Comparing West Side Story and The Outsiders

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West Side Story and The Outsiders West Side Story is a book about two gangs living in a large city. The Outsiders is a book with the same concept, two gangs that are archrivals. Even though two different authors wrote these books during two different time periods, they have the same story line. These books are realistic, because gang rivalry is still going on today. They are different, since they were written separately. Also, both these books have different problems between the main characters. Still, West Side Story and The Outsiders have many similarities. First, both books have two opposing gangs. In West Side Story, the Puerto Ricans make up the Sharks, and the Americans make up the Jets. In The Outsiders, the wealthy teenagers make up the Socs, and the low class youths make up the Greasers. Both gangs are rivals, constantly fighting to try and prove themselves superior to one another. One gang from each book, the Greasers and the Sharks, are typically the ones that are looked down upon by others. They are poor and usually cannot afford many things. On the other side, the Socs and the Jets are the superior gangs. They control most of the town, and normally beat up other gangs. "And you can't win against them no matter how hard you try, because they've got all the breaks and even whipping them isn't going to change that fact." pg. 11 The Outsiders In both books, these two gangs decide to have a rumble, a fight with all the members of the two gangs. This is one similarity between these books. Another thing in common with the books is that in a fight between the gangs, someone is killed. In West Side Story, during the rumble, Bernardo kills Riff. Tony takes his revenge by killing Bernardo. He does this because Riff was like a brother to Tony. Similarly, in The Outsiders, Bob was drowning Ponyboy. To protect his friend from harm, Johnny kills Bob with his switchblade. Because of the situation the boys had put themselves into, they needed to protect themselves, and this was the only way they thought might work. "I had to.

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