Preview

Analysis Of 'The Outsiders' By S. E. Hinton

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
524 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of 'The Outsiders' By S. E. Hinton
The Outsiders gives the reader hints and ideas from the story explaining how we should act and other moral issues. For example, a message the author describes is to stay young and innocent. The Greasers, specifically the younger Greasers, are taught to smoke and kill at a young age. This leads them to do bad things such as going to jail, participating in rumbles, and robbing stores. In other words, bad influence at a young age allows them to do illegal actions. By showing these actions from characters and the negative results, Hinton leads readers to the best idea of civility- trying to prevent the habit of performing crimes and being corrupted. Also, S.E. Hinton sends an important message to people who want to give up. She gives clues throughout the story about the importance of friendship and to not block out your emotions and problems. When Johnny dies, Ponyboy started to give up, emotionally and physically. He keeps on convincing himself that Johnny isn’t dead and also neglects his family, including his gang. S.E. Hinton teaches the readers that just because they’ve been …show more content…
As they interact with each other throughout the story, you can really tell how each character adds their own quality to what makes up their whole gang. Darry adds strength, Johnny gives kindness, and Two-bit contributes humor. The strong relationship between the Greasers keep the reader interested and want to read more, as we see each quality of a character come into view and their response, in terms of dialogue and actions, to each other and the world they are living in. For example, as Dally can be brave and rebellious, Johnny is quiet and innocent. These two characters are very different from each other, however, they are of the same gang and are like family. Although every character is different, it makes it more interesting to read the book without getting bored or being confused on which character is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Hilton’s employment of characterization captures the drive behind man to belong, and what it can compel someone to do. Dally and Johnny are key examples of this, as their dependency on the gang is due to them not having a supportive family or another place to turn to. This is contrasted with the character of Darry, a more peripheral member of the gang who, due to his stable job and his history of athletic achievements, doesn't depend on the gang for self fulfillment and a life purpose. The Outsiders leads the audience to question the significance of belonging through the allegiance of the gang contrasted with biological bonds of family. Throughout the entire novel, Ponyboy struggles to find his place within the gang and within his family unit, as he fights with his brothers and feels alienated and unwanted. As Ponyboy tries to find his place within life, he turns away from his brothers and towards the support of the ‘greaser family’. Ponyboy’s journey is compared with Johnny, who is pushed away by his parents and looks to the greaser gang for family support and comfort. As Ponyboy gains an insight into Johnny’s life he in turn learns to appreciate his brothers and the sense of belonging they offer. “It ain’t the same thing as having your own folks care about you” Johnny said…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The book I read was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. This book is about the rivalry between the two groups which are the Greasers VS. Soc’s. The main characters in this story are Ponyboy, Johnny, Dallas, Darry, Sodapop, and Two-bit. The Soc’s puts Ponyboy Curtis and his best friend Johnny in a bad and dangerous spot. One night at the movies, Ponyboy and Johnny fall in love with Sherri and Marcia after they got Dally, the toughest of the Greasers to stop attempting to get with the girls. Sherri and Marcia are from the snobbish and rich group, the Socs but that doesn’t bother Johnny and Ponyboy from liking them. That night, after the movies, they went to the park and when the Soc’s were beating up on Ponyboy, the small and scared Johnny gets up and stabs a member of the Soc’s. After the stabbing that Johnny did they run away to a church in Windrixville and supply food for a week with only one gun and some money. After staying there for a week the church catches on fire and kids are inside. Johnny and Ponyboy risk their lives to save the kids and unfortunately Johnny dies a little bit after. Then they rumble with the Soc’s and win! They did it for Johnny and that’s what determined them to win.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the book "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, one of the character's Jonny killed a soca. He ends up running away in the end. That was his first mistake. You don't run away/ flee the town if you know you didn't do anything wrong. Self-defense means that there was nothing he could have done to prevent killing Bob (the soca). (Voluntary) Manslaughter, however, refers to intentionally killing the victim without planning it. In the book, Jonny states if a soca were to ever jump him again, then he would be ready to kill them. Even with that evidence, he still hasn't planned the way, when, or how he would kill someone. He also says "yeah. His voice was quivering slightly. I had to. They were drowning you ponyboy. They might have killed you." He…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “All We Are” a song performed by One Republic would be a perfect fit for the soundtrack of The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton. These lyrics connect with the understanding and change of some characters throughout the novel. Furthermore the entire song would be a great asset to the movies soundtrack.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Ponyboy, listen don’t get tough. You’re not like the rest of us and don’t try to be…”-Two-bit Matthews Page 171. The Outsiders is a novel written by S.E Hinton in the 1960’s, the novel is based on a true story. The story is about Ponyboy, a teenager that belongs in the gang called Greasers. There is another gang that opposes the Greasers called the Socs. The two gangs live in two sides of Oklahoma, the Greasers being in the east, and the Socs being in the west. The Socs and the Greasers often fight each other. To society, the Greasers are low class and cause trouble, while the Socs are rich and can do no harm. Ponyboy dramatically changes throughout the novel, he starts to wonder if he should model himself to the members of his gang or follow his own path. There are three reasons to support my thesis statement.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When S.E Hinton adopted the title ‘The Outsiders’ for her book even though the word “outsider” was never recorded in the book itself making it the title was an intelligent move on her part. However, an outsider, in my opinion, is someone who doesn’t follow the flow that everyone else follows. For instance, many things could make you an outsider, including your appearance, your family, the way you live, and how you perform with other people. But why was it so critical for Hinton to use the word “outsider” when she could’ve used “greasers” or “socs”?…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are a lot of books and authors in the world. Hinton attracts the readers of the Outsiders attention by describing Johnny in a way not many characters can be described. Since Johnny is brave,uneasy, and intuitive he is a character that readers can be touched…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In our world, there are many groups. For example, there are groups in school, groups in sports, and there are also gangs. This book, “The Outsiders” written by S.E.Hinton is about a gang called Greasers and the narrator, “Ponyboy” tells us about what happened the year before telling us the story of everyday life as a Greaser. In this book,the author uses different types of techniques to contradict the characters to their gang. However, the author also does not connect the characters to the gang. I have three different techniques that the author uses to contradict the characters to their gang.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    How you ever wondered how it feels like to be the middle brother? Your older brother and your younger brother are always fighting. How would you look at this situation where, you are being played tug-of-war? The story, The Outsiders tells us about the lives of two completely different social groups, the greasers, the poor kids with freedom and the Socs, the privileged kids from wealthy families and how how they got into a rumble. Ponyboy, the narrator, protagonist and the youngest brother decides to write about how he lost his two friends and ran away from home as an essay for his English class. Sodapop, the middle brother of the Curtis family faces two main conflicts in the story. Firstly, he loves his brothers and wants them to get along…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout S.E Hinton's The Outsiders Bad decisions lead to regret later on. In The Outsiders, There are two gangs The Socs, and The Greasers, neither groups get along. The Socs are rich, and they drive nice cars, the greasers are opposite they are poor, and drive beat up old cars. One night two Greasers Johnny, and Ponyboy get into a fight with The Socs. Johnny ends up killing a soc. Johnny, and Ponyboy get money from a gang member, and hide in a church. The church caught on fire when the two boys went out for lunch. The two boys ran into the church to save the little children that were in it. Johnny gets badly hurt, and a week later he dies. His brother couldn't handle the fact that Johnny had passed away, and points an unloaded gun at the cops, and gets shot the he immediately dies. During S.E Hinton's The Outsiders the theme “it’s rough all over” is shown by the tragic events, and struggles throughout the story.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Can two drastically different groups of kids face similar problems? In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton two classes of kids, greasers and socs, share many similar problems. Greasers come from rough neighborhoods and create gangs to have a sense of belonging, socs live in wealthy neighborhoods and gang up on greasers. Although, both groups are so different they have many similar problems such as fitting in, developing romantic relationships, and getting approval from parents.…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola was released in 1983. Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell) is a greaser whose parents were killed in a car accident. He and his friends: Johnny (Ralph Macchio), Dally (Matt Dillon), Two-Bit (Emilio Estevez), and Steve (Tom Cruise), and brothers, Darry (Patrick Swayze) and Soda (Rob Lowe), are always getting in fights with a gang called the Socs. One night, best friend Johnny, are attacked by Socs. The Socs almost drown Ponyboy, and Johnny, defending Ponyboy, stabs Bob (a Soc). Pony, and Johnny find a church to hide out in. A bunch of little kids are trapped inside the church which caught on fire, and Pony, Johnny, and Dally save them. Ponyboy gets out ok, Dally burns his arm, but a huge piece of wood falls on Johnny, breaking his back, and burning him badly. At the end, two of the greasers end up losing their life and both gangs still fight and hate each other. I think that The Outsiders was decent, at best. Please spare yourself save the hour and…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Outsiders Duty

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Finally, the novel, “The Outsiders” answers a lot of other questions including the two answered in this essay. The main theme is what is your duty to others? Therefore, this theme is proven because of the evidence and the way that Ponyboy and Johnny were able to be valiant…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel it talks mostly about how the Greasers’ care for one another. They’ll be there to have each other’s back when they got jumped by Socs’. They’ll be there if one of them got in trouble with the police. They’ll always have each other’s back when they needed it the most. But I think that they care about Johnny the most. He was jumped really badly by the Socs’ and he was scared ever since. They always protected him when he was in danger. Darry, Ponyboy, and Sodapop provided food and shelter for him when his parents were fighting because he was sick of it. In fact, Darry, Ponyboy, and Sodapop provided food and shelter for anybody in the gang. That’s why they keep their front door unlocked. Another example was when Johnny died. Everybody was shocked and depressed, especially Dally. It was like they couldn’t live without him. This proves how much they care for each other, and…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays