Stereotypes In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

Stereotypes are used everyday, by every human, no matter how much effort we put into speaking objectively. Throughout the centuries, stereotypes have been made for every race, gender, or group of individuals. Examples of such include all blonds are unintelligent, all men are meatheads, women are not strong, and so on. These comments are often used to hurt this group in order to make their own flaws less visible. In the book my RC class read, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, many stereotypes were made about greasers that the narrator, Ponyboy, completely went against. Most believed greasers were uneducated, violent, and emotionless, but this protagonist completely shattered this imposed mold that society has crafted for anyone who is part of a

For example, when he was being beaten up by the Socs, he didn’t fight back, and he started to cry. Although this may be a normal reaction to such an assault, a greaser was never thought to do what he did in this situation. Another example of him not being like his friends is on page 137 when he did a survey to see why everyone fought. Some said to blow off steam and others just liked to fight. However, he realized he fought for self defense, for there was really no other reason for violence. At one point in the book, however, he tried to be menacing by breaking a bottle and threatening some Socs that were approaching him, but to drive him to this point, to of his really close friends had died. Despite his best efforts, he could not be menacing, for after he scared away the Socs, he began to pick up the broken glass and said,“I didn’t want anyone to get a flat.” Although he attempted to be intimidating throughout the book, he never succeeded, always reverting back to his lovable self. The reason he cannot be threatening is he feels emotions too deeply. He has completely defied what everyone has said about him and the people whom Pony has aligned himself