Examples Of Stereotypes In The Outsiders

Stereotypes are used everyday, by most humans, no matter how much effort we put into speaking objectively. Throughout the centuries, stereotypes have been made for almost every race or group of individuals. Examples of such include all blonds are unintelligent, all men don’t think before they act, women are not strong, and so on. 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. Greasers are a group of people who lived in The North side of town, and they were believed to be uneducated, violent, and emotionless. However this protagonist absolutely shattered these imposed molds that society has crafted for anyone who is part of this group.

Throughout the book, there is evidence everywhere showing us his astuteness. On page two, he says, “I'm not like them. Nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do” (Hinton pg. 2). Although his vocabulary is not the best, it is evident that he truly cares about films and literature. He is too intelligent to conform to the accusation that all greasers are dense; so intelligent in fact, that he makes A’s and B’s in all his classes. Ponyboy goes above and beyond academically, and it wasn’t until the death of one of his closest friends that his grades began to slip. Also, others tell him he is brilliant, for on page 173, his brother, Darry, tells Ponyboy that they are both intelligent. However, Darry gave up his opportunity to go to college to work and support his family, but he doesn’t want Pony to drop out because he is smart enough to make it through high school and go off to college. Finally, at the end of about 180 pages, we find out that Ponyboy wrote the entire book, which conclusively proves he is extraordinarily smart. In the book, there is just as much evidence to support the theory that he is brilliant as there is evidence to show how nonviolent he

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 defies what everyone has said about him and the people whom Pony has aligned himself