Hinton developed the characters by giving them simple background stories and understandable personalities. The author did a phenomenal job bringing the characters to life. Sometimes, he would smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. Ponyboy’s smoking habits were really bad. Their smoking increased when put in a stressful situation. Throughout the book, all of the Greasers and Socs were usually drinking or smoking. Another issue we have today is teenage drug and alcohol abuse. People prefer to associate with others who share similar interests and think like them.
Also, we tend to divide ourselves up into cliques, just like the Socs and Greasers did. For example, people still judge each other based on the brand of clothes they wear, the phone they have, car they drive, etc. For example, when Ponyboy came home late one night, Darry was furious because he and Sodapop were worried that something bad had happened to him.Īlthough The Outsiders was published in 1967, it’s still enjoyable because the problems expressed in it are still relevant today. Ponyboy complained about Darry being too strict and unreasonable, but really Darry just cared about him and wanted him to go to college, unlike himself. But the reader can see that Darry did not see his brothers as a burden. As a result, Darry worked two jobs and rarely got time to go out. He sacrificed college to raise his younger brothers, Sodapop and Ponyboy, when their parents died. Due to the lack of love at home, the Greasers had created their own family.ĭarry, Ponyboy’s oldest brother, was my favorite character. For example, most of them came from broken homes, were high school dropouts, and felt powerless about their situations. Having been through similar experiences, they all understood each other. My favorite aspect of the book was the relationship between the Greasers. He even checks up on them and takes them to lunch. But when Johnny and Ponyboy run away, Dallas, their not so friendly fellow Greaser, gives them money and tells them to go to an old church to hideout. For example, Ponyboy and Dallas were never really that close. Ponyboy makes it clear that not everyone in the group is fond of one another, but they would still do anything to protect each other. The loyalty among the Greasers is touching. Despite the stereotypes, Ponyboy gets good grades in school, but people don’t see Ponyboy as anything more than a Greaser. He dresses in worn clothes and is from the poorer side of town. Take Ponyboy, the narrator of the story, for example. One life lesson is not to judge someone by their looks. It also teaches readers valuable life lessons that will follow them for the rest of their lives. The Socs could be recognized by their fancy clothes and cars.īut The Outsiders does more than tell the story of two rival groups. The Greasers could be identified by their greasy hair and ratty clothes. The Greasers were jealous of the Socs because they had everything the Greasers didn’t have. The Socs found the Greasers to be good targets, since they had no money or power. Instead of getting to know one another, the two groups chose to fight. Both groups despise each other because they do not understand each other. The Socs are from the rich side and the Greasers are from the poor side of this small town in Oklahoma. The Outsiders, written by S.E.Hinton, follows two rival groups- the Socs and the Greasers.