Loyalty In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

When you're a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don't stick with them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn't a gang anymore. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering pack like the socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the

In the beginning of “The Outsiders”, Ponyboy only likes a few people but in the end, he realizes that he judged people unfairly. In the beginning, he only appreciated Johnny (the second youngest gang member), Soda (the middle child in his family) and Two-Bit (a wisecracking member of the gang). He dislikes Dallas (the most criminal of the gang) and Steve and thinks that his oldest brother, Darry, dislikes him. He also believes that all Socs are bad. His judgments are first brought into question when he meets Cherry Valence, a female Soc. Ponyboy, referring to her and her friend wrote, “It seemed funny to me that Socs -if these girls were any example - were just like us.” (37) Pony’s views on the Socs evolve again when he talks to Randy. After talking to Randy, Pony thinks, “Socs are just guys after all. Things are rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too." (118) By the end of the novel, Pony does not think all Socs are good because there are Socs like Bob, who jumped Johnny and Pony, but he realizes that people should be

Johnny was the one that needed his friends the most, with a dad that beat him, and a mom that ignored him, until she needed something to yell at, then she yelled at him so loud Ponyboy could hear it from down the street. Due to this abusive relationship with his parents, Johnny needed something, or someone to fall back on, this was the gang, including Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darry, Two-Bit, Dally, and Steve. Johnny often slept over at Ponyboy's when life at home was especially hard, and Ponyboy even claimed "He would have ran away a million times if we weren't there"

In S.E Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, the main character Ponyboy and the rest of the greasers not only face conflicts with their rival gang: the Socs, but also against each other and even as society as a whole. These obstacles were created due the fact that people don't realize that everyone has problems, this is a theme that Ponyboy learns throughout this story. Just like in real life, some conflicts will never be resolved as they are beyond their control. Over the course of the novel some conflicts will be settled, while some will stay the same or even become worse.

This causes Dally to become reckless and finally ending in him being killed by the police, Ponyboy tells the reader “Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.” (p.187). From this the reader can gather how the events had modified Dally, creating a more emotional and caring character, weakening his value for himself and in return, strengthening his value for others.

One of the themes in The Outsiders is that loyalty between people can keep each other from getting hurt. Loyalty between people can keep each other from getting in the wrong situations, from injury, but they also make sure they are always okay. It can keep each other from getting into trouble as well. During the story, Ponyboy, a Greaser, gets caught up with the Socs and gets beat up. Soon his brother and his friends find him and help him out. “‘I’m okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I’m okay.’ He stopped instantly. ‘I’m sorry.’” (Hinton, 6) Ponyboy was jumped by the Socs and Darry came right to his side and was helping him. Later, after Pony and Johnny ran away some Socs caught them and were beating them up. Johnny was thrown to the ground as Ponyboy was struggling to get away from the other Socs, “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you.” (Hinton, 57) Johnny and Ponyboy were getting badly beat up by the Socs, soon then ran away because Johnny ending up killing, Bob, one of the Socs who was drowning Pony with his switchblade. He did it for Pony and if Bob wouldn’t have died, Ponyboy would have. Loyalty between people can be good or bad in some situations, but either way having a loyal friend could save you from getting hurt or save your life. Loyalty can also affect someone’s reputation because it can result in good or bad situations.

Dally’s loyalty is displayed all throughout the book. For example, when Johnny and Ponyboy need help after Johnny kills Bob the first thing they do is turn the Dally. Dally supports them and gives them money and tells them where to go instead of yelling at them for murder. Dally is being extremely supportive and reliable to his friends when they need him. Furthermore, when Johnny and Ponyboy are going into the burning church Dally screams at them not to for their protection. Not only does Dally encourage them not to go, but he also saves them. dally demonstrates to always protect and care for your friends. Dallys

“The silence grew heavier, and I could hear the harsh heavy breathing of the boys around me. Still Darry and the Soc walked slowly in a circle” (Hinton, 143). The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a realistic fiction novel taking place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1966. The story informs the reader of a rivalry between two gangs, the Socials (Socs) who are the rich people that have nice cars, clothes, and have a bright future ahead of them. The Socs live on the West side. The Greasers are the other gang who weren’t rich, weren’t known to have bright futures and always had grease in their hair, hence the name Greasers. Throughout the story many themes have been applied to our society today. Two themes that I have chosen were that loyalty is a thread that holds people together and to not judge people based on how society labels them.

In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, ponyboy and sodapop and the rest of the gang all stuck together and stayed strong and had a close connection. Ways it shows how they had a close bond is when Johnny got beat up by the Socs. Another way is when Johnny and Ponyboy ran away because Johnny and Ponyboy stuck together no matter what. The last reason is Ponyboy and Dally were there for Johnny when he was in the hospital. One way they show the connection they had is when Johnny got beat up the first time by the Socs.

After Dally’s death, Ponyboy reflects on all the events where Dally helped and supported him,“But I remember Dally pulling Johnny the the window of the burning church; Dally giving us his gun, although it could mean jail for him; Dally risking his life for us, trying to keep Johnny out of trouble.” (154). While looking back on his experiences, Ponyboy realizes that Dally cared so much about Johnny and the gang. He just wished that he had cherished Dally’s presence while he was

“When you’re in a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn’t a gang anymore” (Page 26). Ponyboy states this in the novel called The Outsiders. Loyalty is important because it builds strong relationships. Trust and loyalty are important qualities in a friendship. Ways to show loyalty are are by standing up for your friends, by sticking together, and by helping each other.

Most people think of the lawless as bad people, but, is it possible for these “bad people” to have honor? In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, a gang called The Greasers go through a tough journey. During this journey there is a lot of pain and even some deaths. However in the end, they still stand together. This essay will be proving that The Greasers, who break the law, are still honorable because they help each other,risk their lives for others, and defend each other.

“It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and, the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset,” (Hinton 35). This quote by Ponyboy, the main character of S.E Hinton's The Outsiders, combines the main two themes that S.E Hinton's tries to show the readers all throughout her book. That there is honor even among the most lawless of social groups and that just because two groups of people seem like complete opposites they are all humans at the end of the day and see and feel the same emotions like fear and happiness. These central messages are displayed all throughout the book and leaves the leaders with a life lesson to take away.

In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton the author used three main points such as characters, loyalty and violence. The main character of the story, Ponyboy, is fourteen years old. He along with his brothers and his best friend joins a gang on the east side called the greasers, who are poor and wild and also reckless because they have nobody who will take care of them and show them the right way to do things so they have to do everything by themselves (Hinton 24).

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.