Symbols In The Outsiders Essay

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The novel “The Outsiders”, is a novel written by S.E Hinton, that follows the journeys, relationships and struggles of a gang of young boys, called the Greasers. Ponyboy, who is the narrator of the story, tells the story of his life, along with his two brothers, Sodapop, and Darrel. When things go wrong for Pony, and his friend and fellow Greaser Johnny, things get complicated, and people get hurt. With Ponyboys brothers, and friends always looking out for each other, they will never back down from a fight, even if someone dies. There are several symbols that represent important three symbols that represent great themes of the novel, Rings, the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and the word “tuff”. The first symbol being the rings used …show more content…

The final symbols are the words “tuff” and “tough”, and how they are used in the novel to describe two different things. The first way is used to describe something as sharp or cool-looking. When Pony bleached his hair to stay undercover, Soda said how “tuff” his hair looked. Tough means rough. When Dally would get in fights, he would fight tough, and make sure the opponent really regretted fighting him. In conclusion, the words “tuff”, and “tough”, are important symbols as they describe two major things in the novel and show how that person is feeling and how they present themselves. Rings are symbols as Johnny was beat up by a Soc with rings before the rumble with Pony, Johnny and the Socs, and the same Soc that hurt them was the same one that hurt Johnny previously. The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is relevant because it shows that once things are good and “gold’ that they won't be like that forever, and that things will change with