Conflicts are present in everyday life, whether they are at work, school, or at home. Some people may have worse conflicts than others depending on their environment and surroundings. In “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton, Ponyboy and his friends face many different types of conflicts because of who other people think they are and their position in society. They are from the East Side of New York and are called “greasers”, or poor, by the wealthier people. The characters in “The Outsiders” overcome conflicts that are out of their control, like “Man vs. Society”, “Man vs. Self” and “Man vs. Man”. A “Man vs. Society” conflict is one where a person has to prove that they are acceptable to a society. In “The Outsiders”, Ponyboy and his friends are …show more content…
called “greasers”, or poor and undeserving, by the wealthy people, called the “Socs”. The greasers usually do not have much of a family and have to hold at least two jobs to make enough income to provide for themselves. When people see them walking down the street, they look away or feel threatened because they look like thieves or look tough. The greasers have themselves to rely on, they cannot trust anyone else, especially the Socs. The Socs find satisfaction in jumping the greasers because they know that they are less than them and that they cannot do anything about it. The Socs and the greasers could not hang out at the same places, it’s like the greasers were segregated from the Socs. The greasers could not control whether they had to drop out of school to make money to support their families, so that they could be a part of a society. This was beyond their control, they could not control how much money their mothers or fathers made, or where they grew up and who they were friends with. The greasers knew that “[they] just weren’t the same” as the Socs, but society still did not accept them (Hinton 52). They were the stereotypical “gang members” who did not have enough money to buy the nicest things, they were not the stereotype of a ‘good person’, which was beyond what they could control. The way that society views the greasers is beyond their control and they cannot do anything to change that. A “Man vs. Self” conflict is one where a person has a battle within their own minds. Ponyboy struggles to find where he takes part in making sure that his brothers and friends stay alive through survive. He wants to be looked at as strong and tough like the other guys are, but, being the youngest and smallest one, he is looked at as weak and like he needs to be taken care of. Ponyboy always wants to help when someone gets jumped or hurt, but his brothers make him stay back or keep a distance because they don’t think that he can handle it. This leads Ponyboy to destructive behavior like running away and thinking that he “deserves a lot of what [he] gets” (Hinton 151). He is battling with himself about whether he is strong enough to fit in with the other greasers and make decisions for himself, or if he is just like what his brother said he was, weak and mindless. He cannot control this, most kids his age would not have to think about how they fit into helping their brothers stay alive, but he does. The Socs also have conflicts within themselves. Cherry, a girl that Ponyboy met at the movies, understands that greasers and Socs are the same, but does not know how to express her feelings and bring more people to think like she thinks. She knows that “things are rough all over”, and although they may be a different kind of rough, everyone has things going on that are out of their control. She does not want to pick sides, between Socs and greasers, but knows she has to (Hinton 117). Ponyboy and Cherry cannot control the conflicts that they have with themselves in their minds, but they may be able to control the outcome of their conflict. A “Man vs.
Man” conflict is one where there are two sides fighting against each other. The Socs and the greasers have always been fighting against each other, whether it was the Socs jumping the greasers, the greasers stealing from the Socs, or in a rumble, there have always been two separate sides. They each view themselves as the good side and the others as the evil side. Each side is fighting for something different, though. The greasers are fighting to prove that they are not as weak and dumbfounded as the Socs may think, and to prove that they are equal to them. The Socs are fighting to prove their superiority to the greasers and prove that they are better than the greasers. At the final rumble, Ponyboy “lost two of [his] best friends, [his] brothers”, but the worst part for him was that he could not control the hatred that the Socs had for them, so he could not control the terrible things that would happen to him or his family (Hinton 148) . The Socs ended up backing down, but not after they had killed and injured many of the greasers. But that is how they would know there would be another one, with even more power. The greasers could not control the feelings that the Socs had toward them, so therefore, they could not control the many conflicts that they had with them. But they still faced the obstacles that they had no control over because they knew that if they did not, than things would never get
better. There were many different obstacles faced in the book “The Outsiders” that were out of the characters control. These included “Man vs. Society”, “Man vs. Self”, and “Man vs. Man”. The characters could not control the way that others felt about them, the way that they felt about themselves, or the conflicts that they got into with other people, but they could control how hard they fought to stay strong and stay alive and that is how they overcame the obstacles.
Title: The Outsiders Author: S.E. Hinton Publication Information: Dell Publishing, 1967; 156 Pages Genre: Young Adult Novel The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, is about the rivalry of two gangs, Greasers and Socials. The Greasers are low class and the Socials are high class. In The Outsiders there are two rival gangs, one from the lower class, who are the Greasers and their rivals are from the upper class, they are the Socials.
The book The Outsiders is the realistic story about this between two very different groups in a town in the United States: the poor Greasers from the east side, and the Socs, whitch is what the greasers call the socials, the richer boys from the other side of the town. Ponyboy Curtis is the narrator of the story, a 14-year-old boy who lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Soda. He is a pretty good athlete and student, but is not treated the same as the richer students at his school. Ponyboy uses to have long hair that he greases back, a symbol of being in the outsider gang. He is unhappy with his situation, because Darry is too protective of him and he always has to be afraid of Socs attacking him.
The “Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, is a novel about a young boys journey through life after a horrible tragedy. When Ponyboy's parents died, he struggled with living alongside his two older brothers. Darry, Ponyboy’s older brother, was his legal guardian. Pony should stay with his older brothers, Sodapop and Darry, because they are all each other have. The only family Pony has left is his older brothers and the greasers. Taking him away from his family when he needs it most is wrong.
The book “the Outsiders” (S.E. Hinton) is based on the story of two gangs the Greasers and the Socs. These two groups of individuals have conflicts. the Greasers are the East side working class people. The Socs are the West side rich kids. they drive around in a blue mustang, they “jump” the greasers and injure them purely because they are lesser than the Socs. The Greasers are a interesting bunch of individuals. the story is based from their perspective. They aren’t rich but they get by, they steal they fight they smoke but they aren’t bad guys.
Can some people so different be so a like? Can some people so alike be so different? Dally and Johnny are those two who are so different, but yet they are similar. In the book S.E. Hinton writes The Outsiders, Johnny Cade and Dally Winston come from two completely different backgrounds, and have completely different scruples. Yet, at the same time they are alike. Dally and Johnny’s parents both repudiate them, making Johnny and Dally mentally tough, and the boys do not value their lives. At the same time though they are different, Dally is stronger than Johnny. Though, Johnny has a soft heart and Dally would not even pay any attention if someone is dying right next to him.
Could a person live in a world without people who love and care for them? Could people survive in a world where they were judged by how they were presented on the outside? S.E. Hinton, the author of The Outsiders, discusses many universal themes, such as friendship, stereotyping, and change. In The Outsiders, two rival groups, the socs and the greasers, are separated by social class. The friendship between the greasers will be tested when an unexpected event changes everything. The greasers must learn that people experience many tragic events, no matter who the person is. Based on the universal themes, the readers will begin to understand how the characters in the novel grow and change, and how friendship and family help along the way.
How do animals survive in hostile environments? Do they sacrifice their lives for others of their kind, or do they sacrifice other members of their species for a chance to live? Sometimes, adapting to life may mean sacrificing your humanity and getting tough. For example, coming to somebody’s aid may seem like the brave, honourable thing to do, but it may end up costing you your life. The previous statement is an important theme in the novel titled The Outsiders. For two gangs, the Greasers and the Socs, humanity means different things. The Greasers are emotional and try their hardest to keep out of the west side of town, Soc territory, whereas Socs are always looking for trouble, robbing Greasers in their own territory. Most Greasers would
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.
Injustice is something people struggle with in today’s society. We are living in a world where we are harshly judged for every move we make, for our opinions, for who we are, for our identity. So many individuals constantly feel lonely, insecure, and outcasted. They feel the need to hide, and struggle to embrace their differences because they’re ashamed society would place a blanket statement of judgement over their head. In the coming of age novel, The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton illustrates these scenarios and claims against injustice. The protagonist Ponyboy, a greaser, lives in a unfair neighborhood where everyone is born with a societal hierarchy of three classes: greaser, middle-class, and Socs. With his parents so longer alive, Ponyboy,
Ponyboy has a good relationship with Johnny. Johnny saved Ponyboy's life by killing a Soc when the Soc was drowning Ponyboy. Ponyboy and Johnny have to hide out in an old abandoned church together. They were best friends. Johnny's last words to Ponyboy were "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold_" This says that Johnny thought that Ponyboy was a great person, and that he wanted him to stay a wonderful and great person. The conflict in this story is man vs. man. Ponyboy was born a greaser, he did not choose to be a greaser. He had no control of this but the Socs did not care.
With his long greasy hair and baggy worn out clothes he looked likes a bad kid, but the way he talked and the way he thought it was a whole different person inside of him. The Outsiders is about two rival gangs that fight and go through so much stuff to just to call the territory their own. It is the Socs versus Greasers. They always have their back up because you can't trust anyone, but at the end of the day is all the rubbles and fighting worth it? Ponyboy one of the greasers has a big character change during the book. In the beginning of the book Ponyboy was getting jumped by the Socs and he was acting all tough and defending himself, in the middle of the book he starts to break while he is in the church, and when the kids were stuck in
In The Outsiders, S.E Hinton is talking about people who do not fit in with society as much as others do. Cherry and Ponyboy are talking about how Johnny got beat up by the Socs just because he was a Greaser. Therefore, Ponyboy thinks that Socs and Greasers are two completely different kinds of people. Cherry looks Ponyboy straight in the eye and says,“‘Things are rough all over’” (35). When Cherry says this, Pony realizes that they are not so different after all. Ponyboy still feels like an outsider, though, because they are still different. He judges them based on money and the type of clothes that they wear, and that makes him feel different from them. Furthermore, here is a second example of who S.E Hinton was talking about in the book
When the Socs saw Johnny, Ponyboy, and Two-bit with their girlfriends, they were drunk, so their anger led to attack. Bob’s words before he and his gang of Socs tried to jump the boys support this idea: “‘Hey, whatta ya know?’ Bob said a little unsteadily, ‘here's the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey, Greasers.’ ‘You're outa your territory’… ‘Nup, pal, yer the ones who'd better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind--- dirt.’" If Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-bit and Dally had not decided to stay and hang out with Cherry and Marcia (girlfriends of the Socs), the Socs would not have gotten angry. Without reason to be mad at the Greasers, the Socs wouldn’t have tried to kill Johnny and Ponyboy, and Bob wouldn’t have died, thus changing the entire course of the novel. Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the Greasers -- Darry and Ponyboy’s fight was the reason for Johnny and Pony being outside and vulnerable. Two main quotes from the text show this cause and effect: “‘I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin. And you were asleep in the lot?’”, and “I turned and ran out the door and down the street as fast as I could. Darry
The conflict is they do not like each other. This is the problem; the people on the street dislike each other. They all have different backgrounds. Some are Mexican, Italian, Japanese, etc. This story does not have a winner in the conflict. It does not have a winner because new people are going to keep coming and the old people are just going to stay mad so there is no winner.
Do you carry a knife around in fear that you may find yourself in a situation where you’ll be forced to use it? Do you walk around hiding your emotions because society tells you doing otherwise is not acceptable? In The Outsiders, a novel written by S. E. Hinton, these are only a fragment of the struggles the characters face. In The Outsiders there are two main gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. Both gangs participate in illegal activities. The Socs jump Greasers ‘wreck houses, and throw beer blasts for kicks.’ The Greasers ‘steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in awhile.’ (4) The main difference between the two groups is the Socs are the higher class and have more money than the Greasers.