One of the main themes in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is social classes. The people of the town the story takes place in are divided up into three social classes. Poor people are classified as Greasers, the lowest of all classes, who are considered as hoods and juvenile delinquents. Next is the middle class, the people in this class are not poor, but not rich either like the Socs. The Socs are the upperclassmen with Corvettes and Mustangs. They are the rich kids. The Greasers and Socs are rivals, always jumping each other when they get the chance. This book really shows the fine line between a Greaser and a Soc. It shows the differences that they have, the similarities, and a question: Is being poor the only thing that prevents a Greaser from being a Soc? The differences between Socs and Greasers are what puts them into their classes. To the public the differences are only what they see, …show more content…
They both go through hardships. Everybody knows what a tough time Greasers have and how hard their life is, but no one knows what a hard time Socs have because they are supposed to be too cool to feel anything. This itself is one of the hardest things that the Socs go through, and Pony only realized this in his conversation with Randy. “Randy was supposed to be too cool to feel anything, and yet there was pain in his eyes.”(P.116). The Socs were not supposed have feelings, but no one knew, or no one could believe, that they were going through pain because they did not act like it. After Pony’s conversation with Randy, he realizes that the Socs are just like them. “ ‘He ain’t a Soc,’ I said, ‘he’s just a guy. He just wanted to talk.’ ” (P.118). Another similarity is the place where they live their lives. No matter how different or similar their lives are, they live in the same world, the same country, even the same town. “Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too.”
Assumptions made based solely upon theses stereotypes are constant throughout The Outsiders. Ponyboy and the other Greasers assume that since the Socs are well-off financially, their problems are trivial. This helped to perpetuate stereotypes plastered onto the Socs. Since the Socs were thought of as model teens in
Socs are handed everything in life. Darry had to give up college so he could support his brothers after their parents died. Sodapop had to dropout of school in order to get a job. “... you don’t realize all Darry’s giving up just to give you a chance he missed out on. He could’ve stuck you in a home somewhere and worked his way through college” (175-176). “... I had expected Darry to do all the understanding without even trying to understand him. And he had given up a lot for Soda and me” (176). Greasers don’t have all they want. They don’t have fancy clothes, or cool cars, or a lot of material things. Although, they had each
In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy, along with his brothers and friends, has to face the daily struggles of being a greaser among the Socs. This fiction book focused on Ponyboy’s life and the problems he ran into with the Socs. He and his gang of friends had fights with the Socs that happened often, and had to deal with a Soc being killed by one of the Greasers, though it was an act of self defense. The three topics addressed in this intriguing novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what it means to be a hero.
“The Outsiders” is one of the favorite movies of teenagers made by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983. (Barsanti, 2010). “Saints and Roughnecks” is a paper written by William J. Chambliss which was first published in 1978. (Chambliss, n.d.). Both of them commonly point towards one issue i.e. future of individuals in the society is decided by the way they are treated by the materialistic society which tends to favor the richer and suppress the poorer to the extent that the latter are pushed into social exclusion. “The Outsiders” and “Saints and Roughnecks” form part of the vast literature that has preserved the different standards of justice for the rich and the poor, that have always dwelled in the society. The poor have always been looked down upon by the society in general, and the rich in particular, and this social attitude has resulted into the emergence of such concepts as social exclusion, which forms the basis of the widespread crime among the poor. In fact, the absorption of rights of the lower class people...
Greasers were the lowest among the society. The society had negative thoughts towards Greasers, because there were not many things people expected from the Greasers other than doing bad things such as stealing, having rumble, and other bad things that happened around the society. Not every Greaser does bad things, however, the Greasers took the blame for anything bad even if it was the Socs fault. It is because everyone expected the Greasers to do bad things instead of the Socs. Even though the Greasers had a bad reputation, they didn’t care, but instead they enjoyed their lives. Sometimes the Greasers do bad things but only for fun and because it was the society’s expectations. If the Greasers did something good, no one would expect or believe the Greasers did it. No one would ever expect the Greasers to be heroes, just like the man whose kids were saved by Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dallas. “’Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?’ Sent from heaven? Had he gotten look at Dallas? ‘No, we’re greasers.’” (Page...
In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, the lower-class, known as the Greasers, and the upper-class, known as Socs, deal with the animosity and daily struggles they have with each other. The novel focuses on the struggles and experiences with being an outsider to society and coping with the rich side of town through Ponyboy’s eyes. His life changes when tensions rise and many tragic things happen to the Greasers and Socs that will create agony in many but heroes in a few. The three topics addressed in this compelling novel are the fight between the rich and the poor, the power of friendship, and what it means to be a hero.
After all, they are the “out” group— the clique that society condones. Ponyboy, the protagonist, also identifies himself as part of them. While reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, he felt Pip, the main character reminded him of the greasers–”the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn’t a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down on him” (Doc B). Greasers are lookeed down opon in society becuase they aren’t rich, and the image associated with them is negative. They are believed to be a general menace to society; people think they all steal stuff for kicks, attack innocent bystanders for no reason, and are uneducated hoodlums. They are outsiders to society as a whole. Pony, no matter how smart or talented he may be, will always be treated as an outsider by the Socs just because he’s a
On pg. 2, the text states that, “I’m not sure how you spell it, but it’s the abbreviation for the socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids.” This quote shows how the Socs are viewed by the Outsiders as the wealthy kids that live on the West side. In the book, the Socs are seen as the people who jump the Greasers, wreck houses, and throw beer blasts. The Socs have a mixed opinion by society. In the newspaper, the Socs are in one article for being a disgrace to society and in the next article they are a pleasure to have in the community. The text states that on pg. 38, “You Greasers have a different set of values. You’re more emotional. We’re sophisticated.” This is a quote stated by a Socs girl named Cherry, who describes the Greasers she and a friend met at the movie theatre. Cherry’s perception shows how the Socs are viewed verses the the Greasers. Also, Greasers have preconceived perceptions about the Socs
This book showed the struggle between rich and poor. The two main groups of the story were the Socs and the greasers. The Socs are in the upper class while the greasers are the poor ones that dislike the Socs because they have more money, better cars, and act like they are better than the greasers. The Outsiders is a good story by S.E. Hinton that shows the struggles of growing up Hinton did a fine job with the character development, the plot, and the theme with a few flaws.
Outsiders Essay For as long as we can remember, society has always been split up into classes or groups. Most of the time, they are based upon factors similar to wealth and money. Even if one group has more money than the other, are they really all that different? In S.E Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there is constant tension between the two main groups of people, the Greasers and the Socs.
“They’ll know we’re hood the minute they see us, I thought” (Hinton, 1967, pg.64). This quote shows that even the greasers themselves know that they are stereotyped by kids their own age and even adults. When Ponyboy says this, he is worried because being “hood” is not something that is respected. “You don’t see a kid grease and a Socy cheerleader together often” (Hinton, 1967, pg. 30). This quote shows how it is is stereotyped that a greaser and a Soc cannot be friends or get along at all. In the story’s setting, it is not accepted that both social groups are equal. It is accepted that the Socs and middle class are somehow better than the greasers. Stereotyping the greasers creates conflict for them. Sometimes they want people to know that they are hood, but thinking that all greasers are ghetto and nasty, is not
The novel The Outsiders by SE Hinton is about growing up in a society divided by social class, and dealing with the troubles that come with it. An important theme in the novel that I will be talking about is social class and how it affects the people categorized in them. A character that shows us the theme of social class is Ponyboy.
The essential question that I am focusing on for this CREQ is “Why do we have an “achievement gap” between students from different communities, racial and ethnic groups, and social class groups?” I feel that chapters 3 and 4 of the Johnson text allow me some insight on this particular essential question, considering the focus is on the relationship between capitalism and racism. This chapter reminded me of a question asked in our taping project, “How often do you think of your skin color?” and the response from the Johnson text is: when you’re white, you don’t have to. When you are a white, heterosexual, middle class student, you are able to attend school with learning as your only priority. The only obstacle in the way of that student’s success is
Denied a job, missed opportunities, dating issues, societal oppression, and political targeting – These are all common examples of what happens when classism exists. Class, the economic or social status of an individual, in America is extremely important and can be easily used as a weapon against the masses. Classism as defined by Merriam-Webster is the "prejudice or discrimination based on class" (Merriam-Webster, 2017). Using class, or economic status, as a view point for an individuals, or group's worth, has been happening for many years. The act of discriminating against someone(s) based on this is at the heart of classism. This discrimination could be passing someone up for a job opportunity. Denying an application to college, apartment,
Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813 and it depicts key themes in society and the impact these themes had on life for the characters in the novel. One of these themes is social class, which was a chief contributor to the characters problems in the story. Social class is an underlying issue in the lives of the characters and greatly affects the decisions they make during the novel. Every character is aware of the importance of social standing and it becomes a key factor in the development of each individual in Pride and Prejudice. Mrs. Bennet is the mother of five daughters and she is desperate to have them married. Elizabeth wants to marry for love and not social gain. Charlotte is the example of what a woman was expected to be in society and does not agree with Elizabeth and she is content to secure a future. While Lydia runs the risk of disgracing her family by running a riot around town. This is a clear example of social class and the different perspective characters express on the topic.