Stereotypes In The Outsiders, By S. E. Hinton

“ ‘I'm a greaser,’ Sodapop chanted. ‘I am a JD and a hood. I blackened the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society.’ ” Stereotypes often put a label on people and give others unrealistic and false ideas of groups or individuals based on many things such as their clothes, their money, and many other assets in which they can’t control. In my opinion, stereotypes are one of the biggest problems in today's world, and S.E. Hinton helps portray the theme, “Everyone is human despite their money and appearance and everyone deserves to be treated the same” in her novel, The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton helps share this message and express this theme through key symbols throughout the book and her characters. Hinton

The first group is the greasers. Greasers are stereotyped as being irresponsible kids who cause trouble. Greasers are often seen in the newspaper robbing stores or getting into fights. The second group is known as the Socs. The Socs are told to be responsible and good kids. However, if you read through the book you will realize that the greasers are wrongly stereotyped and are often just trying to enjoy themselves with the little money and family support that they have. Throughout the book you will realize that the socs are the ones who start fighting with the greasers because they believe that they are higher than the greasers because of their money when really everyone is human and should be treated the same. You don’t see a kid grease and a socy cheerleader together often,”As you can tell, the greasers get separated from society so much that people are surprised when they see a greaser around a socs. Even though the greasers have feelings too, they care about each other as well as everyone else. Greasers shouldn’t be stereotyped as delinquents or careless and lazy. They deserve the same respect and treatment as anyone else. “We wouldn’t have jumped them if they hadn’t jumped us. It was self defense” This evidence shows how the socs aren’t always who people think they are and they were the ones who jumped the greasers. The socs also make mistakes and have imperfections just like everyone else and just because they

Hinton uses symbols throughout the novel, The Outsiders, to represent the theme, “Everyone is human despite their money and appearance and everyone deserves to be treated the same.” For example, some of the main characters, Ponyboy Curtis, who is a greaser, and Cherry Valance, who is a soccer player, both share a similar interest in sunsets. Ponyboy expresses that both the greasers and socs see the same sunset which shows that at the end of the day everyone is human and shouldnt be stereotyped based on their social class. It’s okay, we aren’t in the same class. Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too.” This shows how Ponyboy and Cherry, who come from very different backgrounds and homelifes, both see the same sunset meaning, they are all human and deserve the same treatment regardless of their money and social class and Hinton uses the sunset various times throughout the novel to help support the theme, “Everyone is human despite their money and appearance and everyone deserves to be treated the same.” This is a great