In The Outsiders, the central conflict of the story and the majority of the obstacles revolve around the distinction between the two social classes in the story. The separation between the Socialists and the Greasers creates many obstacles for Ponyboy, the main character, and throughout the story he has to deal with the challenges that are created. Ponyboy is a shining example of a person who is shoved into an incredibly unfavorable position by force, and he controls few, if any, of the issues that come his way. He did not control the death of his parents, or the fact that the Socs and Greasers do not get along and have violent clashes. However, although Ponyboy did not not have control of these types of problems, he still managed to overcome …show more content…
He is unable to control the fighting between the Socs and Greasers, but he still manages to overcome this major obstacle and conflict through his own means. Ponyboy tries to make sense of the situation by befriending a Soc named Sherry (nicknamed Cherry) Valance, whom he meets by chance in a movie theater. Ironically, Ponyboy’s actions in the movie theater are a perfect example of how Ponyboy yearns to have peace rather than war with others, and to make friends rather than enemies. Ponyboy enters the theater accompanied by Johnny and Dally, the latter of whom immediately realizes that the two girls in front of them are Socs. Because Dally believes all Socs to be enemies and jerks, he begins rapidly trash talking loudly behind them. After some brief back-and-forth between Dally and the girls, Dally leaves. Cherry then turns her focus to Ponyboy, asking if he’s going to begin bothering them, to which he promptly shakes his head in response. These two become friends after a chat, and Cherry even becomes a sort of spy for Ponyboy and his comrades. However, Cherry begins stirring up Ponyboy’s thoughts when she states that “all Socs aren’t like that” (Hinton 34), as Ponyboy begins to wonder whether or not he had been following a false assumption this entire time. Ponyboy wishes for peace, but he was taught that Socs were the enemy and that they must be driven away. This causes an uncontrollable conflict, as Ponyboy begins to debate over two contradicting ideas in his mind. Furthermore, this is heightened later in the book when Ponyboy gets an opportunity to speak with Randy, another Soc and the friend of Bob, the Soc that Johnny murdered. Randy comes to visit Ponyboy after the murder and after Ponyboy returned from Windrixville, where he and Johnny
Sherry Valance, a 16 year-old Soc, who goes by the name Cherry, influenced Ponyboy not just a little, but caused him to ponder about the meaning behind all the rivalry between the Socs and the Greasers. Hate between the Socs, the rich kids of the west side, and the Greasers, the poor kids from the east side, has always existed. Beforehand, Ponyboy greatly disliked the Socs, for they continually jumped and attacked Greasers. He always regarded them as an enemy. However, that one night when Ponyboy Curtis clashed with Sherry Valance, she demonstrated that not all Socs were malevolent and self-centered. While conversing with Cherry, Ponyboy felt her empathy and understanding and softened towards her. She talked about her boyfriend, Bob, and how he
Everyone has their own unique traits and personalities which define who you are in life. Ponyboy Curtis, a 15 year old teenager and the main character in the novel “The Outsiders” written by S.E. Hinton shows his many traits throughout the story in which define him. He is the youngest Curtis and a Greaser who narrates the story. He lives with his brothers Darry and Sodapop because his parents died in a car accident. Throughout the novel Ponyboy shows his own unique traits such as his struggles with understanding social classes, his loyalty to others, and finally the importance of a strong family bond.
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.
In the book, The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis is part of the Greaser’s, a gang of boys who are in the lower class in 1965. Their arch rival, the Socs, are the more privileged, upper class boys from across town. Throughout the book, the two gang have many conflicts. Darry, Ponyboy’s oldest brother acts as a parent figure for him since both of his parents were killed in a car crash. Other member of the Greasers are Dally, Two-Bit, Steve, Sodapop, and Johnny. After getting in a fight with his brother, Ponyboy flees to the park where he runs into a group of Socs. The Socs attack Ponyboy and hold his head under the water in the fountain, trying to kill him. Ponyboy blacks out, and later wakes up to see on the Soc boys dead body next to him. Johnny then tells Ponyboy that he killed the boys because they were trying to kill Ponyboy. The boys are afraid, and desperately try to find Dally Winston, who gives them a gun and sends them to the abandoned church to hide. The two boys stay at the church for a while until they decide to go back into town. As they are leaving
As Ponyboy states when he starts to understand this, “No, it wasn’t Cherry the Soc who was helping us, it was Cherry the dreamer who watched sunsets and couldn’t stand fights.” (Hinton 86). Ponyboy was previously under the impression that all Socs didn’t care about anything, and was surprised when he met Cherry, a Soc who watched the same sunset as he did. The stereotype of Socs being heartless and cruel was all he had seen and heard, so it was hard for him to understand how one could be so different. Ponyboy’s friends felt similarly, and most of them found it even harder to grasp this concept than Ponyboy had. The Greasers were used to judging the Socs as a group, and did not see them as individuals. These group stereotypes are what ultimately caused most of the biggest fights in the novel.
“The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, is centered around Ponyboy’s path to maturity and the life lessons he learns along the way. The novel follows Ponyboy, a greaser, and his gang’s conflict with the Socials, a rival gang. In it, he learns to not judge people hastily and reject gang mentality. Ponyboy also loses his innocence. The following paragraphs will explore his growth throughout “The Outsiders”.
There are two conflicts that are mainly presented in The Outsiders. First, Ponyboy feels unloved by his brother Darry. Ponyboy feels this way when he’s walking home from the movies and is yelled at for walking home alone when nobody would go with him. Darry states many times to Ponyboy “use your head.” Also in the novel, Johnny goes through man vs fate because he can’t escape his death. He believes that his death was for a great purpose and that the kids live have greater value than his, but he still doesn’t want to die.
The two different social groups fight, but they only end up with the death of their friends. In the beginning of the book, Pony is just another greaser who is thoughtless and oblivious; however he learns that life should be cherished to the very best when he experiences the death of his friends and soon becomes knowledgeable. As the story begins, Ponyboy Michael Curtis is a
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.
Johnny and Ponyboy got stuck in a fight with some of the Socs. Johnny ended up killing a Soc in order to protect his brother. Or in other words, he was loyal to his brother. Ponyboy showed many ways in which him and his family/friends grew up.
“Never judge someone by the way he looks, or a book by the way it’s covered; For inside those tattered pages, There’s a lot to be discovered” (Stephan Cosgrove). In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the Greasers and the Socs‒two socio-economic groups clash in their ongoing “war” for territory, dominance and reputation. The Curtis boys, including the main character Ponyboy, live normal civilian lives. But it all changes when Johnny accidently kills a Soc, Bob, in an effort to stop Bob’s gang from drowning Ponyboy. However, throughout the novel, it is shown that people should not be judged based on their peers because what you see may not be the truth.
Throughout the book, Ponyboy has a strong friendship with his friend, who is also a Greaser, named Johnny. Johnny is such a good friend, he kills a person from another gang called the Socs that was trying
In the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton, the issue is if the main character, Ponyboy should stay with his brothers or go into the system. Ponyboy should stay with his brothers. The reason this is an issue is because Ponyboy lives in a gang environment and only has his two older brothers to raise him and people believe that he should not live like that.
In the book The Outsiders, written by S. E. Hinton, the narrator, Ponyboy, talks about his life as a poor person and the fights, rich against the poor. The novel focused on how the rich and the poor people did not understand each other. According to Ponyboy this led in the two groups to hate each other. The three topics addressed in the engaging novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what defines heroism.
Cherry mentions to Ponyboy that the Socs have problems too, Pony tries to dissect what Cherry was saying. After the movie, the boys offer the girls a ride home, while walking, Cherry continues talking to Pony. Cherry made Pony realized that the Socs do have problems and money wasn't the only reason why both Greasers and Socs are different.