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The Outsiders Theme Essay

Decent Essays

Look around at your close friends. You stick together just like a family. Your friends support and know you. Like a family, friends know each other, like each other, and relate to each other. In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, my theme, friends are family, is very present. S.E. Hinton shows that Friends are family like when the greasers stick together because they really know each other and don’t really have family. The theme at the beginning is friends are family.

The theme, friends are family, is shown multiple times in the beginning of the novel when Ponyboy says, “One of the four boys Darry, and Soda, and I have grown up with and consider family”(3). Ponyboy literally explains that he considers Dally, Johnny, Two Bit Matthews, and Steve family. He says this because they are true friends and they have been for a long time. They know each other well and stick together. Another good quote is when Ponyboy says “But we were family and we couldn’t just leave him…”(300). Ponyboy again is basically just showing that his friend Dallas …show more content…

Ponyboy says, “Not him and Johnny both…”(217). Ponyboy is still in shock/denial that Johnny and Dallas are dead because they were valuable to him. Ponyboy also says “He can’t be dead..”(118). He says this for the same exact reason as the last quote. In conclusion the end of the novel completely changes the theme friends are family to friends are valuable.

The Outsiders shows us that Friends are Valuable. Friends stick together just like a family. The greasers are true friends. Family is valuable to you. Friends probably are too. Some friendships have even stronger bonds than a family. The Greasers were true friends. They stuck together until the end. You know each other well and stick by each other. Remember this the next time you look at your friends. Don’t take your friends for granted and remember that you never know when they will die or leave

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