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The Perfection Of Love In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

650 Words3 Pages

Taylor swift mentioned that “the perfection of love is that it's not perfect”. Love is like a giant umbrella with numerous meanings under it. Love can be imperfect, cheerful, or bittersweet. In the poem “what love isn’t”, Daley-Ward shows what love is and what love is not. She speaks about how love can be flawless, but also about the hardships of love. The same concept is seen in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders when the characters experience difficult and life changing moments for the worst in their lives. In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, the main protagonist learns what love is and is not through the difficult situations that he experiences throughout the novel. Love is forever, even if loved ones are absent. In the poem, “what love isn’t,” love …show more content…

In the poem, “what love isn’t,” love is viewed as an object that is “never pretty or clean.”(Daley-Ward 13) When the poem states how love is never “pretty or clean”, the poem connects to the claim, for love can have troubles. In other words, Daley-Ward is trying to convey that love is not always the best. This means that love has obstacles that are hard to overcome. The connection between the quote from the poem and the novel is that Darry and Ponyboy never had love that was easy. Darry and Ponyboy's relationship demonstrates obstacles. Darry was always rough on Ponyboy, which gave Ponyboy obstacles. In The Outsiders, Darry slaps Ponyboy and the reaction is that “Suddenly it was deathly quiet. We had all frozen. Nobody in my family had ever hit me. Nobody. Soda was wide-eyed. Darry looked at the palm of his hand where had turned red and then looked back at me.”(Hinton 50) Due to the execution of Darry’s emotion, readers see how love is not shown, but instead Darry’s anger is demonstrated.Although Darry is always rough on Ponyboy, they constantly have some hidden affection for each other. After this scene, Ponyboy starts to believe they do not have a connection with each other or anything corresponding to love. This moment in the novel helps Ponyboy learn what love is not, and here Ponyboy sees love to be imperfect or full of obstacles. When love has obstacles, love is not joyful or

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and I’ll try to believe what I said, but in reality I know what I said is absolutely not true at all! Which now that I think about it is really funny, and I can also connect with Ponyboy on another personal level. When he says “I don’t care about Dally.” I automatically thought about me and how I’ve said I don’t care about someone when I really do. And it made me really feel connected to Ponyboy and the book itself because I can relate to to what’s going on, not just in the passage

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Ponyboy realizes that Darry was hard on him because he didn’t want to see another loved one die. A quote for this is “suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying”(Hinton 98). This quote is important because it proves that Ponyboy was shocked that Darry was crying. Ponyboy has never seen Darry cry, not even at his parent’s funeral, so this shows him that Darry really does

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Which ties in with the thesis that in life love has no restrictions, reaching you even in your darkest

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Ponyboy becomes less afraid of Darry when he realizes that Darry actually does love him. After Ponyboy gets to see Darry when he is taken to the hospital because of the church fire, Darry is standing outside waiting for him. On page 96 Ponyboy writes, Suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying... Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda. Ponyboy also becomes less afraid of Darry when he starts fighting back when Darry yells at him.

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We live in a society that has increasingly demoralizes love, depicting it as cruel, superficial and full of complications. Nowadays it is easy for people to claim that they are in love, even when their actions say otherwise, and it is just as easy to claim that they are not when they indeed are. Real love is difficult to find and keeping it alive is even harder, especially when one must overcome their own anxieties and uncertainties to embrace its presence. This is the main theme depicted in Russell Banks’ short story “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story,” as well as in Richard Bausch’s “The Fireman’s Wife.” These narratives, although similar in some ways, are completely different types of love stories.

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He didn’t realise how much he cared for them and how hard Darry worked to live together as a family because the brothers knew they would get separated into boys' homes. Ponyboy loved Sodapop, he was his favourite brother and person, to him, Sodapop was his only family left and was affectionate. It wasn’t until Ponyboy was in the hospital waiting room when he saw Darrel crying because of him. “Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me.” Even if they had argued almost everyday, Darry was only looking out for his younger brother because no matter how much they fight, they will always be family.

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“If I brought home B's, he wanted A's, and if I got A's, he wanted to make sure they stayed A's. ”(12),Pony sees Darry as more of a controlling hand over his life rather than his older brother who is trying to give him the opportunities that he never had. "I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin. And you were asleep in the lot? Ponyboy, what on earth is the matter with you?

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Darry then decided to step up and “come of age” to try to be a father like figure for Ponyboy. Ponyboy doesn’t seem to think that Darry cares for him because of the way Darry treats Ponyboy so Ponyboy turns to Sodapop more, “Sodapop is different from anybody; he understands everything...almost. Like he 's never hollering at me all the time the way Darry is, treating me like I’m six instead of fourteen,” (#2). This shows that Ponyboy is annoyed of Darry 's strict father-like figure because Darry is always telling Ponyboy what to do instead of being their for him. But Darry’s strict Father-like figure isn 't so bad, it did do some good…..

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They both got angry and started shouting at each other when, “Darry wheeled around and slapped me so hard it knocked me against the door.” (page 50) Ponyboy was frightened and stunned because Darry had never hit him before, so he ran away. Darry hit Ponyboy because he was stressed and confused. After their parents died, it was Darry’s responsibility to be the parent figure for them. He gave up his chance to go to college so he didn’t have to put them in a boys home.

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It might be that Darry came to save Ponyboy, because they are family. This quote could represent how important Ponyboy is to Darry. It might be possible that Darry wants to protect Ponyboy as much as possible because of the bond they have with each other. It is also possible that Darry came because of all the memories he has with Ponyboys. All things considered this information helps prove how Darry, and Sodapop show they care for

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Throughout the novel, characters serve and give of themselves for each other in order to protect the ones they love. Darry makes these kind of sacrifices for his brothers. Later, Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally risk their lives trying to save each other. The

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