The Outsiders
Ponyboy Curtis is not only the main character in the book, he is personally my favorite character. Ponyboy is a fourteen year old boy who has endured more in his lifetime than most adults will ever have to. He is a member of gang, he lives with his brothers due to his parents tragic death due to a car accident, he witnessed a murder first hand, and still managed to get almost straight A’s in school. Ponyboy Curtis is in my opinion the most changed character over the course of the story. I also enjoy reading about ponyboy because he and I are very similar, only a select few people can really understand us.
Ponyboy affects pretty much everybody in the story for one reason or another. Most of the time, it's good. Whether it was saving children from a church he potentially burned down, getting in a gang fight, or even his whimsical greaser hair; After you Meet Ponyboy Curtis, you'll remember him forever. Ponyboy was the closest with his brother Sodapop. Sodapop was Ponyboy's older, but not oldest brother. Ponyboy and his oldest brother
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Greasers are the boys and girls who live on the west side of town and are real tough, they are a gang. Their enemies are the socs. The socs have lots and lots of money and live a restricted life. Quite often, the socs will jump, beat, steal, and even sometimes kill the greasers, that is is the greasers don't kill them first. ¨I'm not sure how you spell it, but [Socs] is the abbreviation for Socials, the West-side rich kids. It's like the term greaser that's used to class all us boys on the East Side.¨ (chapter one). Toward the end of the novel the greasers and socs got together for a gang fight because ponyboy and johnny killed bob (a popular soc) after he tried to jump them. At the end of the gang fight ponyboy got kicked in the face, causing him to be hospitalized, furthermore showing how tough ponyboy
Stereotyping is a constant theme throughout The Outsiders. It may seem as if the Greasers are the ones that really have to deal with presumptions, but the Socs also have quite a bit of stereotyping to deal with. While the outside world tries to force these stereotypes onto the gangs, they also tend to assume things about each other. This leads to divisions between them that most likely would not exist if stereotyping was not so abundant. The Greasers are pegged as nasty hoodlum troublemakers that are dropouts and criminals. On the other hand, the Socs are made out to be the opposite- crisp, intelligent young adults that have no real problems. Many cases of stereotyping between the two groups leads to violence between them.
This started to happen when he was in the church trying to hide away from the police because of the murder of one of the Soc’s. “I was trembling, and it wasn’t all from cold” (Hilton p.57). This shows that Ponyboy was scared, starting to break, and noticed that maybe this “hard bad boy” life isn't for him. Ponyboy put more and more thought about what it takes to be a greaser, which made him realize that maybe the gang life wasn’t good for him. “We were good fighters and could play cool, but we were sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser” (Hinton, p.88). Ponyboy is expressing that it is hard to be as strong as the other boys and sometimes he just couldn't or he couldn't be ok with what they were doing. “It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, ‘cause I’m supposed to be smart’ I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head” (Hinton, p.4). Ponyboy knows he has the potential to be something else and while being in hiding in the church it helps him realize that if he really wanted to he could be whatever he puts his mind
Ponyboy was a bad kid, he fought against Socs and he even smoked a weed, which is a cigarette. Later on he got into worse trouble and had to hide. He wanted to change and be a different person. While he hid he was scared and frightened and was beginning to think of how he was doing in life, and his thoughts were not very well. After the church incident, he began to change a little.
Many would say that the character Ponyboy should be the main hero of our story, but that’s just not the case. Ponyboy was easily pushed down, letting things get to him and letting his emotions take complete control. One push or slap from his brother and he runs away, like a cowardly lion scrambling into the tall grass of the savannah. Johnny on the other hand, is forced against abuse that no one should be able to be put through. Yet he stands his ground.
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
Ponyboy is the youngest of three brothers, and is not anything like his parents. Ponyboy is the only one in his family still going to school. Ponyboy is likely to get a scholarship for his academics, (he is a straight A student). Ponyboy looks and acts older than he is, as a result of growing up in a bad neighborhood. If Ponyboy keeps his grades up, and stays out of trouble, he could be the first one in his family to go to college. Jake Austin is good to play this role, because they look and act a lot
He wants Ponyboy to grow up working hard, playing hard, and keeping himself safe, even if he wants this all at the same time. Meanwhile, Ponyboy doesn’t fully understand his well-being as one of Darry’s utmost concerns, and feel as if his demands are unfair and cannot be fulfilled. This supports the fact that through these misunderstandings, both brothers need to communicate better in order to maintain their relationship. Additionally, after Ponyboy expresses how difficult it is to please Darry, he mentions how it was rare for him to criticize his brother Sodapop, and that even if he expressed annoyance towards Sodapop’s oppositions, Darry would listen to him anyway. After Darry condemns Ponyboy for not thinking enough and Soda sticks up for him, Ponyboy says, “Soda always takes up for me. Darry said impatiently, ‘When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother, I’ll ask you- kid brother.’ But he laid off me. He always does when Sodapop tells him
Some may argue that the socs have the toughest lives because they don’t feel anything. However, greasers feel to violently, they lash out and get into
Dally is mocking a Soc named Cherry, calling her ‘fiery’ and saying that’s how he likes girls. He then proceeds to put his arm around her, when Johnny, who idolizes Dally, stops him and says, “Leave her alone, Dally.” (Hinton 24) This dismisses two stereotypes about Johnny, that he is a ‘lost puppy’ who needs the rest of the group to defend him, and that Greasers shouldn't care what happens to Socs. This is significant because it shows Pony that Johnny is stronger than he thought before, and that he might be as caring and thoughtful as Ponyboy is. Later in the book, Randy, a Soc, is talking to Ponyboy about Bob, Randy's best friend who Johnny killed to save Ponyboy's life. Randy tells Ponyboy that all Bob wanted was for his parents to get him in trouble. Randy then dismisses the conversation about Bob by saying, “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I couldn't tell anyone else.” (Hinton 116) This is invalidating the stereotype that Socs and Greasers have nothing in common, and should hate each other. Randy and Ponyboy in particular, considering that Ponyboy was there the night Randy’s best friend died. This matters because it is showing that Socs and Greasers might be able to understand each other better than people within their own group, although they are stereotyped to be complete
I feel as though the novel The outsiders has many themes, but the most important one is belonging. The greasers are a group of poor, low class youth that don’t have much and live on the wrong side of town. They are always held accountable for their actions. On the other hand, the Socs are a bunch of high class youth that are very privileged and aren’t held accountable for their immature actions.
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.
A peer group can help one find their own identity by shaping an individual’s short-term choices, such as appearances and interests. They help a young person figure out how they fit in the world. “You’re not like the rest of us and don’t try to be” is told by one of the members of the gang. Ponyboy will have a hard time trying to not grow up like the rest of the pack because being in a gang like the Greasers,
The “Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, is a novel about a young boys journey through life after a horrible tragedy. When Ponyboy's parents died, he struggled with living alongside his two older brothers. Darry, Ponyboy’s older brother, was his legal guardian. Pony should stay with his older brothers, Sodapop and Darry, because they are all each other have. The only family Pony has left is his older brothers and the greasers. Taking him away from his family when he needs it most is wrong.
Ponyboy Curtis struggles growing up as a poor youth with his two brothers. One night while he is out with Johnny, Ponyboy is attacked by the Socs. Johnny ends up killing one of the Socs. They both flee from the scene before the news gets out. They are caught in a fire and Johnny and Ponyboy become heroes for saving some children. The story has a tragic end for Johnny but Ponyboy realises that he is fortunate, having family and friends that love him
The Outsiders is about the life of a 14-year-old boy. The book tells the story of Ponyboy “Curtis” and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. Ponyboy and his two brothers, Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16, have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."