Gangs In Hinton's The Outsiders

In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, there are groups called the Socs, who are rich kids, and Greasers, who are hoods, just like the main character Ponyboy Curtis. The story takes place in a town called Tulsa in Oklahoma, where Ponyboy lives. He lives with his older brothers Sodapop Curtis and Darry Curtis, and is part of a gang of consisting of Johnny, Dallas Winston (Dally), Steve, and Two-Bit. One night when Johnny goes too far and kills a Soc named Bob, him and Pony are forced to run away to avoid capture from the authorities. There are many events, quotes, and author choices that show a common theme, which is Stereotypes are often judged by other people, but aren’t always true. This is proven time and time again after people are beaten up, injured, and even killed through the span of this book.

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. HINTON the main character Ponyboy’s identity changes multiple times over the text. In the beginning of the story Ponyboy was introduced as a greaser, a greaser is someone who is usually poorer than the middle class and like to screw around and start gang fights and they are considered hoods as stated on pages 2-3, “We’re poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we’re wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace almost like hoods.” this shows that even though the Socs are much more wild the greasers are still considered the bad crazy hood people. Ponyboy didn’t like being a greaser

(STEWE-1) Johnny saw that the church was on fire. Kids were trapped in the building and he ran into the church even though he could have been killed. " ‘Hey, Ponyboy.’ I looked around, startled.

Johnny sacrificed his life to save the children from the burning building. Ponyboy risked his life to save the children from the burning building. Johnny feels remorse for killing Bob and decides to go back and turn himself in.

In contrast to the removed Johnny shown early on, after the realization that he endangered several children, he boldly rushed to assist. After killing Bob in self-defense, Johnny bolts with Ponyboy to an abandoned church in the countryside. However, after presumably dropping a lighted cigarette, the church ignites in a blaze of fumes. Realizing there are children in the flaming church, Johnny and Ponyboy dart to aid. During the calamity, Ponyboy realizes that, “Johnny had been right behind me all the way” as he slips through a broken window and into the fiery church and notes that, “Johnny wasn’t behaving at all like his old self...That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes” (92).

In the story The Outsiders, there is many life lessons that could help many people. Ranging from the people you hang out with, to people who need your help. You should always treat people how you want to be treated,even if that means giving something up. The main character, Ponyboy, experiences certain events in the story that makes you realize that these kind of conflicts are a reality. Ponyboy lives with his two brothers, Darry and Soda. Their parents died in a car crash. Ponyboy never realized how much his parents did for him. There is a “Gang” that Ponyboy is involved in called the Greasers. Their rival “Gang” is called the Socs. The Socs are kids that have a better upbringing and are more of rich kids. The Greasers are basically the opposite. The theme of this story is don’t take the things you have for granted.

Ponyboy risked his life and ran into the burning church to save the school children because he thought it was his fault that they burnt it. One quote that the book gives that shows that he thought it was his fault was, “I bet we started it, we must have dropped a lighted cigarette or something.” This explains why Ponyboy risked his life and ran into the burning church to save the school children because when people do something wrong, and someone else pays the price, they usually feel bad and try to fix the situation. In this situation, Ponyboy dropped a lighted cigarette, and the kids ended up in the burned church fire, and Ponyboy had to come in and save them. Another quote that supports my claim is, “All I could think was: We started it.

Also after Dally visted them and took them out for a meal when they came back there were people at the church and the church was on fire. The people there were worried about a couple kids that were still stuck in the building. So Johnny and Ponyboy and Dally went in the building to save them. Johnny wasn’t as lucky as Ponyboy in injuries. When Johnny tried to get out of the building the roof caved in and came down on him.

Many people think that Gangs are bad, but are they? No, this is proved by the book The Outsiders. In this book there are two gang the Socs’ which is short for socials and the Greasers. The Socs are a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up Greasers. The Greasers are classified as the hood and poor kids on the East side. The reason why the Greasers are not a criminal gang because they will not hurt anyone on purpose, they will help people when they are in trouble, and once you get to know them they will support and help you out until the very end.

Dally got himself into trouble and got beaten up to the point he was almost dying in the hospital, and the only people that were there was the Curtis brothers. Similarly, Johnny and Dally both has troubled childhoods, all they had was the greasers. Johnny ran away from his house because his parents were screaming at him, and was abusing him. The only place he had to go was the Curtis brothers. He was talking to Ponyboy about his family, and Pony said, “I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang” (51).

Have you ever been in a place with two rival groups? Is one seen as better than the other? In S.E. Hinton's book, The Outsiders, two groups, the Socs and the Greasers, are rivals. Greasers are viewed as menaces, when the true menaces are the Socs, the partiers, and the wolves in sheep's clothing.

Johnny shocks Dally by telling him he wants to go back home and confess to his crime. Dally tries to change Johnny’s mind, convincing him not to because if he does he will be going to prison and dally doesn’t want Johnny to see him in prison. Johnny is points out that his own parents would not care what ever happens to him, but Ponyboy’s brothers care about him and don’t want to see him like that. Swearing under his breath, Dally begins to drive Johnny and Ponyboy home. As they drive past the church where Ponyboy and Johnny had been staying, they see that it is on fire. Ponyboy thinks he and Johnny must have started the fire with a cigarette butt, so the boys jump out of the car to check out the fire. When Ponyboy wakes, he is in an ambulance,

After Ponyboy points out to Johnny that he never could have recited the poem to anyone else in the gang, Johnny remarks, “…I guess we’re different” (78). Ponyboy and Johnny do not have the rough, violent personalities present in their comrades. Conversely, they are considerate and thoughtful. So, notwithstanding that they are as much as a member of the gang as Dally or Two-bit, they still don’t belong within the greasers like their friends do. Moreover, when explaining his choice to attend the movie theater by himself, Ponyboy says “And nobody in our gang digs books and movies the way I do” (2).

Later that night Johnny and Pony are jumped by a few soc’s. Johnny kills one to save Pony from dying. Dally then sends them away so they don’t get in trouble. While at the church Dally comes back for them. When they go to get there stuff the church caught on fire while children from a local school were in it.

In doing so Johnny stabs and kills one of the soc’s and the others flee. With help from a friend, Ponyboy and Johnny are able to leave town, they end up on the top of a hill where there's an abandoned church. At the church Ponyboy debates with himself, dealing with whether or not he should turn himself in, and how this will affect Johnny and his family. Johnny and Ponyboy decide to leave the church with the friend who helped them escape to get lunch. When they get back, the church is on fire, there was a class on a field trip that had stopped on top of the hill to have a picnic, when it erupted into flames. The teachers did not realize that there were still about five kids left in the church, but when they got the news both Ponyboy and Johnny ran towards the church to help them. Throwing kid after kid out of the window, all of them got out safely, besides Ponyboy and Johnny who were left unconscious. In the ambulance all Ponyboy could think about was Johnny where he was, how he was doing and what happens next, then he goes unconscious again. When Ponyboy wakes up, he is at the hospital looking into the eyes of Sodapop and