Characters, Loyalty, and Violence in Hinton's The Outsiders

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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). Ponyboy has two brothers who live together when their parents died (Hinton 13). The oldest brother Darrell gave up college to work on roofs so that he will be able to take care of his brothers Ponyboy and Sodapop. Sodapop works at a gas station so he can also help his brother Darrell take care of Ponyboy and provide everything they need. The other gang members are Ponyboy and his brothers and friends. Johnny who lives with his so called parents abuses him or ignore him because of the mood they are in sometimes (Hinton 78). Another member of the greasers is Two-bit and Dallas. Two-bit is a kid in a bad place who goes around town looking for trouble and steals everything he can get his hands on for the fun of it. Dallas is a player who loves to mess with many girls; he is also a tough part-time jockey who lived 3 years on the outskirt wild side of New York (Hinton 13). Dallas likes to go around picking on drunks and rolling them down hills, stealing, and fighting little kids all the time because his parents do not care about him at all. "We steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations once in a while just like we leave our shirttails out and wear leather jackets” to get in to survive because they have nobody else to take care of them or help them out so ever... ... middle of paper ... ...ing a family, having someone who cares about you and love you is all that you will ever need in this world. Works Cited Harris, June. "S. E. Hinton: Overview." Contemporary Popular Writers. Ed. Dave Mote. Detroit: St. James Press, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2014. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Puffin Books, 1997. Malone, Michael. "Tough Puppies." The Nation 242.9 (8 Mar. 1986): 276-278. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2014. VanderStaay, Steven L. "Doing Theory: Words about Words about The Outsiders." English Journal81.7 (Nov. 1992): 57-61. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 May 2014.

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