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Color And Identity In Hinton's The Outsiders

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“Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way, you could tell the other guy was human too”(Hinton 118). The novel, The Outsiders, portrays two sides in a community: the Greasers and the Socs. Through the realization of both sides in the novel, the author presents several themes that assist with the evolution of the story; these themes consist of color, identity, family, and that life is not fair. To begin, the theme of color is far more extensive in the novel, than how it is perceived in reality. The Greasers use color to not only describe their physical features, they use to distinguish themselves from the Socs. If the difference in color was never established in the novel, than both sides of the community would question their position. Several …show more content…

“...and silky, just like Soda’s, only a little redder. Our hair was tough- we didn’t have to use much grease on it. Our hair labeled us as Greasers, too- it was our trademark. The one thing we were proud of. Maybe we couldn’t have Corvairs or madras shirts, but we could have our hair”(Hinton 71). Certain, special attributes can be given to one, but not given to another. Not all people can be provided the same life as another. In the novel, the Outsiders, several happenings occur between the Greasers and the Socs that can be categorized with the theme “Life is not Fair”. Through Johnny’s perspective, it was unfair that his parents had treated him so poorly, regardless of his current situation . “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house. I think he hated that worse than getting whipped”(Hinton 12). Through family, many look to their parents for support, but some instances of a family are not the same as the tradition Mother, Father, and children;

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S.E Hinton’s book, “The Outsiders,” is a book about two groups called the Greasers and the Socs fighting all the time about who is better. The greasers are the group who are broken and don’t have a whole lot, while the Socs are the group that has everything and don’t have many problems. The main character, Ponyboy, is trying to figure out the whole thing. The greasers have it worse because they are poor and don’t have much, they only have each other because they have broken families, and the Socs are always picking fights with them.

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Ponyboy Curtis, a young man from a working class family, is the main character of this narrative which follows him as he gets involved in a bloody fight between the Greasers and the Socs. The book examines issues of wealth and difficulty, identity, and friendship from Ponyboy’s point of view. Throughout the outsiders the stereotypes are challenging social class boundaries and disproving observation based stereotypes.

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“The Outsiders” is a novel based on the differentiation of two gangs the socs/socials and the greasers in the 60’s. This classic was published by S.E. Hinton in 1967, written when she was only 17, this novel focuses on both the internal and external conflicts of rival gangs and the struggles they face against society. The protagonist of this story is Ponyboy Curtis, a 14 year old greaser who struggles with many internal conflicts throughout the book, his main internal conflict is not knowing his identity, he doesn't know to be himself or act like the other greasers. As well as internal conflicts there are also plenty of external conflicts shown in this book such as fights with the socs and socs jumping greasers. This book gives us an outlook

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Stereotypes in The Outsiders Stereotypes are a big theme in the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, this book explores the life of 2 rival groups: the Socs and the Greasers. While the novel is about the 2 social classes and their differences, it focuses on the life of a greaser named Ponyboy and the struggles he had as a greaser he went through. The novel will teach the differences between the two social classes, how being poorer than one another makes a difference in the kids' lives, and how to never judge a book by its cover. One way the author teaches us about the theme of stereotypes is through the scene where Ponyboy says “we were poorer than the socs and the middle class”. I reckon we're wilder, too.

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The Outsiders is in a first-person perspective of a 14 year old Greaser named Ponyboy Curtis in the 1960's. There were two main groups in the 60's, you were either a Soc or a Greaser. The difference between them is that Socs were more upper class and lived in nice houses, wore nice things, had nice cars, nice everything. But on the other hand, Greasers were more lower class, they were viewed as hood, poor, dangerous. These two never associated with each other, whenever they saw each other, it was most likely fighting, or Socs jumping a lone Greaser.

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Being engaged in constant conflict is never a good thing. In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, it is no secret that the Greasers and the Socs do not like each other. Main character Ponyboy states, “I’m not saying that either Socs or Greasers are better; that's just the way things are.” (pg.3) This novel is all about two groups of teenagers, the Socs and the Greasers, who loathe each other.

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The Outsiders, a book thought to be about young gangs and violence is what most people would interpret the novel is only about, but underneath all the violence and harsh cursing is a message that everyone can relate to, “Everyone is equal”. As the reader is reading each chapter the message of “everyone is equal” becomes clearer and clearer as the story endures. Citations from the novel back up the message, with quotes like: “It’s okay … We aren’t in the same class.

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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”.

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