In the same way, the characters' group affiliations and their sense of belonging are also a source of motivation in The Outsiders. Starting from the big picture, the Greasers and Socials fight because they dislike how the other group acts and have been fighting like this for a long time. The differences between the Greasers’ and Socials’ sense of belonging make them reject interaction with the other group. For instance, Ponyboy is proud of being a greaser, despite recognizing the struggles they go through every day, such as the lack of wealth. When Ponyboy first meets Cherry, she is described as “those two girls weren’t our kind” (21). Group affiliation in the community The Outsiders is set in is very important, as the characters from both …show more content…
In the same way, during the same scene, Cherry and the Socials tried to ignore Dally when they first met. The way they instinctively responded to Ponyboy and Dally was also to consider them Greasers, which Ponyboy says he has heard numerous times with the same tone of disprovement. On the other hand, Ponyboy is generally confused and dislikes the Socials for the violence they commit against the Greasers as a way to escape their problems. Despite having the individuality to recognize problems such as expectations that the Socials must face, which he learns from Cherry, he still struggles with the Socials because of the differences in culture between the Greasers and the Socials and the conflict caused due to the two groups’ perception of the other group. The two groups see each other through stereotypes and don’t recognize the other’s problems. For example, the Socials are disgusted by the Greasers because of their different culture and reject them. As a result, the characters’ pride in their sense of belonging motivates them to confront the other group. Both groups normalize this because they see violence against the other as justified and