Character Analysis: The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

Who has more problems: the affluent kids or the less civilized kids? Many people make the assumption that the upper class is sure to have less issues than the destitutions, because they are rich. In the book, The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton shows that both the upper and lower class experience different dilemmas. Hinton also emphasizes how the Greasers and Socs may have came from different backgrounds aren’t really differentiable. In the Outsiders, S.E. Hinton’s characterizations of individual Greasers and Socs reveal that both rich and poor kids face problems and feel trapped by their social statuses.

When you meet someone whom you have never met, the first thing most people do is

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.

Socs are expected to be rich and to have things like “... money, cars and futures.” says Ponyboy. They’re expected to have big houses, wear nice clothes, talk nice, they were basically expected to be perfect, but at the same time heartless and mean. Greasers were expected to be tough, mean, and poor. They were expected to be the exact opposite of the Socs, they didn’t even live on the West Side, where Socs lived. They were accused of stealing and some Greasers get treated differently

Ponyboy’s goal is to return home and face the consequences of his and Johnny’s actions (killing Bob, running away…) “I had thought of turning ourselves in lots of times.” (page 87) “I was glad we were going back.” (page 89)

“We’re gonna do you a favor, greaser. We’re gonna cut off all that long greasy hair off.”.” This means that despite the Soc’s high class they can be downright nasty. It is also said in the book that they drink alcohol, smoke, and like to pick on less wealthy students at the school. What most Soc’s actually do is of a stereotype of a Greaser. An example of this could be certain celebrities or athletes. They are prominent and seen as role models to this generation. However, some do decide to do bad things such as drugs. This has to do with the Soc’s because they do terrible things to the Greasers. Celebrities tend to get involved in drama with other celebrities whether it be career-related or not. S.E. Hinton fought against stereotypes based on appearance by creating the group of

Both the Socs and the Greasers believe their opinions of their rivals to be true, even though “…most reviews of stereotyping conclude that there is very little evidence regarding the validity of beliefs about groups” (Lee, Jussim, and McCauley 5). The opinions the characters have of their opposing gangs tend to take the focus off of individual personalities and instead lumps everyone who is different from them into large groups. For example, right before Cherry leaves Ponyboy after the movies, she tells him that she might not say “hi” to him at school. He knows this is

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the author creates a rant that reveals Ponyboy’s feelings about the life struggles of his fellow gang members as compared to the carefree lives of the Socs, their rivals. It reveals Ponyboy’s anger and allows the author to show that Ponyboy deeply cares for his fellow gang members and strongly despises the Socs. When Ponyboy and Johnny are at the movies, they meet Cherry and Marcia, and even though the girls are Socs, they engage in friendly and honest discussions about the lives of the two rival gangs. When Cherry asks Ponyboy what Darry, his brother, is like, he becomes angry and eventually redirects his indignation at the reality of their lives. He begins by repeatedly exclaiming, “It ain’t fair!” and follows it with a long mental list of specific problems that each fellow gang member has been experiencing (Hinton 38).

What would you do if your parents died in a car wreck, and you had to choose where to go, your brother’s house or into a boys’ or girls’ home? In the dramatic story of “The Outsiders,” by S. E. Hinton, Ponyboy has to choose beside these decisions. The issue is he wants to stay with Darry and Sodapop, his older brothers, but if he gets caught by the cops, he’ll get sent to a boys’ home. Some readers believe he should go to the boys’ home, where he will be treated with more respect. Ponyboy Curtis, should stay in a boys’ home for these reasons.

Greasers think that Socs are disgusting and spoiled people. A quote from the book can give an example of how they think of Socs, “I am a Soc. I am the privileged and the well-dressed. I throw beer blasts, drive fancy cars, break windows at fancy parties.” (pg. 136).

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.

Greasers are the main stereotype in the book but also there is a small part played by the Socs. Although the book is about the life and times of a Greaser there is also a ‘Socs Story’ in there, as throughout the book you learn more and more about the Socs and how they live. But this all changes. When Bob dies Cherry and Randy, the main Socs characters, begin to see that there is no difference between Socs and Greasers. Randy, when he talks to Ponyboy in private doesn’t call

The Socials and Greasers are two social classes that are portrayed as enemies. ‘The Socials’ is an abbreviation of ‘the Socials’. They are portrayed as wealthy, nicely clothed, popular teenagers who live on the West side. Alternatively, the Greasers are described as poor, messy, underprivileged people that live on the East side. We know that the Greasers have a rivalry with the Socials, which is narrated in the quote, “Most [girls] looked at us like we were dirt - gave us the same kind of look that the Socials did when they came by in their Mustangs and Corsairs and yelled “Grease!” at us,” on page 15.

Have you ever noticed in “The Outsiders” the differences and the similarities between the Greasers and the Socials? Well I will be explaining and showing why the Socials and Greasers are different and why they are the same. I will also be giving evidence supporting Ponyboys thought that Greasers and Socials are the same.

Words have different meanings in neighborhoods. Two compliments in their neighborhoods are tough and tuff. Tough meaning the same as rough and tuff meaning cool or sharp. In kids today they get labeled because of the way they dress or the music they listen to. There are the skaters, the nerds, the ghetto people, the preppys, etc." Our hair labeled us greasers, too-it was our trademark. The only thing we were proud of" (64). Some groups are considered worse than the others, some have other problems then the others." You sure you want to go back? Us greasers get it worse than anyone else" (78). In The Outsiders Greasers had this tough appeal. They were boys, but needed to be more manly. "...I wanted to cry, but greasers don't cry in front of strangers, some of us never cry at all..." (91).