated with point of view.</p><p>“He had been hunting our football to practice a few kicks when a blue Mustang had pulled up beside the lot. There were four Socs in it. They had caught him and one of them had a lot of rings on his hand – that’s what had cut Johnny up so badly” (33).</p><p> a. What do the rings tell about the incident? ______</p><p> b. What feeling or mood does this flashback add to the danger that Johnny and Ponyboy are in outside the drive-in? ______</p><p> c. Read what comes before the quotation and what comes after it. How does Cherry alter the mood at this point in the plotline? </p><p>______</p><p> d. What does the flashback reveal about gang life?</p><p>______The Outsiders: Literary Techniques, p. 3 6H</p><p>3. Allusion: a reference to a historical event, a religious symbol or event, or a literary work or character, such as Ponyboy’s comparison of fighters to the circling wolves in a Jack London story.</p><p>“I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green” (178).</p><p> a. Why does Johnny fall into a pensive mood before he writes the letter to Ponyboy? ______</p><p> b. What does Johnny’s reference to childhood reveal about his own life? ______</p><p> c. What aspects of Ponyboy’s personality does Johnny call “gold”?</p><p>______</p><p> d. How does the quotation of Frost’s poem benefit the story?</p><p>______The Outsiders: Literary Techniques, p. 4 6H</p><p>4. Repetition: emphasis made by reiterating or repeating an event or symbol; emphasis through multiple uses of a word or phrase</p><p>“When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home . . .” (180).</p><p> a. Why does Ponyboy begin his theme with these two thoughts?</p><p>______</p><p> b. What does his enjoyment of movies suggest about Ponyboy?</p><p>______</p><p> c. What does Ponyboy’s life as a loner reveal about him?</p><p>______</p><p> d. How does repetition complete the flow of the story?</p><p>______</p>