Preview

Title: the Outsiders- by Se Hinton Why Gangs Portrayed in This Novel Are Real

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
796 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Title: the Outsiders- by Se Hinton Why Gangs Portrayed in This Novel Are Real
Gangs. This is what is portrayed in SE Hinton 's novel, The Outsiders. Two different gangs from opposite ends of the social ladder clash in this epic novel of social tension between two rival groups, the Socs and the Greasers. The main character, 14-year-old Ponyboy, is a Greaser who lives under the cycle of poverty and endless pressure from the Socs. They are the upper class Westside crowd who are accepted in society. The Greasers, in contrast, struggle to put food on the table and are social outcasts. SE Hinton has mentioned about gangs several times in her novel. But what really defines a gang? According to some, it is, "A group of young people who spend time together for social reasons." While others define gangs as, "A group of people who work together for some criminal or antisocial purpose." Although these are the most popular ones, it does not mean there aren 't more definitions, as it is an ever evolving phenomenon. In the Outsiders, many different gangs are depicted. This led me to believe that the gangs are very real in this tale. The main reason behind this is the fact they give three main characteristics of a gang. They are; the fear they instill on the general public, the marked territory, and rivalry between other gangs.

The fear they instill on the general public is there for reputation purposes. If you 're an established person with a reputation to protect, none of the very many below you will question your authority. The fear the community has for the Greasers, as well as the Socs, was evident when Ponyboy stated that, "One day the Socs are a menace to society, the next they are the greatest contributions." On the other hand, Greasers were always known as a peril to the community. This novel was set in the 50s era, where gang 's began making their mark. The fear given to the community was important for the domination of these many gangs.

Territory is usually divided by social class. For example, in New York City, the "Greasers" would live in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Appreciate the people you have because you won't have them long. In the book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton a boy that was born on the wrong side of town wishes he was not considered a “Greaser” and less than his brothers. So when he gets a chance to be to feel like a “Soc” he likes it. In the middle of the story he gets close to Dally that he didn't like that much in the beginning. Ponyboy gets close to people that he thought he'd have for a long time.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The theme of the novel ‘The Outsiders’ as the main characters are explained to be represented as juvenile delinquents who belong to a violent neighbourhood and lawless gangs. The gangs that fight the most are the ‘Greasers’ and the ‘Socs’. The ‘Greasers’ are tough and as, they steal from the shops, rob cars, jump people, sneak into drive in movies and don’t do well in school. The Greasers wear- long oily hair and scruffy clothes. The Socs are tough, cold- blood and mean trouble-makers. The Soc’s do well in school; the Soc’s wear- short hairs, nice clothes, and have expensive cars. "How'd you like that haircut to begin just below the neck…?" (Dialogue). This reveals that the Socs are attacking Ponyboy and are trying to cut his hair. “What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is a reputation for being a hood, and greasy hair?" (Rhetorical Question). Ponyboy is asking himself that what world he would have to live in to put up with his reputation and having greasy hair. "You get tough like me and you don't get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin' can touch you..." (Dialogue). Dally is telling Ponyboy that if your get tough like me you won’t have to put up with what you’re going through. The ‘Greasers’ and the ‘Socs’ are juvenile delinquents who fight a lot and this is how teenagers are represented in the novel.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gangs In The Outsiders

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Violent acts, and distrust between gangs within the community are clear in the storyline and portrayed. A few negative examples and consequences from the gangs include: violence, fear, isolation, and retaliation. One such time was when Ponyboy was “jumped” returning home from the movies. The Socs pulled a knife on him, threatened to cut his throat and his “pride” by cutting his hair. This act of terror fueled the hate and violence, creating a…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How To Join A Gang Essay

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gang is: A group of people, youngsters or adolescent who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, esp. such as a group engaging in delinquent behavior. It is said that there are about 750,000 different gangs in the United States, ranging from cultural meaning people from the same culture like the “The Latin Kings” consisting of Hispanic members to the “ Zoe pound” which include only Haitians or the well know the “mafia” which consist of the Italians. Other gangs are just diverse like the Crips and the Bloods, these gangs are like the country we live in the melting pot.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, the greasers will always be poor with not much money and will always have to live in their unsafe environment. Just like most people, the greasers will most likely always struggle because they have such little amounts of money . Most people who…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sociology- Gangs

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A gang is “an association of three or more individuals, whose purpose in part is to engage in criminal activity and which uses violence or intimidation to further its criminal objectives” (National Institute of Justice). Gangs are organized as structured social groups, being more complex than they might first seem. When criminals come together as a group, trouble is bound to occur, and these gangs become a powerful force that must be combated. Gangs are well known, but how do gangs operate? Why do gangs exist? Why do they form and continue to thrive? And what can be done to stop them? Taking action against gangs is important for the well-being of society. Gangs lead to increased violence and crimes, neither of which is wanted in a major city. What will be done to stop these criminal organizations, and will they ever be eliminated from society?…

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gangs In The 1800's

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When the word “gang” is mentioned the first thought that comes to mind is a person wearing baggy clothes, a bandana across the forehead and tattoos all over the body. That is a stereotype. Obviously back when gangs were first initiated in the 1800’s they did not dress like that. Not all gangs are associated with colors, signs or names. A gang is defined as a group of criminals or a number of people forming a group (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary).…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Street Gangs

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A gang is a group of recurrently associating individuals or close friends with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other forms of illegal behavior. When a new member joins the gang he or she must go through an initiation, the most common initiation is “jumping in” or getting beaten by all the gang members and/or committing acts of theft or violence. In 2011 the National Gang Intelligence Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation asserted that "There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and outlaw gang members comprising more than 33,500 gangs in the United States." In this paper you will read about gang types and gang structure, why people join gangs, typical gang activities, gang violence, and how gang members identify themselves.…

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Female Gang Research Paper

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages

    When I was growing up we had little cliques in the neighborhood but nothing that we really considered a gang. There were no initiation rights or anything crazy that needed to be done in order to join except living in the same area. We also didn’t engage in violent activities, maybe some juvenile mischief but nothing criminal like selling crack or stealing cars. Part of this may be because I was a girl then and the activities we took part in were nothing like what the boys did. As a young teen some of my friends did get involved in some kinds of criminal activity but still it was nothing I considered to be a gang.…

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hitory of Biker Gangs

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nowadays the most common understanding of the word ‘gang’, whether it be a street gang or a biker gang, is a group of individuals who use drug sales, the selling of "personal protection", extortion and other crimes to take over a territory in a city. But that's not exactly what the real term should be viewed as. A gang can be a group of individuals who have positive goals.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They run with the pop-culture look, living in the hood/ghetto and promote the life of being a thug. The gangs are mostly divided up into categories of areas (west side, east side, street,) race (African American, Mexican, Latino,) family affiliation (dad, brothers, uncles,) and many other factors. These gangs have even become a problem inside of the school environment where many gangs are even starting out in school. They are known for their over sized clothes, expensive shoes, sagging of the pans, rap music, guns and knives, drugs (especially marijuana) and having the attitude of a hoodlum gangster. There are many of these gangs around the United States, there are a few that are actually nationwide though for example the Bloods, the crips, the saints, black disciples, the latin kings and many more. The street gang’s effect on society has brought our culture to a whole new page of style of clothing, music, attitude, and way of life for many Americans. Besides the influence of violence and drugs among society, many people that aren’t apart of a gang even have been influenced by their…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gangs in the Uk

    • 2147 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Gangs as defined by Eurogang network is said to be any durable street oriented youth group whose involvement are in illegal activity as part of their group identity.…

    • 2147 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gang Characteristics

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When discussing the topic of gangs you must realize that no two gangs are the same. This uniqueness is made up of many different characteristics that are personalized to each individual gang. The three main characteristics that make up a gang are: 1) being unplanned and spontaneous in their creation, 2) having face-to-face interactions between members on a daily basis, and 3) moving forward together at the same pace and being met with some sort of criminal situation that they must deal with together. The fact that a gang must be unplanned in origin is because most are created through a group of individuals meeting on the street one day and creating a group based off of their meeting and interaction. Face-to-face interactions are crucial to the makeup of a gang due to the fact that a gang is a close knit…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe youth violence/ gangs has been an up-rising problem for the last 10 years. In 2001 there were only 88,984 first time offenders introduced into the youth justice system, by 2007 this increased by a staggering 21,842, but by 2012 it dropped by 62%. Goldson, B and Muncie, J (2015) youth crime & justice (pg. 76)…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gangsterism

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages

    wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangsterism (2009) defines gangsterism as a gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays