Adapting To Life In Hinton's The Outsiders

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How do animals survive in hostile environments? Do they sacrifice their lives for others of their kind, or do they sacrifice other members of their species for a chance to live? Sometimes, adapting to life may mean sacrificing your humanity and getting tough. For example, coming to somebody’s aid may seem like the brave, honourable thing to do, but it may end up costing you your life. The previous statement is an important theme in the novel titled The Outsiders. For two gangs, the Greasers and the Socs, humanity means different things. The Greasers are emotional and try their hardest to keep out of the west side of town, Soc territory, whereas Socs are always looking for trouble, robbing Greasers in their own territory. Most Greasers would …show more content…

This statement definitely applies to Dallas Winston when he, Ponyboy and Johnny are in Windrixville and the church has caught fire. Dally grew up in New York City. He ran away from home at a young age and obtained a criminal record at the age of ten. By his teenage years, he had developed a way to survive. He does not care about anybody, except for himself and Johnny, a younger member of the gang. He has a soft spot for Johnny, probably because he sees a lot of himself through Johnny. Johnny’s parents are abusive, and sometimes they are so drunk that they do not even recognize him. Dallas is one of the only people who knows how Johnny feels, because before running away from home, he was also in this situation. However, Johnny is quiet and kind. When Dally was young, these were some of the qualities that he lacked. They are close friends because they each have qualities that are absent in the other’s personality. Johnny is the last thing that Dallas still loves and cares about. Without Johnny, Dallas would only have hate left inside of him. After Johnny kills a Soc in self defense, he and Ponyboy are sent by Dally to an abandoned church in Windrixville, in order to hide from the police. When Dallas comes to take them back home, they stop at Dairy Queen to eat lunch. Passing by the church in which Johnny and Ponyboy spent almost a week, they see that it has caught on fire, probably because they forgot to

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