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Literary analysis on the outsiders
The theme of family in the outsiders
The theme of family in the outsiders
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“Blood is thicker than water.” Loyalty is helping someone you care about. Justice is obeying the law and not helping someone. The Outsiders, Mama Went To Jail For The Vote, and When Family Loyalty Becomes Crime all show the theme loyalty vs. justice. Loyalty is more important than justice because helping family and friends are important, going above and beyond can help save someone, and obeying the law could get someone you’re close to in trouble. First off, loyalty is more important than justice because helping family and friends is important. In The Outsiders, The Curtis brothers lost their parents. They now raise themselves. They are members of The Greasers, a gang, who will do anything for one another The text states “We’re almost as …show more content…
In The Outsiders, Socs, the Greasers enemy, were drowning Pony in a fountain. Johnny was being so true to his best friend, he stabbed a Soc who was drowning him. The passage states “I had to. They were drowning you Ponyboy. They might have killed you.” Johnny committed a murder for his friend because he was so caring to him. When Dally comes and gets them food in Windrixville, Pony and Johnny talk to him about the crime. The book states “They was gettin him for breakin’ out of the windows in the school building, and it was Two-Bit who did that. And Dally knew it. But he just took the sentence without battin’ an eye or denying it. That’s gallant.” Gallant means being heroic or brave. Dally took the blame for Two-Bit, and he was willing take the blame for Johnny too. After running into a burning church to save some kids, Johnny gets severely injured and dies. Pony then writes an English paper about the story of Johnny. His first sentence of his paper was the first sentence of the book. The text is "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.” In When Family Loyalty Becomes Crime, the Godmother of a criminal is sending the criminal lots of money. She continues to send money because she is loyal. This is going above and beyond. The thief is getting saved, since he doesn’t …show more content…
In The Outsiders, Pony and Johnny run away. Dally finds them and takes them to get food. Johnny says “We’re goin’ back and turn ourselves in.” Johnny wanted to do the right thing and obey the law, but is risking a lot. He could get himself in trouble and Pony could end up getting split up from his brothers. Instead, people are loyal so they aren’t risking getting someone they are close to in trouble. For example, when Dally was in the hospital, he asks for Two-Bit’s switchblade for the rumble. If he didn’t get the switchblade, he wouldn’t have come and helped beat the Soc’s in the rumble. This was risking one of his friends lives. He was doing what’s best for his friends and being loyal, not obeying the law. In Mama Went To Jail For The Vote, Mama was fighting for women’s rights. She wasn’t obeying the law. She was being true to women all around the world. Had she obeyed the law, women may still not be able to vote. She was loyal over obeying the law. This proves loyalty is more important than justice because if you obey the law, you are risking someone getting in trouble. Obeying the law could get someone you don’t want to get in trouble get in trouble. Johnny risked getting him and Pony in trouble by obeying the law. He should’ve been loyal and not turn himself in. Mama was loyal to Women all around the world. If she obeyed the law, women may not be
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.
Once, a wise soul has spoken, “Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful”. Adversity means having troubles and difficulties. It’s what you need to persevere through in order to do something you’ve wanted to do for a long time. If you want to pass that test, you’ve gotta conquer your fears and fight through all the troubles that arrive in front of you. Become your own hero. Adversity is a situation that took place in the novel “The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton.
In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton a teenage boy named Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers named Soda and Darry, and there is some controversy on whether or not his brothers are able to take proper care of Ponyboy. All three of the brothers are apart of the neighborhood gang called “The Greasers”, which is more like a brotherhood of underprivileged boys that have eachother’s backs rather than a gang. Ponyboy finds himself involved with the murder of an egotistical “Soc” named Bob, and is at risk of being taken away from his family and friends. Ponyboy should be able to stay with his brothers, because he is a well-rounded student that obeys the law for the most part, and his brothers are able to provide financial and emotional
This is because the greasers try. With ponyboy getting caught up in books and movies and the rest of the gang singing, doing acrobatics, and wearing their stereotype. When the greasers are heading to the rumble they jump around while singing, “I am a greaser, a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city, man do I have fun”(Hinton, 136). They do these things because they mean something to them. They fill their lives with breaks of fun between all the chaos of their environment. The Socs throw beer bashes and jump greasers, but to what end. They’re immune to fun and emotion. these things don’t matter, yet they do these things and pretend to have fun. They don’t try to think outside of the box and find better and unique ways to combat their situation. With home life, the greasers have replaced parental figures and a safe home with their community. Their group of friends which they are close with and help ease the pain of whatever they’re going through. They’re able to relate to each other and understand each other. They play games and joke around and gain genuine joy from each other’s presence. The Socs have fake relationships. Their friends don’t ease their pain. They’re friends run away when their friend is killed. They abuse their friends like how Bob acted toward Cherry Vallace at the movies. He drove away just leaving her. They don’t care about their friends and they don’t feel. They just accept their stereotype,where they’re too cool to feel. Because of this, the Greasers are handling their situation more effectively than the Socs
Philip Zimbardo once stated that, “The key to heroism is a concern for other people in need-a concern to defend a moral cause, knowing there is a personal risk, done without expectation of reward.” Johnny Cade, one of our heroes ties into this description very accurately. Johnny Cade come from a torn and ragged family. His parents are always drunk, and they always argue on certain matters that just makes Johnny want to stay away from his own house. Johnny doesn’t consider his Birth parents his actual family instead, he considers his friends in the gang his family. Johnny is a type of character that would put his friends before himself, he demonstrated that he would kill someone to save his friends, “Johnny shoved me toward the window. "Get out!" I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost falling, coughing and sobbing for breath. Then I heard Johnny scream” (80). This is showing that Johnny saved his
Darry does not want Ponyboy to get in trouble with the police. Even though some of the greasers steal and get in fights, Ponyboy says that Darry, his brother, would kill him if he got in trouble with the police. Some greasers have their own rules. “Darrell would kill me if I got into trouble with the police. Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave.” Ponyboy and his brothers will stay together only if Ponyboy does not get in trouble by the police. Dally robbed a store and he tried to run away from the police then they shot him. Ponyboy does not want to get in trouble, however the Socs don’t care if they cause trouble.
"Get Out"-pg.79) This shows courage, bravery, empathy, and selflessness. One of the traits of a selfless person is the ability to put others first, as he saved Ponyboy and those kids despite the health hazards. People are what matter to Johnny. The children that needed saving are just like how Johnny needed saving from his abusive parents. He shows empathy as he knows how it feels to afraid, and doesn’t want the kids to be afraid like he was before. It is also very brave and courageous to go into a frightening, burning building just to save people. Another act of heroism Johnny demonstrates is when he stands up to Dally("Leave her alone Dally"-pg.22) This an courageous act. A hero is someone who steps up for others and Johnny steps up when Dally is harassing those girls. Dally is known to be unfriendly, mean and hostile, despite this, Johnny isn't afraid to tell Dally to stop. Johnny is a hero and is an amazing example of a hero, as anyone can be
All in all, the permeating theme of S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is Your personal decisions can always affect the people closest to you. I Picked this Theme because I think i fits the best with the book Many people Kill and get killed because of one dumb decision/
When living sometimes we are faced with difficult decisions that affect our friendships. If you knew you were in a jam, what would you do? Who would you run to? Despite the greasers’ reputation as heartless young criminals, they live by a specific code of friendship and honour. In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, there are many instances in which the gang members make selfless choices by putting the needs of others ahead of their own. Three examples are, when the gang has each other’s back, Johnny and Ponyboy’s friendship, and Dally risking his life for Johnny.
Ernest Hemingway once said, “All things truly wicked start from innocence.” This quote is relevant to the story, The Outsiders, because sixteen year old Johnny Cade is considered innocent. Johnny is still considered innocent because he is not yet an adult. Another reason he might be believed innocent is because he is quiet, small for his age, and the pet of a group called ‘The Greasers’. However, his conceived innocence is soon diluted not by adulthood, but the truly wicked act of murder. He and Ponyboy Curtis were running away when some guys from another group called ‘The Socs’ stopped them and were going to beat them up. Johnny ended the impending fight quickly by stabbing Bob Sheldon, one of the Socs, in the back because he had told David to drown Ponyboy. During this paper our group proves our verdict, innocent.
One of the prevalent themes in The Outsiders is loyalty to oneself and others. Loyalty is everything for the Greasers. Whether it was right or wrong,
Johnny and dally both have one very significant Similarity which is, That they both have abusive parents that do not care about them. Dally’s parents are the reason why he is what he is today ,because they never disciplined him and that’s why at age 10 dally was arrested running around with a gang . Well for one dally never did talk about his mom not even once, but talked about his dad once or twice when when him and pony were visiting johnny dally told johnny . “‘ ….My old man don’t give a hang whether i’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or dead in the gutter . that don’t bother me none”’ (p.88) . Plus Dally has no where he can call home pony says
In The Outsiders it is given that through faith and devotion to one another Ponyboy and the gang use their close friendship in troublesome situations for instance when Johnny tells Ponyboy “i had to” he does this as an act of loyalty to Ponyboy to show him that he can trust him no matter what situation they are in. Most of the story is told from first person or Ponies perspective which shows us without exception every aspect of the story. When Johnny dies at the end of the book Ponyboy only then realizes the importance of him, and the gangs need for someone like Johnny to give them a sense of purpose after mentioning “we couldn't get along without him . We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang.” Throughout all of Ponyboys hardships Johnny was always there to support him even when Ponyboy wanted to run away after darry slapped him, he never asked any questions.
Throughout all the stories and mythology we read this loyalty was a big quality that a lot of characters all shared. People showed loyalty to their families, friends, countries/kingdoms. Loyalty was major factor in Greek Mythology because a lot of the gods switched sides often; it was also major because during wars loyalties would change because people would want to try to stay alive. Families also had conflicts with loyalty because you need to stay loyal to your blood but at the same time you might get torn apart because of outside forces. Greek mythology had a lot of side switching and betraying so to be loyal was very important.
To begin, I personally have experienced multiple situations in which my own loyalty leads me to a fault. Whether it be friendly or romantic relationships, I have always found myself giving more to others than receiving, guiding me to a point of self-vacancy. Previously, I have disregarded my emptiness in regards to maintain being loyal. Despite the common misconception that loyalty secures a relationship,