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The Outsiders Essay

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In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, it's built around the class division between the Socs and the greasers. The kids in the Socs came from privileged and wealthy families while the greaser grew up in a unstable and poor environment, and it shaped who they are and how they act. The novel deals with issues important to urban teens, and the obstacles that are part of their daily lives, showing realism in Hinton's writing. In the article ¨The Urban Experience in Recent Young Adult Novels¨ by Sandra Hassell and Sandy Guild, it discuss the importance of urban teens worlds represented in literature. The article consists of many characteristics that are established in urban youth books such as, the usage of slang, strong sense of community, …show more content…

You're a nice boy and everything…" (Hinton Ch 3//pg45).Cherry shows how committed she is to the rules and norms of her social circle, from peers to parents. It also shows she's under lots of pressure to be loyal to her group and conform to those rules, even as she wants to break them. The Socs looked above the greasers and thought highly of themselves, and so they would be breaking one of these rules if they were found being friends with a greaser. Furthermore the dangers of the inner- city are realistically depicted. The characters dealt with drug addiction, violence and child abuse. The greasers always smoked, and this was very normal to them because it helped relieve stress. They were not aware about the consequences of smoking and how it can hurt them. One of the main characters, Johnny was abused by his parents, which caused him not to have a strong relationship with his family and he was forced to sleep in the parks to calm down. The greasers also got jumped but the Socs, usually when they are alone. Ponyboy yells ¨Johnny! "What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for killing people!" (Hinton Ch4//pg 57). Ponyboy and Johnny were attacked by the Socs and they put Pony's head in the fountain trying to make him drown. Johnny was so afraid and needed to help Pony, so he pulled out a switchblade and killed one of the Socs. This quote shows how

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