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Sense Of Belonging In The Outsiders

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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

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Synapsis: The Outsiders is about two gangs who never get along, the greasers and the socs. The greasers are poor and are always blamed for what goes wrong, while the socs are the rich kids that can get away with anything. One night a greaser kills a soc and now all eyes are on Ponyboy and Johnny as they try to escape their mistake and guilt.

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The Outsiders is a novel created by S.E. Hinton in 1967, which follows the lives of Greasers and Socs, two different social classes. The Greasers were generally the economically disadvantaged youngsters of Tulsa, Oklahoma and were known for their long hair, leather jackets and rebellious attitudes, while the Socs were the wealthy teenagers, privileged with “money, cars and futures”. This thought-provoking novel specifically focuses on a teenager, Ponyboy Curtis and his experiences with his gang members. The book was written by Hinton in an attempt to showcase that Greasers deserved respect, despite their economic and social status. She also wanted to display that Socs face challenges quite frequently even though they have an easier life.

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After having to get Dally away from her they began to talk and saw that they had similarities. They both enjoyed watching the sunset which they found surprising because in their eyes Greasers were cold-hearted people who cared nothing about anyone else and just wanted to fight and Socs were stuck-up rich kids who only cared about themselves and their status. However, Pony and Cherry were different in that it did not matter if one was a Soc and one was a Greaser because they had similarities and bonded over them. Cherry even said that Socs also have their problem even if they are rich, as she says “things are rough all over.”

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The story is told in the perspective of a Greaser, Ponyboy Curtis. The movie dives into the theme of the impact of socioeconomic factors, social inequality and youth delinquency. "The Outsiders" allows viewers to examine the characters' backgrounds and circumstances, shedding light on the social disorganization theory in criminology.

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The Outsiders is in a first-person perspective of a 14 year old Greaser named Ponyboy Curtis in the 1960's. There were two main groups in the 60's, you were either a Soc or a Greaser. The difference between them is that Socs were more upper class and lived in nice houses, wore nice things, had nice cars, nice everything. But on the other hand, Greasers were more lower class, they were viewed as hood, poor, dangerous. These two never associated with each other, whenever they saw each other, it was most likely fighting, or Socs jumping a lone Greaser.

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810 Words | 4 Pages

Social Division Why might different parties fight? In the book, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, the main character, Ponyboy, lives in a community that is socially divided into the parties of Socs and Greasers, and due to this division, many problems arise. In this book, one can learn not to judge someone by stereotype or class because it leads to social division, creates significant problems, and because each person is unique and complex. First, judgment by stereotype or class leads to social division. When Johnny was looking for a football and minding his business, four Socs pulled up and, “caught him and one had a lot of rings on his hand.

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In the novel The Outsiders , there are two social groups, the Greasers” and the Socs. Greasers are considered stupid, dirty, rowdy, and overall horrible. Socs think all Greasers are the same. Greasers think that all of the Socs have perfect lives and they are all happy with no struggles. Neither of them are right, there are struggles on both sides of town.

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While S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders touches on identity, agency, and community, I believe the major theme is identity. The question of how people can be so different and have such different lifestyles yet share the same fundamental human characteristics is one that Hinton explores in depth through Ponyboy’s examination of his own identity and the identities of the other young adults in his town. Ponyboy grapples with the distinction between greasers and Socs several times throughout the novel, such as when Cherry Valance claims “you greasers have a different set of values” (38). In the same conversation with Cherry, Ponyboy later claims that the reason greasers and Socs are different is that “it’s feeling – you don’t feel anything and we feel

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The Outsiders discusses a variety of themes. The first and major theme is the gap between the different social classes, particularly the gap between the rich and the poor. The story shows that the rich take advantage of their authority. They look down to greasers and see no value in them. They look at themselves as the better part of the society, hence they allow themselves to do whatever they want.

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In the book, The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, the Greasers, who are the poor kids, face many serious conflicts against the rich Socials, or Socs. The realistic fiction novel focused on Ponyboy, a 14 year-old Greaser who struggles with being a Greaser and not feeling understood by. The story follows Ponyboy and his friend Johnny as they run away after killing a Soc named Bob, whose death caused an all-out war between the Greasers and the Socs. Three topics addressed in the fascinating novel are the fight between rich and poor, what it means to be a hero, and the change from youth to adulthood.

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In The Outsiders, both greasers and Socs have formed negative friend groups called cliques. According to the article “Click or Clique: Positive and Negative Teen Social Groups,” cliques are, “organized around power and popularity” (Hartwell-Walker & Grohol). Cliques can even take away a member’s individuality. Even though greasers were focused less on public image, greasers and Socs do have unwritten, yet set standards for anyone in their gang or group. As a young teen wanting to belong, Ponyboy began to change in order to “fit in” with the greasers.

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In the novel, the main conflict was caused by the Greasers and the Socs, them and the Greasers disdain one another. This was mostly dependant on how different they were relating to their social and economic classes. The Socs were rich and had a luxurious life whereas the Greasers were poor and recognized as troublemakers. Ponyboy expresses that “[he’s] not

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745 Words | 3 Pages

Dally had jumped a few people. [...] But not all of us are that bad” (34). While Cherry is a Soc, she knows that you can’t judge people by who they hang out with. In fact, Cherry took time to talk to Ponyboy rather than judging him by the way Dally acted.

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In S.E. Hinton’s story, The Outsiders, group identity is so important that sometimes people overshadow their own identity. In our generation it is kind of the same way to some people, for instance people sometimes act and dress differently around the popular kids to fit in. While at home they do their normal routine and stay true to themselves. This is so important to the story for many reasons. It is also really important to kids this age in 2017.

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833 Words | 4 Pages

Cherry’s recognition of Ponyboy being “more than just a greaser” leaves Ponyboy thinking about how the two gangs aren 't so different, “We aren 't in the same class. Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too” (pg 46 S.E. Hinton). Ponyboy’s conversation with Cherry fulfills him briefly until he realizes they are in different gangs and cannot stay

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