Why Do Greasers Fight In The Outsiders

In The Outsiders, two gangs known as the socs (socials) and greasers fight one another for many reasons. On page 133, Ponyboy starts off by asking his brother, Sodapop Curtis, why he fights. Sodapop responded by saying, “It’s action. It’s a contest. Like a drag race or a dance or something.” Steve chimed in and said he wanted to punch the soc’s heads in and beat the other guys real bad. Next, when Pony asked Darry, he didn’t answer, so Soda spoke for him and said that he fights to show off his muscles. When Ponyboy asked Two-Bit why he fights he gave a simple answer, “Shoot, everybody fights.” Ponyboy came to the conclusion that Sodapop fought for amusement, Steve fought for anger and hatred, Darry for pride, and Two-Bit for conformity (because everybody else does it). However, he still doesn’t understand the point for fighting because he knows that the greasers will never truly win. Pony wrote ”No rival gangs, only Socs. And you can't win against them no matter how hard you try, because they've got all the breaks and even whipping them isn't going to change that fact.” This quote means that even if the greasers do win the fight, the socs will still be rich and the greasers will still be poor.

The socs and the greasers are two different types social classes. The socs are the “haves”, meaning that they have nice cars, big houses, and wear nice clothes, like madras. The greasers, on the other hand, are the “have nots” with beat up cars, small houses, and simple clothing. And of course, they grease their hair, hence their name. One example where man vs society was present was when Cherry told Ponyboy not to take it personally if she totally ignores him in school. She said this because a soc and a greaser aren’t supposed to hang out together, since they are parts of two different social