Brent May 31, 2023 5a The Greasers: A Band of Brothers Identity is the notion of how one perceives their own-self as well as how they believe others perceive them; whether good or bad identity is an important part of life and acceptance of that identity is crucial to find happiness. Ponyoby Curtis from the novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton has a hard time deciding which identity he finds more important; whether it's his family or his academic standards, or his gang and their stereotypes. In the end however, Ponyboy realizes that his group identity is more important to him than how he thinks of himself. To begin, Ponyboy's self-identity constructs his personality and his emotions, and how others view him. Whether being viewed as different …show more content…
He mainly tries to shape his self-identity off his group. This is clear because while The Greasers are hanging out and talking about Johnny´s situation at home and how this gang is like family to him, Ponyboy notes that “Socs had so much spare time and money that they jumped each other for kicks…things were rough all over, all right. All over the east side.¨ (43) Because he stayed through tough times and is currently living through them this displays that he really cares about his gang and how it's like his family. Another reason that his group identity is stronger is because, while Cherry and Marcia are worried Dally is going to hurt them, Ponyboy notes that “When you’re a gang, you stick up for the members” (26) because he sticks up for the members of his gang no matter what. This reveals his loyalty to the gang and all the other members and how truly important it is to him. A final example proving once and for all that his group identity is more important is while starting the Socs down at the Rumble Ponyboy says the reason for this is because “[they] wanted to show [they] were greaser’s” (122) him sticking with his gang through the Rumble and showing that they were greasers a a band of brother exemplifies the idea of his commitment to his gang and to stand by them no matter