Attitudes To Violence In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

Ponyboy’s attitude to violence changes over the course of S.E Hinton’s novel The Outsiders’; he goes from being naive, innocent and reluctant to use violence to someone prepared to defend himself.

At the start of the novel, Ponyboy is portrayed as a timid, sensitive and ignorant character. He is still grieving his parents death and relies on his brothers to keep him optimistic. Ponyboy experiences many challenges and discovers more of what role he plays in his society.

Ponyboy’s behaviour toward violence symbolises his innocence and how naive he is. During the start of the book, Pony is faced with danger when a group of Socs threaten him and Two-Bit hands him a broken pop bottle. He says “I couldn’t use this. I couldn’t ever hurt anyone.”

During his days at the church with Johnny he begins to understand and appreciate certain things. For instance he begins to care and miss Darry before and also after receiving the letter from Soda, as he worries “Is Darry alright?” This shows that Pony forgives his brother for hitting him. Another sign of Pony maturing is how he handles what Johnny says “We’re goin’ back and turn ourselves in.” (Hinton p.104) This indicates that he has become more responsible by accepting the consequences that may arise later on.

A key moment in the novel is when Ponyboy is rescued from the burning church by Dally, who later dies during a police chase, all because of Johnny’s death. This is another tragedy to Ponyboy as he has lost two of his good friends in the same day. This leads to further development of Ponyboy’s character. He realises the significance of friends and family when he sees that in the waiting room Darry was worried sick the whole time, since Ponyboy ran out the door. Ponyboy also learns how to deal with grief and move

Oh, no I thought in moral fear, I’ve got to be in it. Right then the most important thing in my life was helping us whip the Socs. Don’t let him make me stay home now. I’ve got to be in it. (Hinton p.160) This shows that Ponyboy wants trouble, it is now clear that Ponyboy wants to get in the action, showing that he has developed a lot. Instead of Ponyboy backing down from a challenge, he now stands up to a challenge, showing his courage and commitment to the gang even though he was the smallest one