Just like how the idiomatic expression “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” is perceived, ‘moral values’, to a different person, has a distinct meaning. Moral values, more often than not, are defined according to the cultural beliefs. Each culture has its own sets of rules and beliefs to determine what is crucial, trivial, right, wrong, good and bad. For instance, it is vital for Chinese children to practice filial piety as it is an essential value of Chinese traditional culture (POŠKAITĖ, 2014); hence, living with parents, regardless of the marital status, is the right thing to do for it is good. On the contrary, Western children are not entitled to such obligation. They have but the “duties of gratitude” which guarantee parents no right …show more content…
Hinton, there are several moral values prevailed. This novel never fails to highlight extreme opposite situations of two contrasting social classes and, it is the emphasis of social class issues that inspires us to learn to accept and understanding the differences of people surrounding us. All the discrimination and loathing are utterly gratuitous; they are two of the peace’s greatest foes. Just take the conflict between the Socs and Greasers as an example; because of the contempt they hold towards each other, three deaths are ensued. From the very beginning of the novel, they have already demonstrated their respective dissatisfaction by labelling the West-side wealthy teenagers as the jet set or Socs, the abbreviation for Socials; whereas all boys on the East Side, as greasers. They are dubbed so because they always style their hair with grease. Socs can never cease bullying the greasers and greasers are always carrying a weapon close to them, be it a blade or a broken pop bottle, to fight the enemies off. Their hatred eventually leads to first, the death of Bob. Bob, the leader of Socs who is responsible for the enduring scar of Johnny, compels Johnny to stab him with a switchblade when he is drowning Ponyboy. Following his death are the imminent demises of Johnny, on the day that he plans to turn in himself, and Dally, on the day that Johnny dies. Had they not loathed each other that much and just ignored the status symbol, they would have lived serenely to reach their adulthood. Had they tried to open up to the greasers (Ponyboy, Johnny, Dally and Two-Bit), they would have realised greasers are ordinary teenagers too. Cherry Valance and Marcia, in spite of their Socs identities, portray openness and acceptance towards the greasers. Subsequently, they comprehend not all greasers are dirty and uneducated; and Cherry, especially, learns about the adversities in a greaser’s life. We never know who we can learn something