Seeing Through the Fog S. E Hinton stereotyped most of her characters in the book The Outsiders. She took advantage of doing this, for us to grasp major takeaways throughout the novel and for our minds to always gyrate with new information. Most characters have a strong disliking for the other group, although certain characters can see through the fog of each other's actions, and always remove the negatives and bring out the positives. The Greasers and The Socs are discrete in many ways. Both groups are treated differently mostly based on their appearances, lifestyle, and wealth. Throughout this novel, we could conduct that The Greasers and The Socs are not much different from each other than they appear to be. In the beginning, PonyBoy illuminates how The Greasers are seen on the outside. PonyBoy writes, “We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an …show more content…
The Socs are categorized as wealthy and classy. Stereotyping had been going on back then and has still continued to this day, The Greasers are even guilty of this. Cherry (one of The Socs) speaks her mind about this issue and tells PonyBoy, "I'll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the Westside Socs. I'll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. We have troubles you've never even heard of. You want to know something?" She looked me straight in the eye. "Things are rough all over” (Hinton 11). Cherry conveys the feelings from her heart to voice her long-awaited opinion about the dilemmas of a Socs lifestyle…, especially for the girls. While Socs have problems behind closed doors, they take it out on The Greasers. This exhibits the fact that just because they’re hurting doesn't mean they have to transfer their pain to
In The Outsiders, a timeless novel written by S.E. Hinton, the most prominent theme is that we are all just human regardless of the different social classes we live in. The story is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1965 and introduces two different social groups who are natural rivals: The Greasers and the Socs. Greasers are the poor kids from the east side who are known to steal and be violent; on the other hand, the Socs are the rich kids who drive nice cars and never get in trouble with the police, unlike the Greasers. Ponyboy and two Greaser friends, Dallas and Johnny, sneak into the Night Double drive-in theater where they meet a pair of Soc girls, Cherry and Marcia. Ponyboy is able to strike up a conversation with Cherry and begin to talk about
It’s no secret that the Greasers and the Socials don’t like each other. And it’s no secret that their resentment of each other leads to serious problems. But who’s to blame for these problems? In S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders, much of the turmoil and conflict in the community is caused by the Socials. Their are 2 reason the Socs are at fault for many problems in the novel.
The major external conflict in the story is how the socs and the greasers are always physically fighting each other and how they don’t get along. An example of this can be seen at the start of the book when Ponyboy is being jumped on by the socs. He explains that; “They had me down in a second. They had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows, and if you don’t think that hurts, you’re crazy.”
Obviously, both the Greasers and Socs had their struggles, but one group clearly had more than the other. It’s plain for many people to see that the Greasers had a much more difficult upbringing throughout the timeline of the novel with all the violence, fear, and constant judgment. But, for some reason, people believe the Socs had it harder. Maybe it would help to explain the weight of everything the Greasers had to deal with. To begin with, the greasers are constantly threatened with and dealt violence from Socs.
The Socs think of them as exactly that. Nothing else, just poor and ugly boys. The Greasers always try to travel in groups to avoid getting jumped by Socs,
…that didn't make me feel so hot. There were a lot of Socs in that class" (15). Since the Socs have much more money and more opportunities, Greasers appear less in the Socs' school classes.
They think the Greasers are poor and trashy, because they are middle class kids that live on the East-side of town. They wear jeans and t-shirts and have long greasy hair. The Socs are the rich kids from the West-side of town. They are seen as the good kids who do not get into trouble because they are well-dressed, drive nice cars, and come from more affluent backgrounds.
This also shows that even if greasers weren't mean or nasty, but people still looked at them and treated them as if they were like all of the other greasers. Socs can spend their money on what they want while greasers have to work for their
The Greasers had a very poor lifestyle. They didn’t have everything, and they had to work and help to support their families and learn to live on their own. Another reason they are different is because of the clothes they wear. The greasers wore leather jackets and other tough-looking clothes, and their hair was greased back. The socs dressed nicely and owned all of the expensive items.
When Ponyboy was thinking about what the people in the gang do what they do, he assumed that Greasers and Socs are divergent. Ponyboy thinks to himself, “We deserve a lot of our trouble...both of them have too much energy, too much feeling, with no way to blow it off.” (Hinton 16) This quote has a deep meaning because it shows that the Socs choices are more narrow, displaying that when a Soc does something wrong, they could lose their fame and their luxury. On the other hand, the greasers have boundless choices because they have nothing to lose. They are already at the bottom, so most of the things they do, won’t really change what they already have.
Stereotyping is an issue that affects all ages, genders, and races. Not all stereotypes are bad, but when you maliciously stereotype it becomes a problem. In S.E. Hinton’s young adult novel The Outsiders, stereotyping is a significant issue. There are two gangs in this novel, the “greasers”, and the “Socs”. The greasers live on the east side and are known as “hoods”.
Outsiders Theme Justine Corti In our society, many people judge others based on race, gender, wealth, and more. With the stereotypes in which we label each other, we think that only certain people can succeed and do specific things. But when people learn to stand up to those stereotypes, everyone can reach their full potential, be heroes, and have many different experiences in life. In the young adult novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, two conflicting gangs, the greasers and the Socs, have many fights and conflicts.
While some may state that Ponyboy is a normal person, I view Ponyboy as a greaser, because of the way he acts and relates to other greasers. As stated previously, Ponyboy is stereotyped as a greaser. This is because of how he looks, where he lives, and who he associates with. For example, Ponyboy lives on the East Side of his town, where money is far more scarce, and he only lives with his two brothers. Due to this disposition, Ponyboy becomes more susceptible to stereotyping.
These particular conflicts and the other emotions that Cherry has throughout the story are caused mainly by the rivalry between the greasers and Socs, as it is evident that each group dislikes each
Like Cherry said “It’s not just the money. Part of it is, but not all. You greasers have a different set of values..(38)” meaning that Socs and greasers were different because of how they were raised. There have been many examples of the importance of good parents, this is