Loyalty In The Outsiders

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Everybody, at one point or another, has done something for a friend or a group of friends that might have been inconsistent to their values. They might have lied to one friend for another, making them feel uncomfortable, or help them cheat on a test, which they wouldn’t ever have imagined him/herself doing. People in the book, The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton, struggle in the theme that loyalty to friends can prevent individuals from showing their truest self. The first event showcasing the theme wasn’t as much of action, but more of a description. It was after Ponyboy was jumped by the Socs, where he started describing Steve Randall. Towards the end of his description, he stated that “[he] liked Steve only because he was Soda’s best friend” (Hinton, 9). Readers can conclude that Pony doesn’t like Steve Randall for his personality, nor for his attitude towards Pony. However, since Steve’s friendship with Soda, who is very close with Ponyboy, too, is strong, Pony decides to like him just for the matter of making his brother happy. It isn’t showing his true self because without Soda being a reason why to, Pony wouldn’t like …show more content…

Randy shows his negative feelings towards Bob’s death by stating, “So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing” (117). Now, this important quote could mean many things, but it clearly shows how Randy is against fighting, including jumping people with the Socs. He displays this boldy, which suggests the fact that he was holding this opinion before the time of the conversation. Readers know that Randy never mentioned it before, nor when Bob was alive. His loyalty to Bob and his jumpings to Greasers was likely a leading factor as to why he had just told someone, which proves the theme that until he told Ponyboy, he wasn’t able to express

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