Theme Of Heroism In The Outsiders

Heros. Who are they? They are not the ones that are fighting the imaginary villains. Heros are the ones who save others emotionally and physically and do whatever it takes to do the impossible. The Outsiders, a young adult fiction novel, by S.E Hinton, has multiple acts of heroism throughout the novel. Sacrifice, care, bravery, courage, etc; but only one of the characters in the novel exhibits all of the above qualities and is a true hero.

Some of the heroic characteristics that were present were sacrifice and caring. Darry exhibits sacrifice and care when he gives up a college scholarship in order to take care of his brothers. Ponyboy vouches for his brother’s character stating that Darry “had been a real popular guy in school; he was captain of the football team and he had been voted Boy of the year”, but goes on to lament that at this point in the story he “didn’t have time between jobs to even think about college”(16). Given Darry’s accomplishments, it is clear that he would have been a fantastic student and would have made his parents proud. Coming from a working class background, he would very likely have been the first person in his family to go to college, serving a role model for his younger brothers. Despite his parent 's death, Darry could have forgone his responsibilities, since he is an adult and still attend college, leaving his brothers to survive on their own in foster care, or a boys’ home. However, he does not take this option and instead, Darry assumes