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Teenagers in the Novel, The Outsiders

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Teenagers in the Novel, The Outsiders
Area of Study Essay – The Outsiders Essay Teenagers are shown in a variety of texts to be, violent, disrespectful, disruptive and corrupt. S.E. Hinton’s novel ‘The Outsiders’ reveal teenagers to be juvenile delinquents who are violent and whose only interest is remaining faithful to their gang and its members.
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.

Teenagers in the novel ‘The Outsiders’ represented as violent, disrespectful and rebellious. The characterisation of Dallas Winston supports this argument. Dally is described through Ponyboy’s first person narration, ‘he lied, cheated, rode in rodeos, he got drunk, jumped small kids - he did everything’. This description of

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