Comparative Essay On The Outsiders

Comparative Analysis The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt, and The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, both take place in the 1960s. When analyzing the two novels, one can compare and contrast the social inequalities racism, classism, and bullying. These inequities enhance the reader’s understanding of how society is separated. While racism is present in The Wednesday Wars, the subject is not present in The Outsiders. In The Wednesday Wars, the Vietnam war, which also took place in the 1960s, is mentioned numerous times throughout the novel, causing Mai Thi, a vietnamese student, to face discrimination from her peers and teachers. “On the last day before holiday break, (Mrs.Bigio said) to Mai Thi: ‘... You shouldn’t even be here, sitting like a queen in a refugee home while American boys are sitting in swamps on Christmas Day. They’re the ones who should be here. Not you.’” (Schmidt 95). After reading the excerpt, one can comprehend how vulgar the comments were that Mai had to face because she wasn’t white, like the other students. Although she had

For example, in The Wednesday Wars, when Holling was the only seventh grader who qualified for the varsity cross-country team, the eighth graders, who also qualified, were not welcoming (Schmidt 91). In fact, the older classmen would pants Holling whenever he was running at the front of the pack (Schmidt 91). As a result, he started to trail back at meets and get out of the way when his other teammates were about to spit off to the side (Schmidt 92). In The Outsiders, the bullying going on was more discreet, as it involved Johnny’s parents abusing him. Not only was Johnny verbally abused by his parents, but he was also continuously clobbered at home too (Hinton 32). Although both novels included bullying in their stories, each author used it to pit different characters against each other, resulting in the reader to sympathize with both Holling and