Family Differences In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

Family does not have to be blood related. A family is anyone who is willing to care and love for each other. Many families are not blood related in the world but it is okay because as long as one shows respect, love, and care for each other they are considered family. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a book about two gangs. The Socs and the greasers. These gangs tend to have their differences including a lot of physical fights but each member of the same gang sticks together and loves each other even if they are not related. The greasers are the less-advantaged group of kids, they steal and cause problems. They are usually not smart and dress poorly, and live on the east side of the city. The Socs are the more fortunate kids with a good amount

The greasers are basically family. They consider each other family. They don’t come from homes with unlimited love and care. They have each other though. They act as a family, if one gets in trouble the others are always there to help, if one is sad another will cheer them up even in their hardships. Throughout the book all of them have been there for each other and have always stuck together like family. “We couldn’t get along without him. We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang…” (121) “I don’t guess my parents are worried about me or anything…The boys are worried.” (87) This talks about Johnny having parental figures in his life but they don’t care about him at all. He relies on the gang for love and support. His mom shows no interest in him, and his father is abusive to him and hits him. He doesn’t have that strong relationship with his parents any kid dies for. His parents wouldn’t even care if he stayed out all night and didn’t come home. The greasers would care though, they are Johnny's source of love and his go to people when he needs someone to be there for

Learning to accept the fact they are really gone and learn how to grief in healthy ways. Once Johnny and Dally died Ponyboy wasn’t acting like his normal self at all. He is grieving in an unhealthy way. He felt this way because he really cared about Johnny and Dally especially Johnny since they have gotten so close and gone through so much together. “He isn’t dead I said to myself. He isn’t dead. And this time it worked, I convinced myself he wasn’t dead” (Hinton 150) “You don’t just stop living because you lose someone” (Hinton 176). Ponyboy is in denial about Johnny's death and his way of grief is pretending it all never happened and trying to convince himself it’s not real because of how upset he is. The second quote that Darry (Ponyboy's older brother) is trying to say is when something bad happens doesn’t mean quitting, being all sad and depressed. Darry was worried since Ponyboy barely ate anymore, and was failing most of his classes when really he is a smart kid who just got into bad habits of