Appearances In The Outsiders

Appearances are unmistakably an ugly thing. They’re abused, judged, excessively used, and misplaced. Appearances are judged of cores, that’s why there is fashion but really appearances are a mask of the truth. We use them to hide our faults, our mistakes, imperfections, and our reality. Why, well because we are forced to, if we are not perfect we are rejected by society because of our imperfections. That’s where The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton transfers. Greasers are rejected by society because their lack of money, grades, and so on. The socs are excepted because everything is “perfect” about them. When really greasers and socs have a lesson to show and that is the barrier set by society because of appearances. People have found ways to cope with this barrier, a common way is to look on the bright side of everything. For instance, ponyboy, a greaser,
In the book ponyboy and Jonny are forced to cat their hair and pony says “not my hair Jonny” (71). This shows that ponyboy’s hair had gifted him with pride and the label greaser. This again happens when pony says “our hair had labeled us greasers” (71). The name greaser had brought pride to his peers which made him happy. This shows another point about appearances, and that is that appearances are a very double sided thing, those it favors and those it doesn’t. Appearances are a form of symbolism or are a sign of reality, this shows in the book often times. A case of this is when pony mentions that “me, soda, and Darry always got spruced up before a fight” (131). This symbolizes that all though greasers are low class they still have some good morals left. Another symbol is when ponyboy points out that “dally wore a shirt that showed every muscle in his chest” (131). This phrase tries to show that greasers fight best when their enemy is intimidated. Although this is a small point it, in the end of the book shows