The Outsiders Reckon A Hero

The Outsiders by SE Hinton

The Outsiders by SE Hinton is a great coming-of-age novel that is about gangs, violent but also at the same time about love and brother ship. In the book, the society suddenly thinks the greasers, Pony, Johnny and Dally, are heroes. That really got me thinking. What is a hero?

To me, a hero is a cool person who has muscles, cool style and is courageous, selfless and has the desire to help people and save the world. However, the greasers are different from what I reckon is a hero. They are lousy and they have no manners. They are proud of stealing and watch the movie without paying. How come they are heroes?

But then, when I thought about it, they are heroes. Pony boy is a hero because he is remorseless on being

His parents died when he was young. He was nurtured by his older brothers. Pony has to struggle at the bottom of the social ladder. Like the people around him, he has to fight, steal and scare little kids. However, Pony remained a pure heart, a golden heart. He only fights when he has to defend himself. He kept his heart of sympathy, understanding of others and think for the others. Like in when the church was burned, he understands the situation of the teacher and children. So he risked his life to safe the kids. The most straight forward example and conclusion of Pony’s good heart is the word of Johnny, “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold…” Moreover, Ponyboy is a thinker. He can think for the opposite side of his gang, the Socs. Although the Socs almost drowned him, he can still understand the Socs and didn’t be blinded by the hate. He in the chaos and impulsive world can see through the surface of the conflict and see the core of the world that people are the same. That is really amazing and Ponyboy does have the board mind of a

Stand up to the injustice unafraid of the strong enemy. Do the right thing even if you are weak. That is who we call a hero. Johnny could satisfy himself to save his friend. He could literally do anything to save his friend. To save Ponyboy from the Socs, he kill the Socs Bob though he is really scared and terrified by them. He can take the consequence of killing a man because he needs to save his friend. Another example is that when the church is on fire Johnny not only saves school children but saves Ponyboy by pushing Ponyboy out of the church leaving himself in great danger of being crushed by the building’s falling timbers. He can die for his friend. So it is really sad that such a heroic character died after the church fire incident. However, no one can deny he is a