You are walking down the street when you catch a glimpse of a blond girl standing at the end of the sidewalk, decked out in the latest designer brands and texting away on the newest model of the iPhone. She slides into a silver Mercedes Benz, loaded with the richest kids in town. You leave without thinking much of it, but what you might’ve failed to realize is that you probably made a naïve, unconscious assumption about her. Through several works of outstanding literature, authors have been able to tear away the facades society weaves for people and show us the personalities beneath ostentatious jewels, precious fabrics, or dirty, ripped shirts. Stories worth telling again and again exploit the ingenuousness of human nature with their themes and leave the reader questioning his or her own qualities. This book about the gang of greasers versus the high-class Socs mirrors the lives of many in the world today, both sides struggling in facing different kinds of discrimination from the people around them. In The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton successfully conveys the message through her characters and the divided society they live in that it is wrong to judge the wholesome nature of someone based on their wealth, showing the reader that underneath people’s adornments, everyone is the same.
How do you describe wealth? True prosperity, in many ways, is not a number, for the amount of money you have doesn’t define who you are. People can be in poverty but lead happy, delightful lives, indulging in the simple aspects of everyday life. For example, the character of Sodapop Curtis, the older brother of protagonist Ponyboy Curtis, is described as carefree and fascinated by living in the moment. “His eyes are dark brown- lively, dancing, recklessl...
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...delight, and many more. Hinton skillfully opens the reader’s eyes to the humans underneath his or her image of prosperity in the theme of The Outsiders, exposing the positive and the negative on both ends of the monetary pyramid to slam stereotypes used carelessly everyday. Now, revisiting the blond girl in the beginning of this essay, what do you think? She may be charitable, loyal, and witty, all of which are stellar qualities in a friend. Contrastingly, she may be selfish, whiny, and shallow, the more popular belief fabricated by people, due to her image of wealth. Despite this, nobody deserves to be judged in such a way based on his or her position of affluence, often easily obtained from a glance. In the end, when you look into the mirror, you should not see yourself in terms of fortune, but view yourself in terms of your integrity, kindness, and inner beauty.
In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy, along with his brothers and friends, has to face the daily struggles of being a greaser among the Socs. This fiction book focused on Ponyboy’s life and the problems he ran into with the Socs. He and his gang of friends had fights with the Socs that happened often, and had to deal with a Soc being killed by one of the Greasers, though it was an act of self defense. The three topics addressed in this intriguing novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what it means to be a hero.
The Outsiders, an enthralling novel by S.E Hinton, is an excellent story about the hardships and triumphs experienced by the Greasers and the Socs two rival gangs. S.E Hinton tells a thrilling tale about the Socs and the Greasers that are two gangs and she characterize how they live. Ponyboy, his brother and his friends have to deal with the challenges relating to their environment. The three most important topics of The Outsiders are survival, social class and family support.
Through his vivid depiction of the valley of the ashes in the acclaimed novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald unveils the truth about 1920s America: economic prosperity did not guarantee happiness and resulted in depreciating conditions for those that were not able to connive their way to the top.
”Because most people identify as separate from other people, they have what we call some "concept" of themselves. Self-concept refers to how people “think about, evaluate, or perceive” themselves.” Self-concept can be split into categories that make people who they are. Throughout “The Outsiders”, Ponyboy the protagonist, describes his brother and his friends in relation to him, giving insight on what makes each of them who they are. After reading an article on this topic “Self-Concept “by Saul McLeod (1), and reading chapters 1-3 of the novel “The Outsiders” (2). One can see the major reasons that make people who they are: self-image and self-esteem/self-worth.
In the novel wealth plays vital impact on the lives of the characters, money defines social stature, in my perspective middle class was practically nonexistent, established wealthy individuals
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class.
The American standard of success has always been defined by the effort put into receiving this success. Some are lucky and have success come with ease, others have to put in a great deal of work and even then they still fall short of their desired position. Throughout, “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald scrutinizes the collapse of the American dream through Jay Gatsby. Through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the readers experience the rise and fall of Jay Gatsby’s successes. From the initial sequences of the novel it is apparent that wealthiness is the point of which you are judged in the time period the book takes place.
Social inequality has been prevalent in modern-day America, where you could get picked on for just wearing the wrong brand or hairstyle. This occurs the most upon people who are struggling to adjust to adulthood; teenagers. Social inequality has and still is affecting teenagers across the world, and writers are writing about this problem in order to raise awareness and to change the view of the public. These authors write about example in which the inequality is demonstrated, hoping to present a different perspective and to motivate the reader against social inequality. However, not enough awareness has been raised to help prevent it. This is working, but not quickly, but it shows that things like books and music can help to raise awareness,
This book showed the struggle between rich and poor. The two main groups of the story were the Socs and the greasers. The Socs are in the upper class while the greasers are the poor ones that dislike the Socs because they have more money, better cars, and act like they are better than the greasers. The Outsiders is a good story by S.E. Hinton that shows the struggles of growing up Hinton did a fine job with the character development, the plot, and the theme with a few flaws.
Though unbeknownst to many, the experience of being an outsider is a sensation that everyone can go through. In the world, it is entirely possible for a person to be judged on physical appearance, opinions, and status among other things. It is simply how humans have adapted; they experience society by forming social groups that they are comfortable in. Generally, this group is seen to those involved with it as the “inside group”, and those not directly related to it are seen as “outsiders.” Even in literature, it is clear that the feeling of being one of these outsiders is universal. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Fences by Pat Mora, and The Doll’s House by Katherine Mansfield all properly display how anyone can be an outsider.
When flipping through Vogue, a well-known high fashion magazine, one can see that almost all the advertisement scream wealth and status. The magazine’s beautiful models as well as its expensive brands are major characteristics of the famous magazine. Members of the middle class skim through the magazine thinking, “Wow, if only I could look like this!” In Gregory Mantsios’ article “Class in America,” he says, “We are, on occasion, presented...
From dreams deferred to identity affirmed Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” presents readers with many differing themes. The most prevalent and reoccurring theme is the effect money plays on society’s views of manhood and happiness. Readers are shown multiple characters with a diverse view on manhood. From Walter Lee with his matching societal views that a man should be able to provide whatever his family needs or wants to Lena whose views are a biased compilation of her late husband’s behavior and her own ideals, that a man should maintain his honor and protect his children’s dreams.
In the story, “A&P” by John Updike, the student identifies the differences of social classes between Sammy, a checkout clerk and Queenie, a wealthy girl that visit’s the store. Though not from the same class structure, Sammy is compelled to interact with the girl, however fails in doing so because she is considered privileged.
The movie Born Rich at first seems like a kid who wants to overcome the “voodoo of inherited wealth” (Born rich, 4:24). Jamie Johnson the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune is intent on getting his inner circle of friends to address this controversial issue. From the beginning of the movie there seems to be an unwritten rule that it’s in bad taste to discuss your wealth. This point seems funny that those with money don’t want to talk about their wealth, while those without money only talk about having wealth. As reluctant as they say they are, it seems that they are more than willing to babel on about it and the privilege that accompanies it throughout the movie which seems hypocritical. These kids, seems to range from very grounded to on the verge of paranoia about their money. However when you look at the range of problems, insecurities and unhappiness that exists among these kids it’s easy to say money doesn’t solve your problems.