One wrong decision can change life forever... In both the poem, “We Real Cool,” by Gwendolyn Brooks and in the novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, the characters make unwise choices and later, face consequences for their decisions. Some common themes in both texts include leaving school, singing sin, and dying young. Leaving school led to a chain of occurrences, which, for some, ultimately led to death. One of the main similarities between “We Real Cool” and The Outsiders is that the characters leave school. “We left school” (Line 1-2) is a major idea conveyed by the poem. In The Outsiders, due to the lack of enforcement by his careless parents, Dally dropped out of school. Sodapop stopped attending school since he thought that he was “dumb” and desperately needed to obtain a job to support his family. After the parents of the Curtis family died, their children experienced a financial crisis. Having already been quite poor, Darry had felt that it was his responsibility to support the welfare of his two other brothers, Sodapop and Ponyboy. In the process of preventing his family from becoming destitute, Darry obtained two jobs, one being roofing houses. As a result of his hapless …show more content…
In “We Real Cool,” the characters “sing sin” (Line 4-5). In The Outsiders, Dally murdered people, robbed stores, jumped Socs, (the rich kids from the West Side) and threatened others to get what he wanted. Dally had received no guidance from his parents as a child, and consequently, he enjoyed mischief and defying the law. Bob, a rich Soc, jumped Greasers (poorer kids from the East Side) for the thrill and often became drunk. His parents had never laid down the limits for Bob. They had never plainly told him “no,” and in fact, sometimes, his parents even took the blame for his wrongdoings. As a result, he continued to commit malevolent deeds. Committing crimes eventually claimed the lives of