Grief In The Outsiders

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One in every five children experience the loss of a loved one before eighteen years old. ⅕ of the population will have grief. They will have issues, and will be crestfallen. Many people will experience grief, and it happens in the outsiders many times. Grief can be defined as a deep remorse, especially caused by someone's death. When someone passes away, it is normal to be unsettled. Since it is caused by death, most people who lose someone important, they will experience grief and depression. People can experience grief in many different ways. In The Outsiders, one can see how this happens. Dally first experiences anger, and then makes the terrible decision to kill himself. On the other side, Ponyboy experiences denial and depression, but …show more content…

Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance, or hostility. When people experience anger in grief, that person is infuriated that he or she has lost someone close to them. One will feel that the person should not have died. They will think it is unfair, and are annoyed and mad. That person also feels guilty that they died. This causes people to become enraged. According to The five stages of grief, “With death, you may feel guilty that you didn't do as much as you could have for the person” (Ross 4). This evidence shows anger because it says how some people would feel guilty if someone close to them died. Guilt is part of anger, because one is enraged that someone close to them did not survive. That person feel as if they should have done more. Since the person did not do more, they will become enraged and mad. Dally feels anger after Johnny dies. He punches a wall. Then he runs away because he feels as if he did not do enough to try and save him. According to The Outsiders, “"Damnit, Johnny..." he begged, slamming one fist against the wall, hammering it to make it obey his will. "Oh, damnit, Johnny, don't die, please don't die..." He suddenly bolted through the door and down the hall” (Hinton 127). In this scene Dally is experiencing anger. He is hateful and enraged that Johnny is dead. He pounded the wall, trying to make Johnny come back. He then runs out because of the enger he has. He wishes he could have done more. He is so mad that he kills …show more content…

Depression is strong feelings of sadness and dejection. When a person is going through depression in grief, the person will always seem down. That person will never see good things that are going on. People are normally too focused on the bad thing that just happened to feel anything else. When someone loses a loved one, that person will go through depression. The person is too depressed that someone close to them died. People often wish their loved one was back, and feel a great sorrowfulness for them. According to The five stages of grief “During the depression phase, you will cry a lot” (Ross 4). This shows depression because it says how one will and should cry a lot during depression. Most people will have a great hopelessness when someone close to them died. The person will cry a lot, and will have extreme sadness that they have lost someone they cared about. This happens in The Outsiders when Sodapop and Two-Bit are crying over the death of Dally. The two are very depressed that someone close to them had died. Two-Bit and Sodapop experienced depression because someone who they loved and was part of their life died. According to The Outsiders “ Soda made a funny noise and looked like he was going to start crying. Two-Bit's eyes were closed and his teeth were clenched” (Hinton 129). In this scene, Ponyboy had just come back from the hospital after Johnny died. He told the rest of his gang that Johnny had just died.