Loyalty In The Outsiders

Understanding identity is not as easy as some people think. In the average lifespan of 71 years, numerous events can impact the outcome of of an individual’s life. Choices, religion, and many external factors can greatly influence a human and his or her identity. Some people believe that feelings can and do determine your identity, so they do whatever they feel is correct. However, this is false. Identity is very strongly influenced by the events, objects, and people around. It is mostly influenced by external factors. In The Outsiders, Ponyboy is, without a doubt, incredibly influenced by the external factors around him, such as Sherry Valance, the rumble between the Socs and the Greasers, and when his best friend passes away.

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

In the beginning of “The Outsiders”, Ponyboy only likes a few people but in the end, he realizes that he judged people unfairly. In the beginning, he only appreciated Johnny (the second youngest gang member), Soda (the middle child in his family) and Two-Bit (a wisecracking member of the gang). He dislikes Dallas (the most criminal of the gang) and Steve and thinks that his oldest brother, Darry, dislikes him. He also believes that all Socs are bad. His judgments are first brought into question when he meets Cherry Valence, a female Soc. Ponyboy, referring to her and her friend wrote, “It seemed funny to me that Socs -if these girls were any example - were just like us.” (37) Pony’s views on the Socs evolve again when he talks to Randy. After talking to Randy, Pony thinks, “Socs are just guys after all. Things are rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too." (118) By the end of the novel, Pony does not think all Socs are good because there are Socs like Bob, who jumped Johnny and Pony, but he realizes that people should be

In the book, The Outsiders a character, Johnny Cade starts off by his character traits being afraid, but throughout the novel, Johnny turns into an upstander person who had the courage to conquer a person from the Socs gang because they were threatening him with drowning his good friend, Ponyboy. Johnny’s friendship with Ponyboy was close but in the end, Johnny didn’t necessarily change that much despite his actions but, Ponyboy’s understandings of him improved in a good way.

The main theme of 'The Outsiders' is that friends are your chosen family. In other words, the people in your inner circle along with your family, are the friends you choose to have there. This is present with many characters in the book, in fact, the only three 'Greasers' that did not seem to have their friends closer than their family were Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry. However, these three boys had many people in their lives who loved their friends more than their family, such as Johnny, who's dad beat him, and mom neglected him, and Dally who had no relation with his parents, then there is Darry, who loves his friends like family, and he is one of the only ones that knows what true family love feels like.

Have you ever thought about how life would be like without your family and friends? Throughout this novel, The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton, three brother share many common conflicts between each other. Every brother and sister have been in fights or arguments, but after everything, you still love them. Darry, Soda, and Pony have changed dramatically throughout the novel.

Despite today’s societal beliefs of reaching maturity at the age of eighteen, coming-of-age generally describes various religions that signifies an individual’s transition from childhood to adulthood. S.E. Hinton’s young adult fiction, The Outsiders, describes the life of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, the main protagonist, in his internal struggle towards an identity other than one marked by his gang, the greasers. He lives with Darrel “Darry”, his oldest brother who holds all of the responsibility ever since their parents died and Sodapop, his older, easygoing brother in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the midst of a gang rivalry between the greasers, an East Side gang known to be poor trouble makers, and the Socials “Socs”, who are known to be the rich and commendable of the West-side of town,

It was only two gangs, three deaths, and many injuries, but the bloody, death defying, life changing brawl is what ended all of the chaos.In book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton Ponyboy learns a lot about being caring. In this novel two groups called the Socs and the Greasers fight each other continuously. This leads them to unexpected fights and deaths, causing things to not go as planned.Ponyboy is caring because he is thoughtful, trustworthy, and brave.

The choices people make, make up their identity. People's choices make up their life. One chooses what or what not to do, who or who not to love. The choices a person can make can even put their life or someone else's life in danger. In S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders although the choices Dally and Johnny make differ, they still look up to one another.

“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something’s missing,” writes Ray Bradbury in his novel Fahrenheit 451 (82). Fahrenheit 451 is a book set in a dystopian society where people are restricted to thinking only a certain way. There aren't any two-sided political debates or controversies among media. This is because all media considered tendentious has been banned, and in order to maintain this rule, firemen have been given the duty of burning books. Among the firemen is Guy Montag, a man who would be considered as a society norm with a house and a wife. In the beginning of the book, Montag has no worries and he accepts his life as a nondescript fireman in this unmindful world. However, after encountering his “seventeen

“The functions of intellect are insufficient and useless if you are without courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy,” says a quote by Dean Koontz. Throughout S.E. Hinton’s book The Outsiders, there are many themes that she conveys in the book as she narrates the experiences of a greaser named Ponyboy who is a member of the Social group (Socs). Ponyboy meets many people and witnesses many difficult situations throughout the book. This inspirational book teaches the reader crucial lessons that are very important for everyone, even if their lives are not anything like Ponyboy’s. Three important themes in the book include friendship, courage and empathy.

The character that I had chosen to analyze was Ponyboy Curtis in the movie, The Outsiders (Coppola, 1983). I chose this character because the movie revealed how Ponyboy got to where he is mentally and everything that had occurred to get him to that point. I will analyze the adolescent phase of Ponyboy’s life. The theme of The Outsiders is how love can affect the relationships of close friends. The theories and theorists that support my analysis are Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial theory, Albert Bandura’s Observational Learning, Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Systems theory: Microsystem (Sigelman, 2015). From those theories and theorists the following points will be analyzed: identity, peer pressure, self-worth, and dependence.

Have you ever had two friends that are enemies? In the story, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, Cherry Valance (her real name is Sherri) is a fashionable, fiery, red headed, emotional, understanding, and trustworthy friend. The story took place in the mid 1960’s in Tulsa, OK. Greasers and Socs are two very different, yet same groups, which most definitely do not get along. After Ponyboy and Johnny got jumped, Johnny killed Bob, a Soc who was also Cherry’s boyfriend. During Ponyboy and Johnny’s hiding out in an abandoned church, the church starts on fire, while the children are playing in there. Johnny and Ponyboy somehow made their way back in to save the kids. Johnny and Ponyboy both made it out alive. Unfortunately, however, Johnny gets out with severe burns and a broken back. While he is in the hospital, Cherry has a conflict with herself: she is asked by Ponyboy to go see Johnny in the hospital, but she says no because she doesn’t want to face the person who killed Bob. In the time of the trial, Cherry and other Soc’s testify and come clean about the night of the stabbing. Consequently, since they told the truth, Johnny, Sodapop, and Darry all got to stay together. Cherry Valance is an emotional, caring, and trustworthy friend.

“When you’re in a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn’t a gang anymore” (Page 26). Ponyboy states this in the novel called The Outsiders. Loyalty is important because it builds strong relationships. Trust and loyalty are important qualities in a friendship. Ways to show loyalty are are by standing up for your friends, by sticking together, and by helping each other.

There are three main things that influence a character. They are the environment the character is in, the people the character interacts with, and the experiences that the character goes through. The identity of a person or a character is never complete. The identity will just continue to grow as you grow as a person. The experiences, people, and environment will continue to change your identity as you go through life. Even if a character in a book is deceased their identity can still be growing because the other characters may find things that change their perspective on a person. Someone will always grow as a person which will change their identity. Authors can reveal identity in many different ways. An author can tell you all about that person in the beginning of the book. A person can go from a happy person to a depressed person because of experience, or the environment they're exposed to. Another way that an author can reveal a character's identity is through objects that they have or things that they wrote on. An author can also reveal a character in a book =through the actions that they make or even the people that they are friends with or interact with on a daily basis. My own identity is quite similar and different to Johnny Cade in the book The Outsiders.