2023.12.26 更新

《局外人》是一部青少年小說，表達了成長的主題。作者 S.E.Hinton 使用了伏筆和人物內心活動的技巧出色地來實現。
伏筆就像復活節彩蛋一樣，散佈在整本書中：有Ponyboy闖入教堂和Johnny之死的伏筆。教堂的伏筆在第 47 頁可見，「我看見Johnny的香菸在黑暗中發光，隱約想知道在餘燼中發光是什麼樣子…」（Hinton 47）。對修辭手法使用的認知可以被「突然，在紅霞和薄霧中，我想起了在燃燒的餘燼中是什麼樣子的，我想：我現在知道了，這是紅色地獄。」中的關鍵詞“燃燒的餘燼”所識別。（Hinton 92）。敘述者Ponyboy了解了在燃燒的餘燼裡頭是什麼樣子，從而實現了成長主題。
人物內心活動極為重要，因為它們是故事中可以幫助讀者理解角色所處的成長「階段」的主要元素。在所有角色中最清晰的呈現就是Ponyboy了。 「我和Darry不了解對方。我永遠無法取悅他」（Hinton 13）。不用說，書的開頭裡，Ponyboy對Darry的看法就是一個不理解他並與他相處的哥哥。 Darry 的這個形象直到第98 頁都是一直保持的。當Ponyboy 開始了解Darry 時，「Darry 確實關心我，也許就像他關心Soda 一樣……當他大喊：「Pony，你去哪裡了？一直以來？”他的意思是「Pony，你嚇死我了。請小心，因為如果你出了什麼事我就受不了了」（Hinton 98）。這些內心的想法成功地切中了成長的主題，讀者深刻感受Ponyboy的變理。
綜上所述，如果書中沒有鋪墊，沒有人物的內心活動，那麼成長主題就不會如此完整地呈現，甚至不會被發現。在分析本書時忽略這些重要元素就等於扼殺了整本書。

The Outsiders is a work of young adult fiction and expresses the theme of coming-of-age. The author, S.E.Hinton, uses great techniques such as foreshadows and the inner activities of characters to achieve this goal.
Foreshadows are like Easter eggs, scattered around the whole book: There are foreshadows of Ponyboy breaking into the church and Jonny’s death. The foreshadowing of the church is visible on page 47, “I saw Johnny’s cigarette glowing in the dark and wondered vaguely what it was like glowing inside ember…” (Hinton 47). The recognition of the use of figurative language can be identified as the keyword “burning ember” in “Suddenly, in the red glow and haze, I remembered wondering what it is like in a burning ember, and I thought: I know now, it’s a red hell.”(Hinton 92). The narrator, Ponyboy, has gained knowledge of what it’s like in a burning ember, achieving the presentation of the theme: Coming-of-age.
The inner activities are incredulously important as they are the main element in the story that helps readers understand the “stages” of coming-of-age the characters are on. This is presented in the most clarity of all characters—Ponyboy Curtis. “Me and Darry just didn’t dig each other. I never could please him” (Hinton 13), it is needless to say Ponyboy’s view of Darry at the beginning of the book is that an elder brother who doesn’t understand him and gets along with him. This picture of Darry is stuck in Ponyboy’s mind all the way up to page 98 when Ponyboy gains an understanding of Darry “Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda…When he yelled, “Pony, where have you been all this time?” he meant “Pony, you’ve scared me to death. Please be careful, because I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you” (Hinton 98). Those inner thoughts successfully hit the theme of coming-of-age, as readers see Ponyboy maturing.
In conclusion, if there are no foreshadows, and inner activities of characters shown in the book, then the theme of coming-of-age would not be presented with such preciseness, or even be found. To leave those significant elements out when analyzing this book is to kill the book itself.