The Outsiders is a novel that represents many themes such as honour, the innocence of childhood and the value of appearances through the characters’ dialogue and behaviour that feature in this book. The author, S. E. Hinton writes about a character in her novel by the name of Dallas Winston, a hardened young man that has seen and done too many things for his age. His loyalty to his gang, criminal record and his stand out looks are just some of the characteristics represented to the reader. This is conveyed through Dallas’ description, conversation and actions but also through the main character’s and his friends’ thoughts of him. Dallas’ attributes play a major role in the development of the outstanding themes in this story and help to give the novel depth and a story that almost 50 years on is still able to relate to teenagers of today. Dallas Winston is the best example to show how honour is weaved into the story because of his ‘tougher, colder, meaner’ (Pg. 13) temperament that the main character, Ponyboy portrays to the reader. Any act of honour or selflessness is surprising because of Dallas’ demeanour, so when Dallas takes the massive risk of possibly getting jailed to help Ponyboy and Johnny when they’re in trouble, the reader’s respect for Dallas is definitely raised and the reader begins to understand …show more content…
His hood attitude is only what he lets reflect to others, but he has so many more dimensions, such as the honourable side to him that he only shows when he must, the softness he shows towards Johnny and the helpless wreck he becomes as he reaches out to Darry when Johnny dies. The theme of appearance is very important in this novel for not just Dallas but for all the characters as they all belong to a group or social class and have some standards that they are meant to meet, Winston was a particularly interesting representation of appearances because of the way S.E Hinton created his
In the novel titled The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, one of many main characters named Ponyboy goes through the struggle of transitioning from his parents’ death to his old life like it never happened. He goes through the separation of the greasers, which are poor, long, greasy haired kids and the Socs, who are rich, white kids, as well as his brothers Darry and Sodapop. It’s a debate on whether Ponyboy should stay with his brothers’ or go to a boys’ home without them. The writer would have to recommend staying with his brothers’ and the author most likely agrees due to the ending of the book. Its believed that Ponyboy should stay with his brothers because of the way they feel towards each other, the fact that Ponyboy doesn’t deserve to be put with some stranger; that his unconditional love for his brothers is unbreakable, and the fact that they
Johnny Cade and Dallas winston are two characters from S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Like most characters Dally and johnny have their similarities and differences. Johnny and dally both have neglectful parents, which is why Dally is always in jail and Johnny's father does not even know Johnnys name. Another similarity is how they both place little value on their lives. Dally commits suicide and johnny states that it was worth dieing. A difference between the two is that Johnny dies a hero and Dally dies a hoodlum. The police shoot Dally, and Johnny is crushed by a burning building. In addition Johnny hates fights while Dally loves them, Dally breaks out of a hospital to go to a fight and Johnny states fighting is useless.
As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray
How can two people whose situation, social class, or even same group of friends be so contrastive from each other? How can a sensitive, selfless little boy have anything alike with a cold, mean, tough young man who has lost his purpose in life? As nonviable as it seems, there are such characters in S.E Hinton’s novel The Outsiders. Dally Winston and Johnny Cade are similar because they both have neglective parents and place very little on their own lives. Regardless these similarities, Dally and Johnny both have diverse personalities and police records. Thus, Dallas Winston and Johnny Cade have vast differences in their lives, yet they also have notable similarities.
He treats Johnny Cade a member of the gang like a son. This quote is about Dallas, because he was hardened by spending 16 years on the street. He is very calm when Ponyboy and Johnny tell him how Johnny killed a Soc, which means he has probably dealt with this kind of situation. Another reason it implies to him, because he doesn’t take criticism from anybody. He also steals regularly, and he has a very long record with the police, of which he is proud about.
Many people have some role model in their life. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a lawyer named Atticus Finch displays a true role model to all in Macomb County. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee portrays the real role model that all should recognize and desire to follow. When in the courtroom or with his family, Atticus Finch resembles a good-natured man by heart. With his self-sacrificing nature, Atticus shows Macomb county residents what it means to give wholeheartedly to others despite who they are. Along with his self-sacrificing nature, Atticus displays a peaceful attitude despite any difficult circumstances he may face in his daily life. Finally, Atticus shows Macomb county how to think with a positive mindset. Weather
Many of the characters have parallel personalities which can be a reasoning behind their strong intertextual link and some of the main ideas were the same in two texts. Both deal with racism and discrimination in small country towns and both explore the distant relation between law and justice. Prejudice being the main coinciding theme, as well as showing signs of irony and hypocrisy, both are written in the same narrative voice, in a childlike tone. For most part, Lee makes sure Scout gives the readers the events from her childhood perspective as she understood them at the time, rather than imposing a commentary from the older perspective of her when she is telling the story, which makes the narrative perspective naïve. Perkins engages the audience with a warm-hearted and pure character Charlie, who likes to learn new lessons in life. As he is older naturally, he has more experiences in life and is able to pick up the discrimination obscured around him. This is shown through the fact that at first, the protagonist Charlie realises that Jasper is not what society deems him as “a thief, a liar, a thug, a truant. He’s lazy and unreliable. Jasper Jones is the example of where poor aptitude and attitude will lead”. Through the use of the protagonists the theme is presented in a way that allows the reader to realise the harsh reality, yet it is still demonstrated in an approachable and relatable way, further enhanced by the first-person narration of the texts. The discrimination
Ponyboy, Johnny, Sodapop, Darry are all a part of the unruly gang, the Greasers. S.E Hinton is writing these characters as rebellious young men, with a harsh background, who takes their anger and hardship out on gang fighting. These roles play an important part in this book because it shows that even though they nothing physically, they have a heart stronger than gold for each other and others mentally. Hinton use these characters to show prejudice leads to wrong conclusions, violence and oppression because these “poor” young men are getting beat up by the rich Socs who have never felt the feeling of being in poverty. “ You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you’re in a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make
Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.
This book showed the struggle between rich and poor. The two main groups of the story were the Socs and the greasers. The Socs are in the upper class while the greasers are the poor ones that dislike the Socs because they have more money, better cars, and act like they are better than the greasers. The Outsiders is a good story by S.E. Hinton that shows the struggles of growing up Hinton did a fine job with the character development, the plot, and the theme with a few flaws.
The Novel The Outsiders reveals that it is the “real” and “raw” moments the define an individual as human. In these moments of authentic and selfless love the attributes of individual become more definitive then social class, or reputation. Through examining Dallas Winston and his love for Johnny and Randy’s emotional encounter with Pony boy Hinton’s most haunting and enduring argument become evident, that self discovery imposed by love and loss has no sides but the outside.
fact he was mad. If he was mad, it was a pity, however if he had
“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”.
In this book, everyone was part of a gang and everyone looked at each other as either a Soc ,or a Greaser. Johnny, who has been abusively beaten while getting jumped and from his own father at home, and Pony save children from a burning house. No one would expect the hoodlums to risk their lives to save children. They have a reputation for doing illegal things and getting arrested. However, newspapers have stories on the two and labelled them as “heroes”. Dally, who was the toughest and baddest of all the Greasers, kills himself. The true reason behind this was because after going to the hospital to visit Johnny, he witnessed watching him die right in front of his eyes. Johnny’s death makes him rob a store and having the police intentionally kill him. The only thing that he loved was Johnny and his beloved thing was gone. This shows that Dally, even though he’s a Greaser and does all these horrible things, has feelings. Even people who genuinely knew him, labelled him as having no feelings. Also, Randy, who is a soc, talks to Pony about Bob and how he was just a regular guy who had his own problems. The only reason that Bob would act out and drink a lot was because his parents would never set boundaries. He just wanted for someone to tell him “No”. Cherry Valance, who was Bob’s girlfriend, even said that he was actually sweet. This shows that people are individuals and that labels don’t say who you
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.