The estimated reading time for this post is 4 Minutes
I think that “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton is about how people should not be judged by their social class. I also believe that this story is about family because without them you will go nowhere in life. Hinton’s message is that class conflict is pointless, unwarranted, and destructive
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. They never really like each other because one has more money while the other one has a hard time with money.
In the first chapter, the Socs jump Ponyboy while he was walking to the theaters. Socs did that because he was a greaser, their prey, and an easy target. Luckily before he can get seriously hurt his buddies save him. Then they decided to go to the movies, and they meet two Socs girls named Cherry and Marcia. Johnny and Ponyboy become friends with them. As they continue to talk they find out that the Socs and Greasers aren’t that different after all. They walk them home until their boyfriends see them, then take them away. When Ponyboy comes home Darry his older brother gets mad at him and hits him. Ponyboy runs away with Johnny and when they arrive at a park. Socs boys come and try to drown Ponyboy, and then Johnny kills them.
Johnny decides that they should run away, so they go to Dally. Dally tells them to go to an abandoned church. When they get there they go straight to sleep. When Ponyboy Johnny is at the store, and when he comes back he tells him that they have to dye their hair and cut it so the police can’t notice them. When they finish doing that Dally comes to visit them with more supplies after they go to DQ. As they are driving back they see the church burning with kids inside it. They run in to save the kids. Johnny and Ponyboy end up saving all the kids, and when they are done Johnny has broken his back. The family with the kids offers to take Ponyboy to the hospital. As Ponyboy and Dally are waiting for Johnny’s doctor Darry shows up, and apologizes for that is when Ponyboy finally realizes that Darry loves him.
While Johnny is in the hospital his mother comes to visit him, but he doesn’t want to see her. Darry informs them that Cherry has become a spy for the greasers. When Ponyboy leaves the hospital he sees Cherry, and he asks her if she wants to see Johnny. Cherry immediately denies it because Johnny is the one who killed her boyfriend. As they are talking she tells him that there is going to be a rumble against the Socs and the Greasers. Cherry tells him the rules like no weapons, just fists. Ponyboy runs home to tell Darry. On the night of the rumble, Ponyboy is very agitated. Darry hesitated to let Ponyboy fight in the rumble because he isn’t in good shape. Darry finally gives in when Sodapop says it is just skin. Darry tells Soda and Pony to run if the police come so they won’t leave each other. The greasers end up winning the rumble. After the rumble, Pony and Dally go to see Johnny. Before Johnny dies he tells Ponyboy “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold”(Hinton148). After leaving the hospital, Dally robs a grocery store. Weeks pass, and Ponyboy begins to do poorly in school, doesn’t eat, and forgets to do things. While running from the cops, Dally pulls out his gun, the police shoot, and he dies. Dally did this because he was too sad that Johnny died.
In the end, Ponyboy deals with emotional and physical wounds. I believe that this is because two of his best friends died The physical wounds heal faster than emotional ones. The Social class ends and most of the Socs are friends with the greasers. This whole story shows that family is important because without them Ponyboy would never have survived this journey.
setTimeout(function () {
(function(h,o,t,j,a,r){ h.hj=h.hj||function(){(h.hj.q=h.hj.q||[]).push(arguments)}; h._hjSettings={hjid:265292,hjsv:6}; a=o.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; r=o.createElement('script');r.async=1; r.src=t+h._hjSettings.hjid+j+h._hjSettings.hjsv; a.appendChild(r); })(window,document,'https://static.hotjar.com/c/hotjar-','.js?sv=');
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '827340874076871'); fbq('track', 'PageView');
}, 6000);
#literary #literature #poetry #fiction #books #bookstagram #author #writers #writing #poet #writersofinstagram #novel #reading #booklover #writer #bibliophile #bookish #book #writersofig #manuscript #novelist #authoress #art #bookworm #playwright #essayist #literaturememes #paragrapher #booknerd #poems