Sodapop: A True Hero

Hercules said, “A true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart.” A hero is someone who wants to help others and always does the right thing. In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Sodapop isn’t a hero because he’s extremely strong or courageous, but because he’s caring and selfless. In the beginning of the book, Soda has a conversation with Ponyboy about his relationship with Sandy. “I think I’m gonna marry Sandy. After she gets out of school and I get a better job and everything. I might wait till you get out of school, though. So I can still help Darry with the bills and stuff,” (18) says Soda. He is willing to put everything on hold to help make sure that his brothers have a stable

As a greaser, it is hard to do this, with everyone always seeing the worst in them and the socs constantly jumping them. It’s hard to see the world as anything but bad in the situation that the greasers are in, but Sodapop always sees the good. He knows there is something positive in everything and everyone. When Soda found out that Sandy’s baby was not his he was still willing to marry her because he believed that she was still a good person after the bad thing she had done. After a long day, Soda runs out of the house, and Darry tells Ponyboy about the letter from Sandy. Darry explains, “ ‘When Sandy went to Florida… It wasn’t Soda Ponyboy. He told me he loved her, but I guess she didn’t love him like he thought she did because it wasn’t him.’... ‘He wanted to marry her anyway, but she just left’ ” (174). Most people would have been angry and wished the worst upon her, but not Soda. He thought that no matter what bad she could do it would be alright and that she would still love him. In most cases this is a great quality, but in this instance, Soda got his heart broken because he was just being a great guy. When Sodapop decides to try to see the best in Sandy, it shows how heroes are people who want to see the best version of