Comparing the Outsiders and West Side Story

The Outsiders and West Side Story

I read the book The Outsiders and watched the movie the West Side Story, they had many similarities but they also had their differences. I enjoyed both the book and the movie they were very well written. I will tell compare and contrast the book and the movie.

In the book The Outsiders the people joined the gang for protection from the Socs who liked to jump them like in the West Side Story the people join for there protection against the other gang from kicking them out but they also join to protect their place to live. They both are in Gangs for protection but unlike The Outsiders where the gangs are divided by social class, the gangs in the West Side Story are divided by race.

In the book The Outsiders the people didn't fight each other that much they stayed together for protection while the other guys attacked them while on the movie the West Side Story both the gangs attack each other. Like in the book the parents of the kids that are in the gang are either dead, drunks, or they don't care about the kid.

In the book The Outsiders they got to together and negotiated terms for rumbles, they did the same thing in the movie West Side Story. Like pony boy in The Outsiders, Tony in West Side Story realizes that fighting isn't worth it and that it got you no were. They both reacted differently though when they found it out, Tony goes and tries to stop the rumble while Ponyboy goes and fights in the rumble and still plays along while he's trying to tell others about it. In the book Randy and Cherry don't like the rumble so they decide not to go but Tony goes a step further and tries to stop the rumble.

The jets in the movie are like the Socs in the book, that they both have power. The Socs power is their money, the jets power is the cop who is racist and being the native inhabitants. In the book you see the greasers getting pumped for the rumble just as you see the jets and the sharks getting pumped in the movie.