Themes In S. E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders'

The book outsiders is a amazing and interesting novel.In the book their are two gangs named Socs and Greasers.The socs are the upper class with money ,cars, and nice houses in a good area.The greasers are lower class and all they have is their hair, the bond of other each, and they live in a type of hood.They are complete different people but they still share lots of things in common.They also have lots of differences.

As Ponyboy states when he starts to understand this, “No, it wasn’t Cherry the Soc who was helping us, it was Cherry the dreamer who watched sunsets and couldn’t stand fights.” (Hinton 86). Ponyboy was previously under the impression that all Socs didn’t care about anything, and was surprised when he met Cherry, a Soc who watched the same sunset as he did. The stereotype of Socs being heartless and cruel was all he had seen and heard, so it was hard for him to understand how one could be so different. Ponyboy’s friends felt similarly, and most of them found it even harder to grasp this concept than Ponyboy had. The Greasers were used to judging the Socs as a group, and did not see them as individuals. These group stereotypes are what ultimately caused most of the biggest fights in the novel.

The difference in social class definitely took its toll on the two of these gangs. The Soc’s and Greaser’s opinion would change from with experiences, but for the most part it was a clash for who owned the town. The Socs were the “good guys” and the Greasers were the “troublemakers” of town, although this was definitely not the case but because of the unchanging prejudice opinions were placed on both of the groups it would not change. For example, Ponyboy explained that maybe the Greasers and Socs aren’t so different after all. On page 40, Ponyboy starts to wonder how different he is from any of the Socs, “It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the

example, Jack never ordered him to drop the rock on Piggy, it was purely Roger

A very important conflict in the book is that socs jump on greasers. This conflict is an Again & Again signpost because it happens many times in the story. I think the author wanted the socs to jump on greasers so the reader think that they are the antagonist of the book. Also so the reader knows that there will always be a tension between them. After reading a couple of chapter they will come a point that can be confusing to them. “What'd he want?” Two-Bit asked. “What'd Mr. Super-Soc have to say?” “He ain't a Soc,” I said, “he's just a guy. He just wanted

They look past each other's imperfections and have true love for one another. This is in contrast to the Socs, who do not seem to really care about one another. Bob Randall states this while talking to Pony after he gets sick, “He's dead--- his mother has had a nervous breakdown. They spoiled him rotten. I mean, most parents would be proud of a kid like that--- good-lookin' and smart and everything, but they gave in to him all the time. He kept trying to make someone say 'No' and they never did. They never did. That was what he wanted. For somebody to tell him 'No.' To have somebody lay down the law, set the limits, give him something solid to stand on. That's what we all want, really.”(Hinton 98) Whether it is tough love, true love, or unconditional love, all people want to love. Bob Sheldon was no exception. All he really wanted was for his parents to discipline him, but that never happens. Love both helps and hurts people, but people as a whole all need it. According to Jane Elizabeth Dougharty,” In spite of his original fear and dislike for Dally, a fear which he understands is motivated by his own idealism, Ponyboy comes to realize all that Dally has done for him. It is Dally who makes sure that Johnny and Pony are able to run away after Johnny accidentally kills Bob. Dally saves Ponyboy from the burning church and tries to save Johnny as well. Ponyboy also realizes that in spite of his cold exterior, Dally has been deeply scarred by his

In the book it says “ You really killed him, huh Johnny” “yeah” his voice quivered slightly” . This quote supports my perspective because it shows that Darry isn’t the only bad influence in Ponyboys life. Ponyboys friend are criminals, the steal, fight, and one of his friends killed someone. Ponynoys guardian is a good brother but not a good guardian, he lets Ponyboy hang out with people who break the law and are bad influences. Also in the book it says “Here-he handed us a gun and a roll of bills- … Heres fifty bucks…”. This quote supports my perspective because one of the people that darry lets Ponyboy hang out with, gave him a gun and some money, so they could run away.This supports my claim because a grown person gave a minor a loaded weapon, and it is clear that Ponyboy has no experience with a gun. In conclusion all these examples are more than good enough reasons that Ponyboy should be put in the system rather than stay with Darry. It’s obvious that Ponyboy needs a better and more stable

At the beginning, Ponyboy doesn’t understand the concerns of Darry, but towards the end, he understands that Darry is overprotective for him. For example, when Ponyboy came late home from the lot and Darry hit him and he ran away with Johnny. He said to Johnny, “He didn't use to be like that... we used to get along okay... before Mom and Dad died. Now he just can't stand

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.

Ponyboy once said, “I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me”. The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton, is an outstanding book, and movie, that tells about the rivalry between the less fortunate people, the Greasers, and the more wealthy people, the Socs. The Greasers are an inseparable group of tuff kids, that have gone through many hard times in their life. The Socs are a group of good looking and smart kids who came from a wealthy background.

By making friends with two socs girls in the movie house, Ponyboy realized that not all the socs were violent, and were fond of fighting for fun. ‘ All socs aren’t like that,’ , she said. ‘You have to believe me, Ponyboy. Not all of us are like that.’ (Hinton 36). These words was said by cherry, one of the socs friends of Ponyboy. After hearing about the experience that Johnny was beaten up by four socs, Cherry explained to Ponyboy that not all the socs praised violence. She told Ponyboy that socs were always behind a wall of aloofness, and not to let their real selves show through. Therefore, Ponyboy began to understand the socs. He knew that although the socs were wealthy, sometimes they would meet troubles which the greasers have never ever heard

When the book starts the main character Ponyboy gets attacked by the Socs. When he is about to get beat up his fellow gang members come to the rescue, and save him from being beat up by the Socs. Most people would have just let him get attacked, and try not to get involved, but his gang members came to his side and fought for him. It said in the text, “Then there were shouts and the pounding of feet, and the Socs jumped up and left me lying there grasping. I lay there and wondered what in the world was happening---people were jumping over me and running by me and I was to dazed to figure it out. Then someone

Struggles Struggling in life is not a fun thing, but some people have to live with it because of who they are. In the novel “The Outsiders”, The greasers and the Socs are two rival groups that don’t like each other. The greasers are the poor ones and the Socs are rich and drive fancy cars. The greasers love each other because they are all they have, unlike the Socs. The greasers have more struggles than the Socs because it is difficult for them to improve in life, they are poor, and usually get attacked or jumped by the Socs.

The Socs are liable for all of the melee because they started to jumped Ponyboy, which later created a dispute between Ponyboy and Darry. Meanwhile Ponyboy started to walk from the movie theater, the Socs spotted him, which later then, they jumped him, and he explained, “They had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows…”(page 5). This evidence shows how the actions of the Socs, can later create a ghastly moment for the Greasers. If this event didn’t happened, then the Socs would have might stop creating more tumult with the Greaser. Meanwhile Ponyboy told how he got jumped by the Socs, Darry interrupted saying, “You must

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