What Are The Gangs In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

The great philosopher Plato once said, “Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, and the other of the rich; these are at the war with one another.” This quote perfectly summarizes the theme of S.E Hinton's novel, The Outsiders. The novel is about two gangs/groups that live in the rural parts of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Greasers and the Socials or Socs for short. The Socs are the more affluent and often times referred to as the ‘West-side rich kids’, and the Greasers, are the less fortunate gang, that are referred to as ‘ white trash ‘. Throughout the novel, both gangs experience various types of conflict and at one point their differences ended up costing the life of a couple of gang members. Because of the

That same night, the Socs found the Greasers at this park near Ponyboy’s house. Keep in mind that it is Greasers property. Ponyboy and Johnny see the blue car coming near them, once the Socs get out of the car, Ponyboy instantly knows that they are drunk and remembers that Cherry said that Bob was only violent when he was drunk. Once Bob and Ponyboy insult each other, Bob the leader of the Socs screams “ Give the kid a bath, David". Ponyboy narrated ‘I ducked and tried to run for it, but the Soc caught my arm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain. I fought, but the hand at the back of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath. I'm dying,”. This reveals Ponyboy’s thoughts while getting drowned, he thought that he was going to die and Johnny could see it. Johnny killed Bob for self defense, he didn't want to see his best friend die in front of him and not do anything so he took action, and it ended up with death; he didn't mean to, but it happened. After that, Ponyboy and Johnny ran away to an abandoned church and hide there for a week to get away from police. On the last day of the hideout Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally go to Dairy Queen. When they return to the church, they see that a lot of adults and children are surrounding a burning church. Immediately, Ponyboy figures out that the fire is their fault because of the cigarettes they were smoking while hiding out. Because of the guilt that he felt both Pony and Johnny start “ a dead run for the church” Pony says that while he was running towards the burning church a man grabs his arm and says I'll get them. You kids stay out!" but Pony tells the reader that “ I jerked loose and ran on. All I could think was: We started it. We started it. We started it!” (90). This reveals how Bob’s choice of going to fight the Greasers was a big mistake and turned into a huge problem that caused Johnny’s death