Ponyboy's Personal Fable In The Outsiders

In the outsiders, the first chapter introduces the main character, Ponyboy and gives a short history about him and his family. He designates the difference between the relationships between the members in his gang, and the relationship between both of his brothers. His parents were killed in a car accident, so that’s why he was just left alone to live with his older 2 brothers.

In the story, Ponyboy believes that Darry could easily become a Soc. Ponyboy goes on to

The Bildungsroman novel The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, a group of teenage boys trying to survive in an environment of class division, connects to a lot of the characters' lives. Examples of some characters are Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally. A way that the novel connects to them can be represented with songs. Johnny can be represented by the song Via Chicago, by Wilco. Ponyboy can be represented by Night Run, by Cage The Elephant.

In the novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy made a choice that ultimately affected his life. Ponyboy had decided to go to the movies all alone one day. He feels more comfortable when he watches movies alone as the narrator states, “When I see a movie with someone it’s kind of uncomfortable, like having someone read your book over your shoulder” (Hinton 2).

{{In the novel The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, the traditional Greaser haircut is symbolic of their identity that can’t be stated in wealth and material belongings.}} {{This identification is shown when Ponyboy, the main protagonist, exits a movie theater and runs into the Socs. When Ponyboy is cornered by the Socs, the people who rule the city, “They walked around slowly, silently, smiling. ‘Hey, grease,’ one said in an over-friendly voice. ‘We’re gonna do you a favor, greaser. We’re gonna cut all that long greasy hair off.’” (Hinton 5).}} {{The Socs taunt him with the thought of cutting his hair, which would strip Pony of his identity completely, leaving him barren with nothing. Clearly, Ponyboy individualizes himself with his hair, and his

In the book the Outsiders, Ponyboy faces many conflicts, some had carried more significance than others. The author of this novel is S.E. Hinton. The main characters of this novel are Ponyboy Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, and Darrel Curtis (Darry). The Outsiders is novel about the wars between the two social classes formally known as Socs (The higher class/richer people) and the Greasers (The lower class/poorer blue collar workers.) This novel however is told from the perspective of the Greasers, more specifically a young boy at the bottom of a small gang or family of greasers. In the novel The Outsiders the character Ponyboy experience multiple conflicts with his family, his friends, and the law.

This quote expresses how Ponyboy feels about the

(SIP-A) Ponyboy thinks that since his personality is different from the Greasers, he is a total outcast, when really, he is relatively similar to them, and they are very close, despite him being so smart. (STEWE-1) This is shown when Ponyboy says that watching movies makes him different from his family and friends. He says he is “different that way.”(p.2) This is said right in the beginning of the book, when Ponyboy is describing himself. It is obvious that Ponyboy feels separated from the Greasers because of his personality right from the beginning. (STEWE-2) He even says that “nobody digs books and movies the way I do.”(p.2) Ponyboy’s favorite Greaser is Sodapop, maybe because “Soda tries to understand”(p.2), and because he is the only one who makes Ponyboy feel like a part of a group. Ponyboy “love[s] Soda more than [he’s] loved anyone, even [his] Mom or Dad.”(p.2) Soda is the one making Ponyboy feel like part of a group, and Ponyboy loves him the most. Clearly, Ponyboy is needy of companionship and love, and the other Greasers make him feel like an outsider, even though they don't intend that. (SIP-B) Unlike the Greasers, Ponyboy likes books and movies and is smart, which also makes him feel like an outsider. (STEWE-1) Ponyboy’s love of books is shown when he compares them to his real life. He said he “read Great Expectations for English, and Pip reminded [him] of [the Greasers].”(p.15) Ponyboy is looking for similarities to his life within books, which shows their connection for Ponyboy. Ponyboy also compares Pip, an orphan who also has to deal with difficult life situations, to himself. It shows how he feels about his life. Ponyboy feels his life is different from others, otherwise he wouldn't be so ready to

In the book, The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, the biggest influences in shaping Ponyboy’s identity are creativity, how he’s different from the rest of the gang, and his hair. The first example of how creativity and his difference with the rest of the gang is, when Ponyboy walks home alone home from the movie in the first chapter because he “likes to watch movies undisturbed so I can get into them and live them with actors. … I’m different that way” (Hinton 2). Ponyboy wanted to go to the movie alone so he can “get into them and live with actors.” This shows creativity because being able to get into books and dream is being creative. He wants to live and be with the actors and watching movies and reading books which is a good way to be able to get into another

In a novel called The Outsiders, written by S.E Hinton a major change took place in one of the characters. That character was PonyBoy also known as C. Thomas Howell. PonyBoy was the youngest out of the whole gang. PonyBoy goes through many events at the start, middle, and end of the novel. Although PonyBoy was sensitive at the beginning he changed a lot as the ending came.

In the novel The Outsider, Ponyboy goes through this identity challenge, and in the being he thinks one way of himself and in the middle his thinks he a little more of himself, and at the end he think a whole other way. In the beginning he think of himself as a gang member, or aka greaser, and he thought he was one of them because he was born into it, because he was poor and he roded in old car and he had his hair long. I know that he thinks that was part of this gang because in the text, it says”Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in awhile.” This shows that he was part of it because he was poor, didn’t have much money or have a lot of things that

Accordingly, society begins to form an understanding of the individual’s circumstances and develops a tolerance and acknowledgment towards them and those facing similar issues, creating a togetherness in the otherwise separate groups in society. As a greaser, Ponyboy experiences many difficulties and obstacles through the novel ‘The Outsiders’. After the dramatic occurrences, Ponyboy decides to write about his experiences as homework for his English class, his intention is depicted in the quote, ‘Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand them and wouldn't be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore.’ His use of symbolism by representing hair oil as a common trait of a particular group, he refers to the misconceptions society has towards these groups and seeks to establish an understanding between society and himself as well as others experiencing prejudices made by society. Ponyboy describes others in similar situations in this quote, ‘Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better.’

As humans, we normally grasp onto certain characteristics that gives us a unique identity. In the pieces “The Outsiders”, “The Green Killer”, and “Cutting of My Long Hair” we see characters that each have an identity influenced by their surroundings. In accordance to the article “Ponyboy Curtis”, “Thus Ponyboy’s experiences, as he transforms from misfit to criminal to hero, represent both his own coming-of-age and a hopeful commentary on the need for tolerance and social justice” (Hinton 1). It is described that he not only changes from an outsider into the class-bridging hero of the story. Ponyboy changes his perception on how society judges people based on factors such as social class, appearance, and wealth.

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.

“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”.