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Stereotypes In S. E. Hinton's 'The Outsider'

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S.E. Hinton's fantastic use of the themes of family, empathy, and identity/stereotypes made the story more engaging. First, she used the theme of family very well by showing the readers how much the Greasers cared for each other even though they weren’t related by blood. Secondly, she used the theme of empathy through the characters of Randy and Ponyboy who learned that they had things in common. Lastly, she used the theme of Identity/Stereotypes by showing us who the Greasers and the Socs really are behind the masks they wear. What is a family business? family is “a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together”(Google). S.E. Hinton made this definition wrong, by showing that you can be family even …show more content…

Throughout the book, we see how much Randy and Ponyboy both change. Both of them realize that the socs and the greasers are all humans and go through hard times. S.E. Hinton used the theme of empathy through the characters of Randy and Ponyboy, who learned that they had things in common. Ponyboy and Randy both acknowledge that they don’t fit the definition of a “grasser” or a “soc”. Randy says to Ponyboy: “Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Sometimes I think it's the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs.” (S.E. Hinton (pg 37) Randy is trying to tell Ponyboy that he doesn't see Pony as a greaser but more of just a normal person who cares for everyone around him. Randy also has empathy towards Pony because he's able to share his opinion on Greasers and Socs. Empathy is being aware of and sharing another person's feelings, experiences, and emotions. "You would have saved those kids if you had been there," he said. You'd have saved them the same way we did." "Thanks, grease," he said, trying to grin. Then he stopped, he said. I didn't mean that. I meant, "Thanks, kid." (S.E. Hinton, pg 37) Just in a short amount of time, Randy and Ponyboy have already shown compassion to one another. They both recognize that they are good people and that Randy is already trying to stop using the term “greaser” when talking to Ponyboy. Empathy is the ability to understand someone and to care for someone. I remembered Cherry's voice: Things are rough all over. I knew then what she meant.” ( S.E. Hinton (pg 37) Ponyboy was able to understand that even if you are a soc you still might be going through something. This connected with Randy and Ponyboy's conversation when they were talking about Bob. “Bob was a good guy”. He was the best buddy a guy ever had. I mean, he was a good fighter and tuff and everything, but he was a real person too. You dig a hole in the hole?" I nodded. He's dead -- his mother

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Ponyboy and his gang are constantly getting into fights with the Socs. This causes Ponyboy to think poorly of all socs. He thinks they are rich kids who have perfect lives. By the end of the book, he realizes that not all SOCS are the same when he meets Cherry and Randy. When Cherry treats Ponyboy well and when Randy talks to Ponyboy like he is a human and not anything less, he realizes that not all socs

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(pg. 117) because Randy was being very pitiful about himself and the world. Ponyboy corrected Randy which was heroic because not a lot of people would have corrected his opinion especially if that person was older than you. Ponyboy was brave in the situation as well because he corrected a Soc who was much older and stronger that him. Also, Ponyboy tries to saves innocent people when he knows they are in trouble. Ponyboy saw the burning church he hid in for a few days and said to a man named Jerry who was about to help the children, ‘I’ll get them, don’t worry’ (pg.91) while running to the burning church.

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This didn't make sense to Ponyboy yet. After running from the police when johnny stabbed Bob a soc they find themselves in an abandoned church. When Ponyboy returns to society after being in the hospital. He finds himself meeting with Randy, Bob's best friend. Pony is suppried when Randy tells him that he's sorry for Pony and how Bob's parents never gave him limits.

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Him being tough helps Ponyboy and his brothers be

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Ponyboy wants to share his story because he thinks people might have a paradigm shift because they here the other side of the story and think that not all greasers or socs are bad. On page 4 it says There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn't be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore. It was important to me. Ponyboy and Randy believe that socs and greasers are the same because they all have problems.

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165 Words | 1 Pages

Pony-Boy Curtis and Randy Anderson 's conversation completely changes Pony 's perception on how things are only rough for the Greasers. Pony was always convinced that the Socs had no struggles. The first time Pont was opened to the idea was in chapter two when Cherry Valance said, "Things are rough all over." In my opinion, Pony-Boy never understood the actual meaning of that saying. Pony had accepted the stereotypes on the Greasers and the Socs, that the grasers are the average bad boys and that the Socs a rich patier.

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473 Words | 2 Pages

He’s getting friendly with them, as if they were friends, but not too close like his Greaser family. “‘You might not have. You might have done the same thing.’” He said this after Randy complimented his being heroic on rescuing kids from a burning church. This shows that Ponyboy has loosened up towards the Socs and have nothing against them anymore.

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810 Words | 4 Pages

Randy does not show the Soc stereotype when he shares that he is sick of fights, and how he sees that fighting will do no good to them. Randy reveals his pain and views to be unique and completely different from the Soc stereotype, which is significant because it indicates that Socs are only united because of their social class, but all have individual thoughts and feelings. When Ponyboy talks to Cherry after he comes back from the hospital, he asks her, “‘Can you see the sunset real good from the West Side?’ She blinked,

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1235 Words | 5 Pages

He blames them for all of his obstacles and depicts himself as blameless. Ponyboy finds it easier to blame it on the Socs due to his perception of them being “carefree”, rather than realizing that both groups are at fault. Randy Anderson, Bob’s friend, requests to talk to Ponyboy. They discuss Ponyboy’s actions regarding the fire and how Randy will not appear at the Rumble that night due to his conscience. “‘Nope’, I said, lighting up another weed.

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530 Words | 3 Pages

Randy explained that all Bob wanted was for someone to tell him what to do and give him a sense of direction. “ He wanted someone to lay down the law and set limits but they never did .” After hearing what Randy had to say, Ponyboy’s perspective on the Socs began to change as he realizes that maybe the Socs are not that terrible. Ponyboy real;izes Socs are human to. “ Socs were just guys after all.

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722 Words | 3 Pages

In chapter seven in the Outsiders Ponyboy talks to Randy about how the Socs and Greasers hate each other and in the end, Ponyboy made Randy feel better of himself. With all that Ponyboy experienced, he knows that everyone has some potential for being good and that Randy would have saved the kids in the church too. Randy mentions that the world hates him, but Ponyboy says that he hates the world and he needs to change that. In the talk with Randy Ponyboy says “So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove anything.”

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667 Words | 3 Pages

First, when Pony meets Cherry he realizes that even Socs have problems- that gets reinforced when he has a conversation with Randy. He finally breaks through his bias about the Socs and starts to see that the groups are ridiculous, when he reads Johnny’s letter. No one ever really understands a person until you consider things from where they

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672 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel we see the Greasers and the Soc in constant conflict, fighting and rumbling for gang dominance. Ponyboy is greatly affected by this and is already questioning the point of violence. Close to the end of the text the Greasers and the Socs plan a rumble to occur one night. Before the fight, Ponyboy meets Randy Anderson (a Soc) at the Tasty Freeze Diner where they have a conversation. Ponyboy realises that Randy is, “not going to show at the rumble” and that he is, “sick of rumbles because they don't do any good.”

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594 Words | 3 Pages

However, he is negatively affected by it. An example of Ponyboy accepting his stereotype is when he fights in the rumble against the Socs, with the other greasers. He is not ashamed to be fighting with his friends, even though he states that he has no reason for fighting. Additionally, Ponyboy is upset when he is forced to cut and bleach his hair, because he wanted to look “tuff” like his friends.

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326 Words | 2 Pages

Despite the way the Socs and the Greasers feud, they both are human and feel emotion just the same as one another; they don’t feel any less than the other, and they both can “see the same sunset”, as Ponyboy described it. For example, later in the story, Ponyboy and Johnny (Ponyboy’s

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