Opposites In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

How much is man when he is no longer influenced by the things that he was raised on, and how much can he go against the predisposition of his youth? In S.E. In Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders, this question is answered through the characters’ decisions, relationships, and perspective. Although the Greasers and Socs in the novel seem like complete opposites, divided by class and culture, they are both still people, and are quite similar, too. These two groups of boys can be compared and contrasted through their relationships with each other, and Sherry (Cherry) Valance. Cherry is the closest person in the novel to an in between of Greasers and Socs, and relates to both of them. When going out to a movie, she leaves her boyfriend to watch the movie

These two characters were opposites in every way, but there was a connection now, and it didn't matter who had more money. Even their means of going into that drive-in movie are opposites: Cherry goes with her boyfriend in his nice car, and the boys crawl under the fence. This represents how they go about things. She follows the rules, has all of the money, and still feels alone. The boys do things the hard way. They could have paid the fee for the movie, but chose not to. And they had the gang for socialization. Cherry’s culture reflects how she treats the boys. She snaps at Dally, who was harassing her, and is kind to the rest. The boys accepted her, but treated her differently than they would a greaser girl. She was just different from those girls, and they were not used to talking to Socs, much less getting along with them. Additionally, the Greasers were more comfortable than the Socs in

He stabbed and killed Bob. “‘I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you’” (Hinton, 57). The Greasers were like family, and Johnny couldn't just see his friend die. Cherry explained that the Socs were hidden behind a veil of numb sophistication, and the Greasers much more upfront with their feelings. Hinton - 33 years old. This thought process was given to them because of how they were raised; Johnny was not given the best home life, but found comfort in his gang, and Bob was so spoiled, it was crippling. Bob was self-centered and entitled, and Johnny was dangerously selfless. Similarly, the perspectives are different. When a church was burning down with children trapped inside, Ponyboy’s first instinct was to help the kids, and Johnny came with him. But the thought never crossed Randy’s mind. His perspective was changed about greasers when the boys saved the kids, but thought that he wouldn’t have helped them if he had been in that situation. Ponyboy suggests that the type of person emotionally is more important than the title, “‘ Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn’t