Continuing on, Ponyboy’s adolescent personal fable makes another appearance when he tries to put his home life on the same level as Johnny’s and a different level than his school friends. Johnny, Ponyboy’s best friend, receives beatings from his father frequently throughout the story, and everyone in their greaser clique knows about the abuse. Ponyboy’s caregivers, his brothers, never abuse him in the novel, but after one rare instance when his oldest brother, Darry, slapped him for being late, he automatically believes that his life is just as terrible as or worse than Johnny’s. After Johnny tells Ponyboy about the severity of his living situation by saying “I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you got Soda. I ain’t got nobody”, …show more content…
His frequent egocentric use of personal fable interferes tremendously with his relationships and connections with his brothers, friends, rivals, and strangers. Ponyboy’s personal fables not only guided him to feel overly unique, but also caused him to develop self-conscious thoughts about how everyone else viewed him and his life. The presence of personal fable in the majority of Ponyboy’s cognitive thoughts throughout the novel, represent him as a typical adolescent that utilizes formal-operational methods of thinking because he gathers outside information about others and compares it to himself. Even though his thought processes may represent a more sophisticated way of thinking because of his stage of adolescence, they were not sophisticated and logical enough for him to fight through his personal fables to understand that his thoughts, feelings, home life, and his status in the world were not much different than that of everyone else in the book. Strangely enough, towards the end of the novel Ponyboy begins to see that he is not the only one that has a rough life, and he realizes many people do understand what he is going through on a daily basis. At this point in his cognitive development, marks the point where his relationship with his brothers becomes stronger than it was throughout the novel because he realizes that they encounter the same obstacles every day that he does. Throughout the entire duration of the novel, The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis exemplifies the egocentric thinking of adolescents through the use of personal
He is smart, and gets good grades in school. This is purposefully mentioned several times within the story, and people tend to be surprised to learn that he is a Greaser. In addition, some Greasers are nicer than people tend to think. When the church burned down, Ponyboy and Johnny run in to save the children without a second thought. They acted with selflessness, putting the safety of the children above their own. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Ponyboy is asked if he and Johnny are "professional heroes". He responds by telling the entire story of how they're Greasers and Johnny is wanted for murder, shocking the man in the ambulance. It is difficult for him to believe that a group of Greasers would do something so heroic. Johnny dies as a direct result of their actions, but neither Ponyboy nor Johnny regretted what they
”Because most people identify as separate from other people, they have what we call some "concept" of themselves. Self-concept refers to how people “think about, evaluate, or perceive” themselves.” Self-concept can be split into categories that make people who they are. Throughout “The Outsiders”, Ponyboy the protagonist, describes his brother and his friends in relation to him, giving insight on what makes each of them who they are. After reading an article on this topic “Self-Concept “by Saul McLeod (1), and reading chapters 1-3 of the novel “The Outsiders” (2). One can see the major reasons that make people who they are: self-image and self-esteem/self-worth.
The Outsiders is about the life of a 14 - year- old boy named Ponyboy, who struggles with what is right and wrong in a society. Ponyboy and his two brothers Darry and Sodapop have recently lost their parents in a car accident. Due to this Pony and Sodapop are allowed to stay under Darry’s guardianship as long as they behave. Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry are greasers, a term that refers to the young men on the east side of town, meanwhile the Socs are the rivals of the greasers. The Socs refer themselves the West- side rich kids.
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.
The book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, follows a horrific part of the life of a boy named Ponyboy Curtis. He is what you might call a Greaser, and has had a rough go at it in his life compared to others. It is difficult, but Ponyboy somehow manages to be himself and has the tenacity to stick through it all. He is in a gang with his friends and family and they are loyal to one another no matter what. A rival gang from the Socs crowd, a richer, more refined group, send him and his pals into a whirlwind of trouble and hurt. This book shows on multiple occasions that perseverance is necessary to get through life .
Being an outsider is being different than everyone. Being a rebel. Being a menace to society. Being yourself and not caring about what the outside world thinks of you. You being yourself, an original person. For example, when my group of friends did not like any of the things that I did. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a novel based on a group of teenagers who are in a gang that call themselves “Greasers”. This group is fighting another group of people who call themselves the “Socials” Socs for short, but things take a drastic turn when murder gets involved in the equation. Ponyboy is a character in the book that is very outspoken. He is the youngest in his family and he goes through a lot during this short period of time.
At the beginning of The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, Ponyboy Curtis, known as a greaser is walking home from a movie when he is attacked and gets cut by the higher class, the Socials or for short, Socs. Ponyboy’s “gang” of greasers hear him crying for help and help save him and chase the Soc’s away. The boys who saved Pony included Johnny, Two-Bit, Dallas and Steve. It also included his 2 older brothers, Darry and Sodapop. Darry took the responsibility to take care of his two younger brothers because their mom and dad died in a car accident that involved a train.
The setting of the Outsiders is the poor part of a city. With greasers, hoods, and gangs, you wouldn’t think that this kind of setting would have heroes. But, somehow, Ponyboy Curtis fits that description. First of all, on page 77, he seems intelligent when he recites a poem by Robert Frost, shattering
The Outsiders is a novel by S.E Hinton, that follows a young boy named Ponyboy who grows up in a gang. Johnny, Sodapop and Darry help him find how he fits into the world and without them he would have a hard time finding his own identity. Without having a close group of friends he would have a tough way of life, especially with the Socs. Being in a group that you associate with, that have different values to yourself can lead you to disregard your own ethics and do things you wouldn’t normally do, but at the same time this can assist and reinforce your own values…
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.
As the book, The Outsiders, begins, Ponyboy initially believes that the Socs have it better than the Greasers and that they do not have any problems. Cherry Valance and Randy Adderson both taught Ponyboy that Socs are not completely different from the Greasers. They both have problems that are not-so-happy to deal with for example. Cherry Valance implied that things are “rough all over” in page 35 and Ponyboy finally realized what she meant towards the middle-end of the book in page 117. We can see Ponyboy’s opinions changing when he and Two-Bit are at the Tasty Freeze in chapter 7. Two-Bit had asked what “Mr. Super-Soc” (referring to Randy) had to say on page 118 and Ponyboy replies back saying, “He ain’t a Soc… he’s just a guy.” Ponyboy will judge Socs differently because he realized then that Greasers and Socs are both the same and that the only thing separating each group was money. Ponyboy learns that familiarity alters perceptions. Both Socs and Greasers have problems let alone everyone. In fact, things are “rough all over” just as Cherry had
Determination and a strong connection with the natural world can uphold a person's sense of hope. Throughout the book The Outsiders it is demonstrated that through being confronted with arduous situations Ponyboy and the gang using determination and courage establish a sense of hope through each other. As shown in “no rival gangs only socs and you can't win against them no matter how hard you try” it displays that Ponyboy at the opening of the story does not believe anything can change therefore he has disbelief in hope. However after encountering two socials Cherry and Marcia they
The Outsiders is a book we read last year , and it really impacted me. I really loved this book. The book is about a kid, name Ponyboy, who is a “Greaser” and they are constantly battling with the “Socs”. They often dissent because they are very opinionated and this leads to deadlocks between the two. My two favori...
The Characteristics of Ponyboy and How They Developed inThe Outsiders by S. E. Hinton The novel "The Outsiders", by S.E. Hinton was based on a character called Ponyboy. He has long light-brown, almost red hair and greenish-grey eyes. It was normal for him to have long hair because he was classified as a "greaser", a boy on the East Side. The only people he has for a family are his two older brothers and his neighbours, the other greasers. Throughout the book it shows you the development of him becoming more mature and how he handles life's challenges without his parents.
Dorothy Johnson in “A Man Called Horse” writes about a young man who was born and raised in Boston. He lives in a gracious home under his grandmothers and grandfather’s loving care. For some reason, he is discontent. He leaves home to try to find out the reason for his discontent. Upon leaving he undergoes a change in status and opinion of himself and others. He begins a wealthy young man arrogant and spoiled, becomes a captive of Crow Indians- docile and humble, and emerges a man equal to all.