Outsiders Literary Criticism

Thesis: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a novel which tells the story of conflict between the "greasers" and the "Socs," captures the voice of ponyboy and his friends in a realistic way that relates to boys and their gangs even today.

The 1967 novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton is about the social outcasts; the Greasers and their rivalry against the high class Socs. In the beginning of the book the characters values and attitudes are revealed to the reader through the point of view of Ponyboy. As the book progresses and the lives of the characters take a turn for the worse there is a significant impact on the characters resulting in an alteration of their values and attitudes. Ponyboy, Dally and Johnny experience these changes due to the death of Bob the Soc and the chain of events that follow.

Last but not least, Ponyboy faces the society’s impression of the greasers. Everybody thinks that they are hoods and that nothing good can come out of them. The greasers are judged strongly because of their economic status and face judgment from everyone. Nobody cares to understand their life and what experience on a daily basis. He also finds out when he was in Windrixville, that people don’t judge them like they do in their city. The whole conflict of the story is the Greasers and the Socs. The characters in the story have gone about their own ways to at least try to fix the problem. Many chose fighting and violence in general, but Ponyboy choose to write a book for a writing assignment. He discovers that there is no difference between them

“The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft tell the story of a man’s decent further into loneliness after venturing out into the real world after escaping the castle he has been concealed in his whole life. Lovecraft presents a dark and eerie writing style to manifest certain elements in the story that set the theme. Lovecraft suggests themes of loneliness as well as loss of innocence in the story, “The Outsider”, by employing the use of tone, diction, as well as point of view.

Have you ever read a very hard hitting and the phenomenal story about rival gangs and the effect it has on the lives of the people and the society. In The Outsiders, is a story of 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis and his two older brothers, Soda and Darry. The boys are orphans and struggle to stick together in their lower-class neighborhood, known as the East Side. They and their friends are part of a gang of tough street boys called the Greasers. Even though other people might think you're unimportant and below them. You will always have your friends and family. In The Outsiders, we see the idea of the difference in the society based on the economic level of the characters, honor among the lawless and violence among the youth.

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.

What are some of the reasons of why people act how they are? In The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, a young teenage boy named Johnny Cade is the most loved in a gang. The psychological theory in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for Johnny is extremely dynamic and is very interesting. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs shows the basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment needs of others. Literary criticism is the art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of literary works.The conflicts in The Outsiders are the disputes between the greasers and the Socs, and the choice that Johnny made which changed this life. Johnny starts off as a quiet, shy boy but later becomes something even greater.

Johnny and Ponyboy are in The Greaser gang and they love their life just the way it is. They wouldn’t change it for the world. Before the church fire started, Johnny and Ponyboy were hiding out there so they wouldn’t get caught by the police because Johnny killed Bob, a Soc. When they were in the church, all they would do was read, play cards, smoke, sleep, and eat. Dally helped the boys out by bringing them groceries so they would not go hungry.

Ponyboy, the protagonist, states that “Greasers…have long hair” and that Darry’s was conversely “short and clean”. Hinton utilises the development of stereotypes and visual imagery to construct a juxtaposing image in the reader’s mind between the oily, unkempt appearance of a Greaser and the stark cleanliness of Darry. Hinton insinuates that a Greaser’s outward appearance, namely hair, reflects directly on their identity, an exhibition of pride as Greasers to society. Darry’s clean hair is symbolic of his comparative maturity to the rest of the gang, emphasising his defiance the Greaser lifestyle of poverty that has invaded his life. Hinton portrays that Darry is an ‘outsider’ in his society as he doesn’t abide by the stereotypical standards and physical identifiers of his gang, consequently feeling isolated. Like Darry, Skeeter is isolated from her Caucasian society as she is the only unmarried lady in her social group, Junior League. Her mother explains to her the “guide to Husband-Hunting, Rule Number One: a pretty, petite girl…accentuate with makeup and good posture”, and acknowledges that she is conversely “a tall one”. Similarly, Stockett engages stereotypes through visual imagery to help portray Skeeter as an ‘outsider’. Stockett paints a picture in the audience’s mind of the

Ponyboy explains how his group is more poor than the Socs. This shows that they are low class, and not likely to live in a civilized place. This also shows that they might not dress like normal kids, and act like normal kids, because they are low class people. The author writes (Hinton 31) on how the Greasers are neglected or unloved by their family. In other words,S.E. Hinton tells us that Johnny was often

The Outsiders: Compare and Contrast In the novel “The Outsiders,” by S.E Hinton and the film adaption by Francis Ford Coppola, the book and the movie have numerous similarities and differences. Our thoughts on these particular aspects are very diverse as the universe is. Many things have either been left out or diminished from the movie, which makes it less interesting as the suspense lessens as one has finished reading the book. The movie also missed critical events and that the author has included in her book, including Sandy, Ponyboy

Ponyboy’s parents died in an automobile crash when he was younger so his older brother Darry raised him and his other brother Sodapop. The gang that Ponyboy and his brothers are in has seven people: Steve, Two-Bit, Johnny, Dally, Sodapop, Darry, and Ponyboy. Even though the greasers are labeled as mean, Ponyboy shows how you can break down borders and be optimistic, kind, and amiable. In the book, Ponyboy Curtis showed on many occasions, how optimistic he is, even during hard

Darry had a very good football career, which he loved to play, and which could have helped him get a scholarship for college, but he quit because he didn’t want to leave his family and he didn’t his family to be out of money either so he got two jobs {Hinton}. This shows how Darry really loved playing football and wanted to continue his career but he loved his family more so he quit. This also shows how Darry didn’t want to quit and be poor either, so he decided to get two jobs to help his family. When Johnny and Ponyboy were held hostage by the “Socs” , Bob started to drown Ponyboy and to save Ponyboy’s life he killed Bob even though he knew he could be sentenced to prison or death for killing him. {Hinton}. This explains that Johnny had loved Ponyboy and almost sacrificed himself for Ponyboy’s life.This also illustrates that the “Socs” out number the “Greasers” and try to beat them up or kill them. “Greasers” make very big sacrifices for each other while “Socs” are the ones who mostly cause the problems which leads to the “Greasers” paying for

Have you ever been on a boat and it started to rock and you were scared to disbelief? Well, that’s how the greasers lived their lives. One big boat that wouldn’t stop rocking. Ponyboy, Dally, and Sodapop all enhance the family relationships by understanding each other more and keeping the greaser family from falling apart. The reason for this is that the greasers help each other through hardships.

S.E Hinton’s realistic fiction “The Outsiders” takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma a small town with two social groups the Socs and the Greasers. Ponyboy is different From the Greasers. The two social groups are always fighting and never get along. Ponyboys brothers are Sodapop and Darry. Darry is always mean to Ponyboy but nice to Sodapop. One lesson in this novel is that when there is family that is all that matters. While some readers may believe the central theme of the novel is divided communities, I argue that it is family and that everyone needs it-as evidence by S.E Hinton use of descriptive language, dialogue, and sentence sPonyboy thinks the same thing after Darry slapped him for getting home so late. When they start to leave they see