Theme Of Friendship In The Outsiders

The novel, The Outsiders by: S. E. Hinton, is a story about Socs and Greasers in the USA in the 1960’s. It is written in First Person (point of view) through the eyes of Ponyboy Curtis. Throughout the novel, S. E. Hinton showed many different moods and themes. One of the most prominent theme is “Brotherhood”. The theme of “Brotherhood” in The Outsiders can be revealed by the characters, plot, and setting.

The Outsiders is a thrilling novel that is a heart racing drama that will keep audiences reading all day. S.E. Hinton is an author of many award winning books and she definitely knows how to capture the heart of readers with theme and mood constantly changing throughout the characters. This stimulating story is a classic novel that teaches lessons of discrimination, the need to belong, and the conflict against the protagonist. The town is separated between two groups and the gang of friends are constantly in trouble and trying to make it through their day. The book is full of trust and depending on one another. The Outsiders is truly a novel that entices the reader to keep ripping through the pages as love, death, and heroism take up the pages.

Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade have an unbreakable bond. There are many reason that Pony and Johnny have this kind of trust. Ponyboy has a pretty tough life where he lives. Two different worlds that are constantly contrasting with each other. However even in such a difficult place to be, Ponyboy can always rely on Johnny throughout the novel. ”Johnny wasn’t behaving like his old self. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then pushed open the window and tossed out the nearest kid.”(Hinton

In the book The Outsiders, written by S. E. Hinton, the narrator, Ponyboy, talks about his life as a poor person and the fights, rich against the poor. The novel focused on how the rich and the poor people did not understand each other. According to Ponyboy this led in the two groups to hate each other. The three topics addressed in the engaging novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what defines heroism.

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

The Greasers go to extreme lengths to help and protect their friends. When Johnny killed Bob to save Pony-Boys life it was an instinct that Johnny had. He said “They were drowning you pony, I had no choice.” Johnny saw that his friend was in trouble so on instinct his priority was to save Pony-Boy which meant killing Bob, but he did it anyway to save Pony’s life. This shows us that Johnny cares so much about Pony-Boy that he would do anything to save him even if it meant murdering someone and possibly going to jail. When Pony, Johnny and Dally went back to the church and saw that there was a fire Pony felt responsible so he went to rescue the kids then Johnny went after Pony-Boy when Pony-Boy was out and was waiting for Johnny to come out the church the roof collapsed on him and Dally went in to save Johnny even though it meant risking his life. Both of these examples show the theme of friendship. This theme was important because friends will do anything to help each other and be there for each other, and tell each other everything and anything. Friends will always be there to the end. S.E Hinton was

“The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, is centered around Ponyboy’s path to maturity and the life lessons he learns along the way. The novel follows Ponyboy, a greaser, and his gang’s conflict with the Socials, a rival gang. In it, he learns to not judge people hastily and reject gang mentality. Ponyboy also loses his innocence. The following paragraphs will explore his growth throughout “The Outsiders”.

The main theme of 'The Outsiders' is that friends are your chosen family. In other words, the people in your inner circle along with your family, are the friends you choose to have there. This is present with many characters in the book, in fact, the only three 'Greasers' that did not seem to have their friends closer than their family were Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry. However, these three boys had many people in their lives who loved their friends more than their family, such as Johnny, who's dad beat him, and mom neglected him, and Dally who had no relation with his parents, then there is Darry, who loves his friends like family, and he is one of the only ones that knows what true family love feels like.

An important theme in The Outsiders by S.E Hinton is the idea of discrimination between the Socs and the Greasers, two rivalry groups of teenagers from different ends of the Socio-economic spectrum. Hinton tries to show how the two respective groups are not so different after all and that they could live together harmoniously. This social division provides much of the motivation for violence and conflict between the two groups. Hinton shows this theme throughout the book by using the relationships between Ponyboy Curtis (The 14 year-old Greaser narrator) and characters of different backgrounds.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a novel about two neighborhoods separated because of classes in society. In these two neighborhoods, teenagers are separated into two different gangs, the lower-class Greasers and the upper-class Socs. Ponyboy, a greaser comes from a hard life. His parents died and he is left being raised by his older brother Darry. After both his brothers failed at accomplishing their dreams in life, Pony is left feeling like he will only be a greaser. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy realizes he has many traits making him have an outstanding future, such as his intelligence instincts and heroic skills.

Through Ponyboy's story about his greaser life, the reader was able to see the high amount of loyalty that went on in the gang. The Greasers lookout for each other no matter the circumstances even if it involves having to kill someone. A very good example of inner loyalty was when Johnny and Ponyboy were getting jumped by the Socs. "'I had to. They were drowning you Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade... They were gonna beat me up.'" ( Chapter 4, Hinton)

When writing The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton built her story around several key themes that readers could identify. After reading this book, I'm confident I have found a few of them. Stick with your people and uniqueness conquers wealth were probably lesser themes Hinton included for us to become conscious of. There is a bigger theme though. I believe stand in the shoes of people who are different is the most worthy overall theme for this book, and is supported with three examples from the text. First, when Ponyboy undergoes a revelation while talking to Cherry, also when (example 2 here), and finally when (example 3 here).

“The Outsiders” identifies the 60’s, illustrating the violence between groups, often involving a group’s social class. For instance, the violent tensions between the Socs and Greasers lead to Bob’s death, Johnny’s death, as well as many injuries throughout both gangs. The book “The Outsiders” is written by S.E. Hinton and is portrayed through the eyes of a high school student in Tulsa, OK where S.E. Hinton grew up. Hinton began writing “The Outsiders” in 1965 at the age of 17 and the book was finally published in 1967 when she was 19. The difference in perspective upon the society and social class creates issues throughout “The Outsiders” and since the Socs and Greasers assume the problems will be solved with violence, they take action.

Thesis: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a novel which tells the story of conflict between the "greasers" and the "Socs," captures the voice of ponyboy and his friends in a realistic way that relates to boys and their gangs even today.

The Outsiders is an action packed novel that envelopes the themes of class conflict and alienation. The idea of social opposition drives the plot of the book between the opulent Socs and poor Greasers. This idea of social difference establishes the feeling of estrangement within some characters of this book, persuading them to find their true identity. The author, S. E. Hinton, further contributes to the idea of estrangement by creating a society that is based upon the idea of cliques. The book pivots on the fact of self-preservation, which the characters achieve by banding together as one to form gangs. Within this novel, the foundation of gangs plays a major role by offering the characters a sense of realistic family love, protection, & friendship in their dangerous and sometimes deadly community.