The Outsiders: Standing Through Struggles There are many factors people can’t control in life. Their initial wealth, the groups they were born into, their social status. All of these things contribute into how they grow, and the person they become. It affects how they treat others, how they treat money and their morals. Both the Socs and the greasers are heavily affected by this, but the greasers do a better job in fighting through. They resist these struggles and don’t let them completely define who they are. They make it so they’re less affected by their socioeconomic state. The greasers are heavily affected by their socioeconomic situation. In their city they suffer from prejudice. People think that they’re just good for nothing greasers. …show more content…
This is because the greasers try. With ponyboy getting caught up in books and movies and the rest of the gang singing, doing acrobatics, and wearing their stereotype. When the greasers are heading to the rumble they jump around while singing, “I am a greaser, a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city, man do I have fun”(Hinton, 136). They do these things because they mean something to them. They fill their lives with breaks of fun between all the chaos of their environment. The Socs throw beer bashes and jump greasers, but to what end. They’re immune to fun and emotion. these things don’t matter, yet they do these things and pretend to have fun. They don’t try to think outside of the box and find better and unique ways to combat their situation. With home life, the greasers have replaced parental figures and a safe home with their community. Their group of friends which they are close with and help ease the pain of whatever they’re going through. They’re able to relate to each other and understand each other. They play games and joke around and gain genuine joy from each other’s presence. The Socs have fake relationships. Their friends don’t ease their pain. They’re friends run away when their friend is killed. They abuse their friends like how Bob acted toward Cherry Vallace at the movies. He drove away just leaving her. They don’t care about their friends and they don’t feel. They just accept their stereotype,where they’re too cool to feel. Because of this, the Greasers are handling their situation more effectively than the Socs
Stereotyping is a constant theme throughout The Outsiders. It may seem as if the Greasers are the ones that really have to deal with presumptions, but the Socs also have quite a bit of stereotyping to deal with. While the outside world tries to force these stereotypes onto the gangs, they also tend to assume things about each other. This leads to divisions between them that most likely would not exist if stereotyping was not so abundant. The Greasers are pegged as nasty hoodlum troublemakers that are dropouts and criminals. On the other hand, the Socs are made out to be the opposite- crisp, intelligent young adults that have no real problems. Many cases of stereotyping between the two groups leads to violence between them.
Once, a wise soul has spoken, “Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful”. Adversity means having troubles and difficulties. It’s what you need to persevere through in order to do something you’ve wanted to do for a long time. If you want to pass that test, you’ve gotta conquer your fears and fight through all the troubles that arrive in front of you. Become your own hero. Adversity is a situation that took place in the novel “The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton.
"Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while."(3). This quote from the book shows that people will think even worse of the Greasers because of their actions. Normal people would not do what they are doing because they have principles. The Greasers were fugitives, and this gave people an even bigger reason to be fearful of them and consider them a disgrace to society. The Socs did comparable things, but were not punished for them like the Greasers, and were still able to keep a sterling image of themselves. "Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next."(3). Unlike the Greasers, whatever the Socs do, it will not ruin their reputation at all. Overall, from looking at both the Greasers and the Socs, it is easy to say that the Greasers are a bigger disgrace to society concerning their behavior than the
Greasers were the lowest among the society. The society had negative thoughts towards Greasers, because there were not many things people expected from the Greasers other than doing bad things such as stealing, having rumble, and other bad things that happened around the society. Not every Greaser does bad things, however, the Greasers took the blame for anything bad even if it was the Socs fault. It is because everyone expected the Greasers to do bad things instead of the Socs. Even though the Greasers had a bad reputation, they didn’t care, but instead they enjoyed their lives. Sometimes the Greasers do bad things but only for fun and because it was the society’s expectations. If the Greasers did something good, no one would expect or believe the Greasers did it. No one would ever expect the Greasers to be heroes, just like the man whose kids were saved by Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dallas. “’Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?’ Sent from heaven? Had he gotten look at Dallas? ‘No, we’re greasers.’” (Page...
After all, they are the “out” group— the clique that society condones. Ponyboy, the protagonist, also identifies himself as part of them. While reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, he felt Pip, the main character reminded him of the greasers–”the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn’t a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down on him” (Doc B). Greasers are lookeed down opon in society becuase they aren’t rich, and the image associated with them is negative. They are believed to be a general menace to society; people think they all steal stuff for kicks, attack innocent bystanders for no reason, and are uneducated hoodlums. They are outsiders to society as a whole. Pony, no matter how smart or talented he may be, will always be treated as an outsider by the Socs just because he’s a
Have you ever thought that Greasers have a preconcieved perception of Socs. Well, if so you are basically saying that what you have heard or a certain action is true to every Greasers and every Socs. In the story, “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton a reader's perception can change. In “The Outsiders,” a group of boys that live on the same side of town are considered to be Greasers. They are called Greasers because they are connected together based on their socioeconomic life, where they live, and how they live. Greasers have such a strong brothership and connection as stated in “The Outsiders.” The Socs are a group of boys who are the rich kids that live on the West side. Socs are regarded with being spoiled by their parents. The reader's perception of these two groups may fluctuate from a negative perception to a positive perception.
Ponyboy was walking home from the theaters and he got jumped. The socs surrounded him and it was an unfair fight for Ponyboy. The Greasers carry around knives to protect themselves. “ I had seen Johnny after four socs got hold of him, and it wasn't pretty.” (4). This shows that the Greasers have to be careful and always be on the lookout for socs so they don't get jumped.
Imagine being dim-witted, stealing and carrying blades everywhere you go, and being unable to feel deeply, those words would make people think of Greasers. Most people when they think of gangs they think, that they fight, steal, and do not care about what is going on around them. Those statements that Greaser's and other assortments of gangs are brainless, criminals, and unfeeling may not be true, Ponyboy, the main character in S.E. Hinton’s book The Outsiders, opposes all of those statements.
Since Socs have that mentality of being violent to Greasers they won't come to terms with them and break into violence by jumping Greasers or just stomping on people. Another example of violence is “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 had fought, but the hand at the back of neck was too strong and I had to hold my breath.” to further explain the quote, Ponyboy and Johnny have done nothing wrong, but Socs, is drunk and mad at them and almost kill ponyboy without truly thinking about it with their clouded judgement and if weren't for johnny both of them would have easily been killed. If the scenario happens where bob kills Ponyboy and Johnny the likes of the Socs being let off would be higher just because everyone stereotypes the greasers as mean, tough, and greased hair. It's like if a white male and a black male were put in court for stealing anything there is a very high chance that the black male would have been guilty, because that's just how society works it is influenced by people that can reconstruct it into their own
I feel as though the novel The outsiders has many themes, but the most important one is belonging. The greasers are a group of poor, low class youth that don’t have much and live on the wrong side of town. They are always held accountable for their actions. On the other hand, the Socs are a bunch of high class youth that are very privileged and aren’t held accountable for their immature actions.
The Greasers one of the gangs in the community are more than just a group of friends. They're more like a family. In fact, two of the group's members, Darry and Sodapop, are actually Ponyboy's older brothers. Darry, the oldest of Ponyboy's brothers, is also his legal guardian since his parents have recently died in a car accident. Ponyboy's other friends include Steve, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Dallas. Together, this group makes up the gang known as the Greasers.The gang's signature hairstyle is long and slicked back, with lots of grease. They commit petty crimes like stealing, fighting, drinking, and smoking cigarettes.The Greasers are looked at by the people of their community as wild because of their appearance and their poor living conditions.
Socs, or the upper class, live on the West side, while greasers reside on the East side. The division of the East and West sides pushes greasers and socs even farther into their harmful stereotypes. As an example: “Greasers can’t walk alone too much or they’ll get jumped” (Hinton 2). This will have an effect on the greaser’s happiness because they have to be scared to walk alone, which means they are most definitely not happy. This shows the division of ow the West and East side because Greasers can’t even walk alone on their own territory without the fear of being beaten up. This divides the social classes further because they become another way to classify greasers and socs, for example the socs are described as, “the jet set, the West-side rich kids” (Hinton 2). and as Ponyboy says about the greasers, “the term greaser is used to class all us boys on the East side” (Hinton 2). Now, the greasers and socs are even more separated by the places they live. The West side no represents socs and rich kids, whilst the East side represents greasers and hoods. Another example of this is when Johnny says, “‘What are greasers doing this far East?” (Hinton 54). The fact that Johnny was questioning Ponyboy, and that he was surprised by this fact, proves that there is a large boundary between the two classes. Also, entering a rival territory could get you beat up or worse, for example
One of the main themes in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is social classes. The people of the town the story takes place in are divided up into three social classes. Poor people are classified as Greasers, the lowest of all classes, who are considered as hoods and juvenile delinquents. Next is the middle class, the people in this class are not poor, but not rich either like the Socs. The Socs are the upperclassmen with Corvettes and Mustangs. They are the rich kids. The Greasers and Socs are rivals, always jumping each other when they get the chance. This book really shows the fine line between a Greaser and a Soc. It shows the differences that they have, the similarities, and a question: Is being poor the only thing that prevents a Greaser from being a Soc?
Typically, greasers are depicted as people similar to hoods, as Ponyboy states, "Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while" (Hinton 4). Yet, even though Ponyboy is a greaser, he avoids getting into trouble for the sake of staying together with his family. He explains that, "I don't mean I do things like that... Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave. So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can, and we're careful not to get caught when we can't" (Hinton 4). Alternatively, Pony also enjoys activities such as reading and watching movies. Even simpler things, such as sunsets and clouds, are something he found beauty and enjoyment in. This sets him apart from the greasers because according to Pony, he states that, "And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do" (Hinton 3). Since nobody other than Ponyboy himself shares the enjoyment of these particular pastimes, which is drastically different from pursuits such as shoplifting and fighting in rumbles, Ponyboy is divergent from the standard attributes of the greasers. Therefore, Ponyboy is a thoughtful and dreamy individual who holds different interests and aspirations than the
A difference in social classes changes the way groups view each other, but they are not always as different as one may expect. In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy and his gang are constantly being mistreated by the Socs because they are considered the lower class of their town. Since the Socs and Greasers have never had a good relationship with each other, the two groups constantly have fights and unnecessary problems that the Socs usually cause. The Socs and Greasers face several issues with and without each other because the Socs always jump the Greasers without reason, the Socs and Greasers both go through internal problems, and the Greasers suffer financially, causing them to have to drop out of school while the Socs do not