Struggle In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

Everyone faces struggles in their teenage years. For some, it may be drama within their friend group. For others, it can be more serious, like getting in trouble with the law. No matter how small the struggle is, it is a huge deal to the person struggling. In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy, the main character, faces many struggles; these struggle teach him lessons, such as he is not the only person with problems, fighting and violence cannot simply solve everything, and, most importantly, he must stay true to himself.
Ponyboy realizes that not only do he and his friends have problems, but their rich adversaries, the Socs, do as well. In the words of Cherry Valance, “Things are rough all over.” (Hinton 35). Cherry’s boyfriend constantly gets drunk and mistreats her. Socs have money to spare, but Greasers have to work to survive. Greasers are constantly jumped by Socs that are just trying to find something to do. Socs have trouble being very emotional, while Greasers are overly emotional. For example, when Johnny dies, Darry freaks out, as he does quite often, and has the police kill him, while, when Bob dies, Randy says "it's the

Hinton, Ponyboy learns he is not alone in having problems, violence doesn’t solve everything, and he must stay true to himself. Ponyboy’s faces more drama inn a few days of his teenage years than most people face in their teenage career. He is a witness to a murder, runs in with the law many times, and his friend dies from a fire. Most people only have to deal with a bad grade or a mean friend. When privileged adults and children hear of how bad other people’s lives can be, they usually feel bad. But while they may have had an easier road to success, they do not have the experiences the less privileged do. They do not face the hardships. They do not make the sacrifices. They do not face the struggles. But most importantly, they do not face the challenges and they do not learn from