The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton: Honor Among The Lawless

Honor Among The Lawless Honor among the lawless-- contradictory, it seems. But there are examples of it in literature. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis, a 14 year old teen in a group of “greasers”. However, these “greasers” seem like thugs and delinquents with no honor. Or do they? Maybe it’s just that they don’t show it often, or in a different way. So it leads to the question: Is there honor among the lawless? Yes, there is: this is due to the fact that the greasers are loyal to each other, they are willing to sacrifice their lives (even if they don’t seem like it), and they are kind even when their outward appearance says otherwise. To begin with, the greasers care about each other. In particular, when Johnny was jumped by a small group of Socs, the gang immediately knew something was wrong. The quote, “Somehow the gang sensed what had happened” shows this. When they saw Johnny, they concluded that it wasn’t his parent’s beatings. The injuries Johnny had were worse, so he must have been jumped. And when they arrived, they immediately showed signs of concern. Therefore, the gang cares for each other as if they were family. Another reason the greasers are honorable is that they are all loyal and stick up for each other. Specifically, when Pony was drowning, Johnny

The opposing view may say that they jump people or do illegal things, as stated in this quote: “been arrested, he got drunk, he rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, stole, rolled drunks, jumped small kids” (10). They may say that they are dishonorable because being arrested means you broke the law. Riding in rodeos is also reckless. However, this claim is not true due to that fact that this quote is targeted at Dally (notice the “he”). Although Ponyboy is a greaser, he doesn’t do the things that Dally does unless he really needs to. The quote shows