Can A Young Adult Novel Help Teens Find Where They Belong?

In the book the outsiders Ponyboy is the main character. He is mainly distinctive from the rest of the characters by his physical traits and by his actions. Ponyboy was harassed several times by the Socs just because he was a greaser. Overall Ponyboy didn't use his head before he his actions. It caused him to get into many accidents such as when he was jumped in the beginning of the story because he walking home from the movie theaters by himself. Not only did Ponyboy not use his head he also was altruistic. An example of this is when he ran into the burning church to save kids even though it could have killed him.

Due to his gang’s influences, Ponyboy becomes a loyal, emotional and unruly greaser. He stays with his friends when they are in trouble, gets scared by Socs and smokes and drinks. Throughout the book, Pony witnessed many tragedies like his friends dieing. Because he survived many traumas, Pony became the kid he is

The biggest influence in shaping ponyboy’s identity was his quest to find where he belonged, because throughout the book readers learn ,along with him, how he is different than the other greasers and how he doesn’t act or think like they do. The first example of this is in the first chapter when the readers meet Ponyboy and he tells them about the gang and his friends and family and then he says, “For a while there, I thought I was the only person in the world that did,” after explaining how he has different interests than the people around him (Hinton 2). This leads him to feel like an outsider and makes him feel like he doesn’t belong and that he is different from the socs and the greasers. In chapter 5, Johnny tells ponyboy how he couldn’t talk about things like sunsets around the rest of the gang, and he also tells Johnny, “You ain’t like any of the gang (78).” This shows how Ponyboy is not alone in feeling like an

Ponyboy Curtis - The novel's fourteen-year-old narrator and protagonist, and the youngest of the greasers. Ponyboy's literary interests and academic accomplishments set him apart from the rest of his gang. Because his parents have died in a car accident, Ponyboy lives with his brothers Darry and Sodapop. Darry repeatedly accuses Ponyboy of lacking common sense, but Ponyboy is a reliable and observant narrator. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy struggles with class division, violence, innocence, and familial love. He matures over the course of the novel, eventually realizing the importance of strength in the face of class bias.

Ponyboy is a greaser, this is because he fits the characteristics of a greaser. For example, all the greasers have long greasy hair, pony has that. “Besides I look better with long greasy hair.” (2). This quote means that Ponyboy is a greaser, and that he looks better with long greasy hair. Another reason that ponyboy is that he has a small to little education, Ponyboy gets average to good grades at school and some other greaser did not even finish school.

During the story, Ponyboy begins to talk and socialize with Cherry Valance about the differences between Socs and Greasers. He begins to change and grow more wiser as he manages being on the run, and having to deal with near-death situations, like when Johnny almost died in the hospital.

First, Ponyboy is accepting. At the beginning, Ponyboy, a greaser, often compares his problems to the socs, the group that is very wealthy. The greasers are the opposite and often have problems at home. Throughout the novel, his character develops and Ponyboy learns to look past the label of greaser or soc, because after all, we’re all human. For example, he says, “He ain’t a soc, he’s just a guy” (Hinton 118), when Two-Bit asks about Randy, a soc. This quote shows that Ponyboy doesn’t care about labels and accepts people for who they are, greaser or not. He is helping Two-Bit see the humanity in others and not define them by what group they are a part of in society, but who they are as a person and their qualities. Ponyboy’s attitude, wanting to change the way people look at greasers and socs reflects the 1960’s and shows that he is similar to the people of the 60’s that weren’t happy with the world they were living in. He is trying to make a difference.

In fact he feels deeply enough that he doesn’t want to feel anything because that would be easier. One more quote is not necessarily just about Ponyboy rather it’s about greasers in general. “You Greasers have a different set of values, you're more emotional” (38). This was said by Cherry Valance, a young Soc girl to

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy is stereotyped as a violent, stupid greaser. Greasers are stereotyped as delinquents, getting their name from the amount of hair oil in their hair. You're automatically a thug if you wear leather jackets, are rather greasy, and live in a poor neighborhood, according to his society. Greasers are teased and looked down upon by the socs, who are rich spoiled kids. When somebody sees a greaser, they run the other way. But Pony is so much more than all of that. He is a poetic, thoughtful boy. He doesn’t let anything get him down. He is trying his best to get good grades and be able to go to college, which is something most

Ponyboy did feel deeply about his friends and his loyalty to his gang, and sunsets. Greaser are just normal people with normal feeling, but they choose to hide it. Maybe some of them can shut out their emotions, but Ponyboy is not one of those people. He has emotions like fear and sadness just like us. “My stomach gave a violent start, and turned into a hunk of ice,” Ponyboy said (154-155).

Pony doesn't fit in with the Socs, the middles class, or the greasers. Pony doesn't know what to do because technically he is classified as a Greaser, but he doesn't fit into the group of the greasers. He has the greaser looks, but is just too smart to be a greaser. Ponyboy also loves school, and also doesn't understand the reason of fighting. Which is the complete opposite from a greaser, they love to fight for fun and drop out of school.

Ponyboy no longer had a role-model. Ponyboy made many bad decision since he had no parents to discipline him. He looked up to his gang and was influenced by them (i.e he smokes since he saw they did too). Ponyboy has to rely on a lot of people. An example of Ponyboy relying on other people is when he goes to Dally after Bob’s death.

After Johnny died, the greasers and socs had a large-scale gang fighting. Before joining this fighting, Ponyboy had a heart to heart talk with Randy: ‘ You can’t win, even if you whip us. You’ll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing. We’ll forget if you win, or if you don’t. Greasers will still be greasers and socs will still be socs.’ (Hinton 76) Ponyboy realized the truth. He was aware of fighting could only bring more conflicts and death. Therefore, Ponyboy was impacted by the gang rival because he realized the reality that the social class between greasers and socs could never be changed by

Ponyboy tries to fit into social labels, because he feels like that is expected of him. He stores away his ‘dream world’ from the other Greasers, so

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy values his hair because it symbolizes who he is. Ponyboy explains, “Our hair labeled us greasers, too - it was our trademark. The one thing we were proud of.” This shows that all of the greasers were proud of their hair and how it resembled them as a greaser.