Teenage Groups In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one. There is a number of reasons that range from simple to complex, on why teenagers join gangs, and we can help by finding solutions to their specific problem before they choose to join one. To help someone get out of a gang, we as a society need to show there’s more out there in the world that they could do that will make a positive impact.

Have you ever thought of how something 50 years old could still matter? Well, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, still has significant reference today. The book is about 2 gangs that fight with each other because of class. Some examples of its relevance today are the reckless environment struck by economic catastrophe, the immature quarrels, and the uneducated and underprivileged gangs. This book describes the darker side of society, unmasking the truth. Overall, there are many common issues today that relate to The Outsiders.

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquent Preventions, the Juvenile arrest rate in 1967 was a total of 2.4 million children ages 12-17. This was the year The Outsiders was written in. The realistic fictional novel, The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton and the article, “What Causes Juvenile Delinquency,” by Ilanna Sharon Mandel both relate to Juvenile Delinquency and its effects on children and their loved ones. Mandel’s points towards Juvenile Delinquency can be applied to Ponyboy and the other greasers through peer influences, family life, self-esteem, race discrimination, and horrible trauma.

Societal adversities carve an individual’s outlook and character, which may continue unaltered until their untimely death. Susan Eloise Hinton, author of the coming of age literary text, The Outsiders, depicts the prevalent teenage social rivalry in the 1960s between the Socials (Socs) and the Greasers. Through a series of consequential incidents, various characters are challenged and undergo a progressive transformation throughout the story, while others remain static and do not respond with a shift in character. Dallas “Dally” Winston resists change despite the numerous opportunities for transformation as Ponyboy Curtis’ most distinctive gang member. Dallas Winston as a static character, remains self-preservative and detached from society, as seen in Ponyboy’s assessment of him at Buck Merril 's party, his conversation with

The greasers, the group of boys in the novel the outsiders are outsiders to the rest of society but they are insiders to the members of their own group. What keeps them together is there loyalty to each other when they are being attacked. If they weren’t attacked so often they would not need to form such a tight group. The problem is that there group gives them courage and a sense of belonging but mostly wrecks their chances of a happy and satisfying life.

In the novel The Outsiders , there are two social groups, the Greasers” and the Socs. Greasers are considered stupid, dirty, rowdy, and overall horrible. Socs think all Greasers are the same. Greasers think that all of the Socs have perfect lives and they are all happy with no struggles. Neither of them are right, there are struggles on both sides of town. The two sides of town are extremely different but similar at the same time. But this all changes when a Greaser and a Soc come together with an unexpected interest, especially for a “stupid” greaser boy. Cherry Valance and Ponyboy Curtis both share an interest in sunsets.

One boy’s once simple life is impacted by tragic loss after making one bad decision. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, is a novel about the rivalry between greasers and Socs. It is narrated by the main character, Ponyboy Curtis. He tells the reader about his life being turned upside down after making one childish mistake. The greaser struggle more than the Socs because they are poor, the Socs jump them, and people think that they are trash.

The Socs are the ones who are at fault. If the Socs did not antagonize the Greasers in the first place, there would be no conflict throughout the novel. The Socs didn’t even have a real reason to become violent and confrontational with the Greasers, yet they did. If the Socs and the Greasers would accept and recognize their differences they might be able to understand each other better. This would lead to better relationships between the groups. In the novel, Pony was able to talk with a Soc girl named Cherry. Since they took the time to talk, Cherry and Pony were able to understand each other and realize they had more in common than they thought. In The Outsiders, it was nice to see Ponyboy grow with insight and maturity. He discovers that no matter what group one is from, everyone has their own problems and they are all human. The Socs are the ones at fault because they always go after the Greasers, they use more harmful weapons, and they always start the

Most of the characters in “The Outsiders” lack parental guidance which causes them to make different decisions. One thing most of the characters do is smoke cancer sticks (cigarettes) , and drink alcohol. They end up making inarticulate decisions and are not as successful as they could be. Also, the Greasers and the Socs get involved in fights and someone always ends up getting hurt. The characters are always watchful of getting jumped. Lastly, not having anyone to look up to impacts what the Greaser's think about people who are different.

Synapsis: The Outsiders is about two gangs who never get along, the greasers and the socs. The greasers are poor and are always blamed for what goes wrong, while the socs are the rich kids that can get away with anything. One night a greaser kills a soc and now all eyes are on Ponyboy and Johnny as they try to escape their mistake and guilt.

Is it better to be an individual or conform to expectations just to fit in like others? This choice is faced by Ponyboy Curtis, the narrator, throughout S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. He belongs to the Greasers, a group of delinquent friends, who are viewed by many as poor and dangerous, while the rival Socs are viewed as rich, smart, and powerful causing the Greasers to envy them. Ponyboy learns from Randy Adderson, a Soc who is trapped by stereotype threat, that their lives are not as perfect as he expected it to be and they too face problems. In addition, Ponyboy tries to act tough and fit in with the rest of gang, but his Greaser companions, such as Two-Bit Matthews, teach him to embrace his own characteristics which sets him apart from

Will problems exist if one is in higher class? In the real world, no matter who you are you will have problems as seen in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. In the book, for the both groups struggles and they could never avoid them. With The Outsiders and two other sources sources, “The Allure of Gangs”, and “A Generation Struggling: Rich Kids are Losing” the problems of the wealthy class, why people join gangs, and how do both groups act when there is no supervision on them.

Did you know that “76% of parents feel guilty about saying “no” to their kids?” (Janice D'Arcy). S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the late 1960s, and follows a fourteen-year-old boy named “Ponyboy,” and his group the “Greasers.” Ponyboy and his group are constantly quarreling with the west-side “Socs,” and the Greasers always get the short end of the stick. At the beginning of the story, Ponyboy comes home after curfew, making Ponyboy’s brother “Darry” pretty mad, causing them to start fighting and out of mixed emotion, Darry slaps Ponyboy. Next, Ponyboy and another Greaser, “Johnny,” are by a fountain when a couple of Socs attack, and start to drown Ponyboy. Johnny, after being beaten to near death by Socs on an earlier date, kills a Soc named “Bob” with a switchblade, scaring off the other Socs. In the end, Ponyboy is asked to write a composition based on a theme for school and ends up telling his own story (Hinton). Within the novel, the Socs get all the breaks and the Greasers get

When people make choices that could drastically change their life, the decision they make is based on the influence of others. In the novel, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton a gang called the Greasers is stereotyped as being the “mean types” that slack off at school. Then there are the Socs who are the rich kids with cool cars that happen to like “jumping” greasers. As these two gangs are rivaling, they both go through some dramatic events that change their perspectives on life. In the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton the character Darrel Curtis is unquestionably influenced by his gang as it prevents him from being successful to becoming the father of the gang, and overall being someone to look up to.

The greasers are on their own a lot and aren 't as fortunate as the other groups. They are also the troublemakers. This gang is a tight gang, they fight for each other and protect each other. The socs are the popular group, they have every little thing they want, and don 't even realize how lucky they are. Except for Cherry, she has a different perspective on how things work. The day Ponyboy met Cherry was the day he realized that some of the socs aren 't as bad as he thinks.