“Wealth… And poverty: the one is the parent of luxury and indolence, and the other of meanness and viciousness, but both of discontent.” Poverty and wealth are basic factors of everyday life. The poem “Poverty and Wealth” relates to The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton because their themes are very similar.
Being rich does not always make you happy. The poem states that the poor man “dies with a smile on his lips” and the rich man does not. This proves the theme above. Even though the man lived in poverty, farmed, and worked hard everyday, he still was content with his situation, therefore being grateful and fueling his happiness. The rich man was raised by someone who had lots of money, and made him a king of land and sea. Yet he was not happy, and he treated others with disrespect. Ponyboy and this poem are similar in those means. He is joyful with his brothers, and has fun with is gang. Ponyboy’s social status and lack of money does not cause him dispirited enough to give up on enjoying life and having fun.
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For example, in the poem “Poverty and Wealth”, two baby boys were brought by the same stork yet one was raised by a rich man and the other by a poor man. And even though they came from the very same stork, and aren’t that different, they were raised in separate situations that made them have different views even though on the inside they have the same feelings. This is like the Greasers and Socs in The Outsiders. They are not so different despite the idea of Socs being better due to their money and social class. Ponyboy and Cherry come up with the idea of a sunset, and how even though they live their separate lives they see the same