Comparing The Outsiders 'And Why Weren' T You His Friends?

Looking at life from other people's perspective is hard to imagine unless you're really living through it. There are many stories that can take people deep into others lives. For example, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, “On The Sidewalk Bleeding” by Evan Hunter, or “Why Weren’t You His Friends?” by Bob Greene are stories where people make choices that lead them to consequences. The Outsiders is a novel about two sides, the rich and the poor, and it is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960’s. “On The Sidewalk Bleeding” is a short story of a teenage boy who is part of a very loathed gang. “Why Weren’t You His Friends?” is another short story on the subject of a boy at Oak Street Middle School in Burlington, Iowa who is bullied all throughout his life.

The story takes place throughout his eighth-grade year. Curtis is very needing and never has a good grouping of friends that he fits in with. Curtis’s father is trying to aid him, but he does not really seem to do much and is a bystander. “It was getting worse. His bicycle had been vandalized twice at school. The name-calling had increased. He had broken his foot, and it had been in a cast, and they'd kick the cast. He had two books that meant a lot to him, and they stole the books from him. He had a sweatshirt that he liked, and they poured chocolate milk on it in front of other students”(Greene 1). Curtis seems to have been constantly bullied but has never really done much but carp to his father, then on the night of March twenty-second he proceeds to his room and shoots himself to death. Curtis makes a choice to do that but the thing is no one cares that an unimpeachable boy loses his life because of a provisional problem, even the adults. “Could all of this have been handled differently? Obviously, it could have. Would it have made any difference? That, I don't know”(Greene 2). Curtis has some similarities with Andy, one being, they are both defined by what is seen on the outside rather than their actual selves. However, they also differ in view of the fact that Curtis’s story is a modern day type of bullying at school which a lot of people go through, while Andy is part of a gang which is more mid-1900’s and different. It is different because being in a gang can be more physical than emotional pain, Andy and many other people in gangs are harassed and jumped and threatened with weapons, Curtis was just bullied by having milk thrown on him and his things got