Examples Of Stereotypes In The Outsiders

Misjudgement is prevalent in many great works of literature, and many times it is accompanied by an important lesson. Just like in real life, the characters in books, whether they be side, main, or background characters, are misjudged to be something that they are not. This misjudgement usually has negative effects and authors use it to give the reader a moral. In the books The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, two young characters are misjudged by their peers and the reader is taught a useful moral.
Piggy from Lord of the Flies is misjudged to be useless by the other boys on the island for being overweight, having glasses and having asthma; this teaches us that everyone can have great ideas, no matter their

Just because Ponyboy has black hair, he greases his hair backwards, and he sports a different fashion style, people think that he is a mean and gruesome person. If this immediate judgment was not made, many conflicts would have never started, and families would be complete. For instance, Johnny, a greaser, desperately murders Bob, a Soc, to save Ponyboy. The entire assault started because Bob thought it was wrong for a “dirty” greaser to be talking to his girlfriend. If Bob had never assumed Ponyboy’s intentions were malicious and his demeanor rude, weeks of family grief could have been spared. The author demonstrates this misjudgement when she writes, “‘Hey, whatta ya know?’ Bob said a little unsteadily, ‘here’s the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey, greasers.’ … Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there, in the moonlight, doubled up and still. A dark pool was growing from him, spreading slowly over the blue-white cement” (Hinton 55-56). Whenever people, Socs or greasers, saw Ponyboy’s clothes and hair they immediately made gruesome assumptions. Contrary to these assumptions, Ponyboy was really a sweet, respectful, and courteous young man. If they had stopped to listen to Ponyboy’s personality and manner of speech, they would have judged him much differently.