Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The outsiders essay introduction
Literary analysis about the outsiders
The outsiders essay introduction
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Ponyboy and his brothers live on the poor side of town. They are called greasers and are not as privileged as the Socs who live on the rich side of town. Being a greaser is difficult because they are the lowest class. The Socs often harass and beat up the greasers. In the beginning of the story, Pony gets beat up by a group of Socs.
Ponyboy “ said that he was late for supper” “Darry had cooked dinner: baked chicken and potatoes and corn,” Ponyboy said that he loves chicken, then Ponyboy said, “Then we hurried to take a shower and change clothes. Me and Soda and Darry always got spruced up before a rumble. And besides, we wanted to show those socks we weren’t trash, that we were just as good as they were. Then Johnny talks about why everyone fights. Darry fight for pride, Soda fight for fun, Steve fight for hatred, Two-Bit for conformity.
Situation:This is when Ponyboy and cherry are talking while they were getting popcorn. Ponyboy told her about the time that Johnny got beat up by some of the Socs. Importance:
Many people underestimate the struggle and change of maturing and growing up. It can feel different and be almost like an out-of-body experience. S.E. Hinton does an exceptional job at capturing what growing up and developing is like in The Outsiders. Ponyboy Curtis, a 14 year-old that is part of the Greaser gang, is undergoing a time of development in the story, and one can really see the difficulty that Ponyboy has to endure during that process. Although Ponyboy has to go through this process, he changes significantly, and becomes different in the way he acts and lives.
In the beginning of the novel, as he walks home after exiting a movie theater, Ponyboy is jumped by the Socs and quickly is left alone when the rest of the Greasers gang comes by. Darry, Ponyboy’s guardian, and his older brother checks on him after he finds him laid on the street. “I sat down again, rubbing my cheek where I'd been slugged the most. Darry jammed his fists in his pockets. ‘They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?’
‘ I had to tell her that, because I had seen her eyes when Two- Bit flicked out his switch. ‘I know,’ she said quietly. Ponyboy . . . I mean . . . If I see you in the hall at school or someplace and don’t say hi, well, it’s not personal or anything, but . . .’
Moreover, before the rumble Darry talks to Ponyboy about how he doesn 't want him to be in the rumble. Darry thinks that Ponyboy is a lot weaker than he was before. In the Outsiders, the text says, “I don 't know if you ought to be at the rumble,Pony,” Darry said slowly. “ You have lost weight and you don 't look so great,kid. You are tensed up too much”(133-134).
This conveys that Ponyboy accepts the fact that he is a hoodlum and is proud of it. In addition, Randy conveys that he and other Socs are trapped by stereotype threat because “he kept trying to make someone say ‘No’ and they never did. They never did. That was what he wanted. For somebody to tell him ‘No’.
During the night, they were approached by a group of Socs that began to pummel the boys, while drowning Ponyboy. Worried about
Hero’s are great and powerful people. A Hero is someone who is willing to risk their life to help someone even though they don’t have to. Ponyboy is an example of a hero. Johnny is also a great example of a Hero. Bob though, is the complete opposite of a Hero.
I quickly finished tying my shoe and hopped onto my purple mountain bike and we were off. Logan my brother who I love sometimes,Cassie My best friend, Easton Cassie’s brother,Sawyer Cassie’s brother, Mr. Wychers and I were going to ride our bikes through a trail off in the woods and go to Whistle stop and then cut through town and head to Houseman's. The sky was cloudy and the daylight was being blocked by a thick dark cloud, which looked a lot like a rain cloud. We started to cut through a dead cornfield, lifeless tall brown and crusty plants sat in a single spot and as the soft wind blew the once luscious herbs. I felt the dead greens slap me in the leg and burrs got stuck to my pant leg.
To illustrate, it is said in the book that “Then there were shouts and the pounding of feet, and the Socs jumped up and left me lying there, gasping …. By then I had figured that all the noise I had heard was the gang coming to rescue me” (6-7). This shows that Ponyboy’s friends came to the rescue and saved him from the Socs when they heard him yelling. If not for these friends, Ponyboy could have been seriously injured, or even killed. Moreover, S.E. Hinton wrote, “Johnny asked no questions.
Throughout the novel we see the Greasers and the Soc in constant conflict, fighting and rumbling for gang dominance. Ponyboy is greatly affected by this and is already questioning the point of violence. Close to the end of the text the Greasers and the Socs plan a rumble to occur one night. Before the fight, Ponyboy meets Randy Anderson (a Soc) at the Tasty Freeze Diner where they have a conversation. Ponyboy realises that Randy is, “not going to show at the rumble” and that he is, “sick of rumbles because they don't do any good.”
However, he is negatively affected by it. An example of Ponyboy accepting his stereotype is when he fights in the rumble against the Socs, with the other greasers. He is not ashamed to be fighting with his friends, even though he states that he has no reason for fighting. Additionally, Ponyboy is upset when he is forced to cut and bleach his hair, because he wanted to look “tuff” like his friends.
He just hollered at me” (P.12) Around Chapter 5, the beginning of Ponyboy’s realization of his brother true feelings are known. The