Johnathan Morris
Mrs Williams
English 1204: 6th period
24 February 2022
Title
Why do people sometimes feel like outsiders? One instance where people feel like outsiders is when they are judged and persecuted because of things they cannot control. People are not always accepted into groups, causing them to feel excluded. The feeling of being an outsider is common in people’s teenage years because of the need to find themselves. Multiple characters in the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton has instances where they feel like an outsider in their own group. Throughout the story, three characters, especially, do not fit into their group: Ponyboy, Johnny, and Darry.
Ponyboy is one of the best examples of a character who is considered an outsider.
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Like Ponyboy, Johnny does not fit into the Greaser gang. Ponyboy says to the reader at the beginning of the novel, “Johnny Cade was last and least. If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny. He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes, and that beating he got from the Socs didn't help matters (Hinton 11).” Stated in the quote, Pony explained in detail how Johnny can be considered as an outsider. Johnny’s features cause him to feel like an outsider among the greasers. Ponyboy tells the reader, “Johnny is sixteen, the same age as Sodapop, but he is small and has delicate features, so he is often taken for younger. His diminutive size is why he often hangs around with Ponyboy, who is two years his junior” (overview np). Pony in detail how Johnny can be considered as an outsider. Johnny is an outcast who seeks love and attention. “Ponyboy's best friend is sixteen-year-old Johnny Cade, also known as Johnnycake. He is a pathetic, frightened outcast who finds love and attention by belonging to the Greasers” (Gale …show more content…
The persecution and also their personal matters caused the characters Pony, Darry, and Johnny to feel like outsiders, whenever it came to being a greaser. Pony, the main character of the book “The Outsider”, constantly felt conflicted about how different he is compared to the other greaser. These feelings that Pony harbored caused him to feel like he didn't belong in the group. The same can be said about Darry and Johnny who both had parental issues; however, Darry had to give up everything in the end for the greasers while Johnny just wanted to find attention and to be loved. Each character had their hardships and problems that they were going through. Needless to say if the scenarios were different would each character still feel like an