Synopsis Of The Book 'The Outsiders' By S. E. Hinton

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

Throughout my life I’ve noticed that society puts people in categories. This categorizing is such a tremendous problem, It’s very serious, and there seems to be nothing we can do to fix it either.In S. E Hinton’s book ‘ The Outsiders’ this categorizing is very prevalent. It shows how money splits us into categories. You’re treated differently if you have more money than someone who is much more unfortunate. Those with more money never seem to imagine themselves in the other person's place.

Ponyboy realizes that Socs are just like greasers with more money and a higher public opinion. This is supported by, "Cherry had said her friends were too cool to feel anything, and yet she could remember watching sunsets. Randy was supposed to be too cool to feel anything, and yet there was pain in his eyes" (Hinton 116). This quotes shows that although the Socs on the surface were these tough and hardened guys that could take anything without flinching, but underneath, they were just like their greasers and could feel pain and needed comfort. Ponyboy's view also changes after the part in their conversation where Randy told Ponyboy that Bob had just wanted his parents to set some boundaries for him. For example, Bob had thought that if he came home drunk he parents would surely punish him, but they just blamed themselves for Bob being drunk and thought that it was something that they had done. This is seen when, "one time he came home drunker than anything. He thought sure they were gonna raise the roof. You know what they did? They though it was something they'd done" (Hinton 116). This shows that Bob's parents possibly loved him too much and let him do whatever he wanted, even if that was breaking the

In the 1960’s, many people were placed into categories. The main protagonist in The Outsiders is a young boy named Ponyboy, who has had a rough life and gone through traumatic events. In the book, The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton uses the actions and attitude of Ponyboy to reflect the turmoil of the 1960’s.

In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, family is a prevalent motif. The Outsiders institutes a definition of family, such as, people who care and support for each other instead of the standard definition; a fundamental social group in society typically consisting of parents and their offspring. Johnny Cade is a vulnerable sixteen-year-old Greaser in a group defined by toughness and a sense of invincibility. He comes from an abusive home, and takes to the Greasers as he feels at ease, comfortable, and protected by them. He is considered the piece of the gang that holds the gang members together and he is also considered as the gang pet. Through close analysis of Johnny’s interactions with Dally, his relationship with his parents, and his role in the

Ponyboy later talks to Randy (a Soc) and learns that the Socs aren’t emotionless because he talks about Bob and how he really cared about him. Through the whole book, Ponyboy has been judging the Socs the wrong way because of how he feels. For example with the jumping and the fights. This conflict runs through the whole book and makes the story different than if they had understood Socs. Now that we know what Greasers think of Socs, let’s talk about the Socs and how they see the Greasers.

After Johnny died, the greasers and socs had a large-scale gang fighting. Before joining this fighting, Ponyboy had a heart to heart talk with Randy: ‘ You can’t win, even if you whip us. You’ll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing. We’ll forget if you win, or if you don’t. Greasers will still be greasers and socs will still be socs.’ (Hinton 76) Ponyboy realized the truth. He was aware of fighting could only bring more conflicts and death. Therefore, Ponyboy was impacted by the gang rival because he realized the reality that the social class between greasers and socs could never be changed by

Ponyboy is trying to convince the rest of the greasers that all of the socs are not bad and are just normal people like them. Randy still sees all of the greasers as hoods who are poor and have too many emotions, but he starts to understand how they both have it “rough all over”(Hinton 118). After Randy comes to Ponyboy’s house he realizes that. Randy and Ponyboy are the only socs and greasers that see each other as they truly are. The other greasers are starting to realize that the socs are not all that bad after all.

There was an Actress named Amber Hard once said “It requires bravery to do what no one else around you is doing.” The S.E Hinton novel The Outsiders written in 1967 really talks about how if you want something, you really have to be brave to get it and for the main characters, that something might be just a roof to sleep under. This book is about a gang of young boys who go through many hardships, facing murder, class warfare and other things we are quite scared of today. They have to go through these hardships while facing the fact that the socs are in their same town, spoiled rich, jumping greasers and getting drunk beyond imagination. Out of the diversity of this group of young kids, the main character stands out as somebody who really has experienced a lot of hard things in his life (Murder of his father, mother, best friend and gang member Etc.), Ponyboy a kid who in the beginning of the book was a good kid, shy but a greaser and like all greasers, he hated the socs ,he hated the fact that the socs got whatever they wanted and the greasers had to steal things to survive. In this Essay, I will show you how Ponyboy, the main character, matures from being a shy kid who kept his thoughts to himself to somebody who is was brave enough to realize that both socs and greasers are just humans and

Heroes are everywhere is our daily lives,anyone can become a hero even the least expected person. Everyone has a different definition to define what a hero is. I think that a hero is someone that is admired and has done some sort of act courage. Or they helped someone in anyway like saving peoples lives. A hero can also be someone who has achieved the impossible,also can be someone who left their life to help others.

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the author creates a rant that reveals Ponyboy’s feelings about the life struggles of his fellow gang members as compared to the carefree lives of the Socs, their rivals. It reveals Ponyboy’s anger and allows the author to show that Ponyboy deeply cares for his fellow gang members and strongly despises the Socs. When Ponyboy and Johnny are at the movies, they meet Cherry and Marcia, and even though the girls are Socs, they engage in friendly and honest discussions about the lives of the two rival gangs. When Cherry asks Ponyboy what Darry, his brother, is like, he becomes angry and eventually redirects his indignation at the reality of their lives. He begins by repeatedly exclaiming, “It ain’t fair!” and follows it with a long mental list of specific problems that each fellow gang member has been experiencing (Hinton 38).

I am an upper class kid. My parents are rich, own fancy cars, have a sizable house, and I have my own debit card. What could be bad in my life? Things are not always wonderful in my world. I have problems too, just like all of the lower class kids; I might not have it as rough, but that doesn’t mean my problems aren’t meaningful.

Ponyboy did not get along with his older brother Darrell and wanted Darrell to act more like a father than a brother to him. Ponyboy ran away with his friend Johnny because Johnny had murdered a soc boy. All the greasers ever wanted was to be treated equally and not like greasers. When Ponyboy and Johnny save some children from a fire they become heroes. It seems like people started looking at them differently.

How many people do you think get jumped daily? Too many. The novel The outsiders S.E Hinton is about many gang violence situations. A few could have been walked away from, consequences could be death of friends. S.E Hinton’s theme “things all rough all over” is evident in the struggles the greasers and Socs face. Greasers gave the greater struggle because they live in poverty and they have a bad reputation of being hoodlums.

The Outsiders written by S.E Hinton is about a gang made up of poorer teenagers called Greasers and their struggles competing against the Socs, a group of privileged teenagers from the west side of town. The book mostly focuses on Ponyboy as he struggles to find the reason of why the Socs and Greasers don’t get along. There are many different themes in the book but in my eyes I think the clearest one is friendship and family. This shows throughout the book. For example the Curtis’s leave their door open for the other Greasers if they’re having trouble. This shows that they are caring to their friends and treat them as family. Here are some more reasons of why I think the theme is friendship and family.