Essay On Justice In Monster And The Outsider

It is natural for people to categorize and judge others. In terms of judgement, people often rely on different ideas and stereotypes that affect their opinions and may twist their perceptions of justice and how it should be dealt. In the books, Monster by Walter Dean Myers and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, justice is heavily influenced by prejudice demonstrated by people judging others based on race, wealth, and social group stereotypes.

Initially, the idea of justice is affected by racial stereotypes and prejudice. In Monster, Steve is judged because of his race. As a young African American teenager, Steve is judged by typical social stereotypes that young black men are dangerous and most likely to commit crimes. Due to this negative stereotype, people are more likely to have bias against him and not pay as much attention to whether or not he is guilty. A supporting quote from the text reads, “[The jury] believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You’re young, you’re Black,

Ponyboy and his gang are Greasers; they look and dress differently from others, especially Socs. Greasers tend to always come out on the bottom because most Greasers are categorized as hoodlums. Justice is greatly affected by which social group a person associates with. A supporting quote fromt the text states, “You can’t win even if you whip us. You’ll still be where you were before- at the bottom. And we’ll still be the lucky ones. We’ll forget it if you win, or if you don’t. Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs.” The quote shows that no matter what happens, Socs will come out on top because of their higher social standing in society. Despite the Greaser’s winning the rumble, the Socs still stayed at the top despite the fact that they lost. This is injustice as the Greasers can never move up in society because of the group they associate