Greasers And Catcher In The Rye Analysis

Both The Outsiders and The Catcher in the Rye appear as two completely different stories, taking place during two separate timelines, however they are more related than they seem. Both stories have a dispute between two groups, whether it being between the socs and the Greasers or Holden V. Phonies. Both Holden and Ponyboy run away in search of security and comfort, but whether they have found what they truly desired is a different question. As the story progressed it becomes evident that both characters are in a conflict between their morals and feeling of belonging.
Throughout the story, Ponyboy notices that everyone sees he doesn’t act like many of the other Greasers. This idea is brought up throughout the story, but the first was when

Cherry told him that he didn’t act like any of the other greasers as he was more kind and sincere. They left the cinema, and encountered Cherry’s boyfriend with other socs who wanted to fight with the Greasers as they found their girlfriends with them. Ponyboy was given a broken bottle to fight with, but the Cherry agreed to go with them to prevent the fight. Before she left Ponyboy pulled aside, and tells her he couldn’t have done anything with the bottle as he couldn’t even hurt a fly. This indicates that while Johnny and the other Greaser were prepared to fight but Ponyboy was not ready in any means, and acknowledges that he wasn’t willing to fight. Ponyboy’s enthusiasm towards fighting shows that, unlike the Greasers and socs he doesn’t like that they always result to fighting as a means to resolve the problem.
The idea of hating fighting is strongly bound to his character,but it is also foreshadowed that when put under pressure he will follow the herd mentality. This lead to many undesirable, and unnecessary problems that come up later in the story. As the story progresses many events such as the fight he and Johnny had at the park with the socs, and when they ran away to the church for protection. Both of these things show his inability to follow through with what he believes, thus leading him to make questionable decisions getting him into further trouble. When Ponyboy was on the playground equipment, while still riled up from the early dispute at the cinema. He saw the socs driving up to them, and instead of running or attempting not to engage with them he gets both himself and Johnny in a dangerous situation after spitting and insulting them. Ponyboy is attacked and restrained by the socs, and he is being drowned in the fountain while Johnny was being thrown around. If Ponyboy didn’t engage with the socs, Johnny wouldn’t have hurt anyone, and they wouldn’t have had to skip town as they wouldn’t be in trouble. The fact that Ponyboy’s clouded judgment disregarded the fact that he disliked getting into fight or people getting hurt. This proves that unless he truly find what he believes in, and follows it he will never be at peace with himself and alway had contradicting feelings.
In Catcher in the Rye, Holden is faced with a similar situation as Ponyboy as he is unable to find what he truly believes in.

He is unable to find peace with himself or the world around him, and throughout the story Holden is constantly faced the idea of being whether to be a genuine person or a phony. He often depicts these phonies as people who pretend to have no insecurities, and criticisms towards all the flaws these people may possess. The idea of becoming a phony absolutely terrifies Holden as it is also a sign of growing up, and having to accept the problems that he in the past. This is why Holden is so fond of the museum as the exhibits never change places, and everything is how it was left many years prior. When looking at the big picture it becomes evident that Holden is phony as throughout the story there were many times where he just pretended to be enjoying time with someone, or when he lied to one of his classmates parents. At the end of the day, it becomes clear that no matter what he does he, and everyone else will become phonies as it is part of human nature. Holden will continue to have this conflict until he is able to accept the fact of growing up, as these two ideas go hand in hand.
Regardless of time and place people will always have conflicts with or against the general opinion, and two examples of how radically different the stories can be and still follow the trend are Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders. Both main characters, Ponyboy and Holden go looking for what they truly believe and want to follow. What the ended up finding is how their views may be more similar than the initially thought compared to other people, and they will have to grow up before truly finding where they

belong.