Literacy In The Outsiders

The Outsiders: Literacy Essay The Novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, (you only need to underline the title, not the author),is a novel about a gang of young men called Greasers (from the poor side of town) who support and stand up for each other in a difficult situation, like a problem, challenge, rumble or the Socs (from the rich side of town). In this novel, a character that interested me was Darry Curtis. Darry is hard and firm and rarely grins at all. I found him interesting because he gave up his football scholarship and took two jobs to take care of his brothers(Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis) and his gang. Another way Darry is Interesting is the way he is short-tempered and later soften up and learns to show

He takes cares of his gang and his younger brothers (Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis) and keeps them safe and he doesn’t want to lose his brothers to a boys’ home. We can see this when Darry says, “ They didn’t hurt you too bad, did they?( After Ponyboy gets attacked by a group of Socs) and when Sodapop says to Darry, “We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don't have each other, we don't have anything.” He is also the leader of the gang, taking many responsibilities . Darry is a guy who always stands up for his brothers. For example, Darry got a scholarship for athletics and he gave up the scholarship to take care of his younger brothers. Another example is how Darry doesn’t allow Ponyboy more than a pack of cigarettes a day. We can see this when Darry says, “Pony if you smoke more than a pack today and I will skin you. You understand.” A further example is when he ran with his gang to save another gang member Dally from the police who were chasing him as he shoplifted. We can see this when Darry says, “Sure Dally, are you alright? Hang on we will be right there.” and he says to cops (while he is crying for Dally’s death), “You stupid idiots! You stupid freaks!” I think the author’s purpose here was to show that brothers always stick together even if they think they are in conflict with each other. This shows how Darry is an interesting character and about how he cares about his gang and his brothers’

Darry gets really angry and frustrated when Ponyboy does not get good grades, finish his homework to the best of his ability, or not take care of himself or not acting responsibly. Darry has high expectations of Ponyboy. For example, when Ponyboy slept in the park and came back home at about 2am, Darry got really angry and hit Ponyboy for the first time and then felt sorry when he ran away. We can see this when Darry says, “Where the hell have you been Ponyboy. You know what time it is, it is 2 O'clock in the morning you kiddo. Heh, I can’t even call the cops because you two be thrown in a boys home so fast it will make your head spin. I didn’t mean to, I forgot, It is all I ever hear from you! Ponyboy I didn’t mean to (when Darry hits Ponyboy for raising his voice and talking back at him).” Another example is when he scolds him for not doing homework to the best of his ability and getting low grades, because he wants Ponyboy to grow up well and go to college since that is an opportunity he and Sodapop missed out on. We can see this when Ponyboy says, “Darry is always rough with me without meaning to be. Sometimes I just don’t use my head. It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, cause I’m supposed to be smart; I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don’t use my