Language In The Outsiders

The human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to break out of its cage; However, this beast can be tamed by the simplicity of pencil to paper. When it comes to literature, words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity, the words one composes can be used constructively with words of encouragement, or destructive using words of despair, and through words, the beauteousness that is language is made. “The Outsiders” by American writer S.E Hinton is no exception as it evokes a story of a young fourteen-year-old named ponyboy who, in the novel, faces the socioeconomic status of the rival gangs—the Greasers (Ponyboys gang) and the Socs—which prevent either group from acknowledging their similarities. By

However, in a domain where crime runs wild, and segregation between groups is the norm, it ends up being harder to remain an individual when society considers one to be characterized as a group. A major turning point for the young protagonist occurs when he flees to a church in Windrixville after his friend Johnny—the youngest of the Greasers—kills a soc in self-defense. During the fleeing journey Ponyboy and Johnny come across a time of enlightenment as they wait for the arrival of Dally, a fellow Greaser who gave them the coordinates of the church.
Through this time of awareness and realization, Ponyboy mentions Robert Frosts’ poem: “natures first green is gold//her hardest hue to hold//her early leaf’s a flower;//but only so an hour.//Then leaf subsides to leaf.//So Eden sank to grief,//So dawn goes down to day.//Nothing gold can stay.” Though at first the message of the poem remains unclear, even after Johnny’s dying words, “Stay Gold Ponyboy, “all inquiries are answered through a note Pony receives in his Gone with The Wind

Yes; it is seen through the metaphor of sunsets. Sunsets and sunrises in “The Outiders” aren’t just about the pretty colors or marking the passage of time, rather, they represent the excellence and goodness in the world, especially after Johnny compares the gold in the poem to the gold of the sunrises and sunsets Ponyboy enjoys seeing. The nightfall also stands for the natural existence of humanity itself through unity and connection, regardless the class—or gang—to which one belongs. For instance, in the early stages of the novel Ponyboy discusses with Cherry—a female soc—the motif of a sunsets during a night at the Nightly Double. Abruptly, they come to the realization that they share a common interest; gazing at the suns cycle. During this moment Ponyboy begins to understand that all people are connected through the natural world-exemplified by the movement of the sun and considers the “two different worlds” to be not so different after all. Everyone bares their own set of