The Outsiders Theme Essay

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Theme Essay - The Outsiders The Outsiders identified the 60’s, often there would be violence between groups and often involving a group’s social class. For instance, the tensions between the Socs and Greasers is violent, and this will 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 they assume the problems will be solved with violence, …show more content…

In The Outsiders, the Socs and Greasers are in a constant turf war between the East and West side of town, and this causes lots of verbal and physical altercations. Randy an emotionally distraught Soc pointed out, “You can't win, even if you whip us. You'll still be where you were before--- at the bottom. And we'll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn't do any good, the fighting and the killing.” Randy is trying to say that no matter how hard they try no matter how bad someone gets beat it will still be the same after the fight as before the fight. Another example of violence within the gang was Dallas Winston, “Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age often. He was tougher than the rest of us--- tougher, colder, meaner...I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he Wanted.” Even though Dally was one tough guy, after so much exposure to violence and fighting, there came a breaking point for Dally where he could just not take it anymore. After Ponyboy walked home from the lot and a verbal argument began, “Darry wheeled around and slapped me so hard that it knocked me against the door...I turned and ran out the door and down the street as fast as I could.” When siblings fight, especially when it gets physical the consequences only get worse and

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