How does loyalty, violence, and chosen family relate to The Outsiders? These themes are some of the main themes connected to this story. They tie in mostly with some of the characters and how they behave in the story. They also tie in with some of the events in the story, such as some of the fights, the burning church, and more. But, who do these themes relate to most, and how? Johnny Cade and Ponyboy help show loyalty, violence, and a chosen family in The Outsiders. Loyalty is defined as a “strong feeling of support”. Some examples of this are when a friend stands up for the other in a bad situation or when they stand by you through thick and thin. Johnny and Ponyboy, the story's two main characters, demonstrate strong loyalty to each other …show more content…
Loyalty is also shown in some of the violence that happens in The Outsiders. Violence is the act of using physical force to harm someone or something. Violence plays a huge part in The Outsider, due to the main characters’ involvement with a street gang called the Greasers. Both Johnny and Ponyboy demonstrate violence in how they fight when needed and stop it when it gets too far. Johnny uses less violence than Ponyboy because he dislikes violence, demonstrated when he talks about killing himself because of all the violence around him and how it affects him and tries to avoid it as much as possible. Ponyboy uses more violence than Johnny shown in how he fights back harder than Johnny in the fight with some Socs by the park fountain where Ponyboy keeps resisting the Socs’ attacks, while Johnny didn’t. Violence is used with both characters in different ways, but they are stronger in some of these fights. A chosen family is a relationship where the members are connected in a non-biological way to support each other, usually chosen deliberately. The way most of the Greasers, like Johnny and Ponyboy, are connected in a chosen family-type
In the story the The Outsiders the two characters Johnny and Dally have many similarities and one is that the gang is their family. The gang is Dally’s family because after he dies the judge asks Darry if Dally was a good friend of theirs and Darry says’”yes sir”’(168). Darry said that Dally was a good friend of theirs. When the judge asked Sodapop and the rest of the gang they said the same exact thing. Similarly,in the beginning of Ponyboy says that the gang is Johnny's only family. “If it hadn’t been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and
At one point in a person’s life, they will feel like an outsider. Everyone has experienced feeling this way.In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton displays two characters that truly experience being different from the rest of the group. Ponyboy and Johnny are both greasers (people that are more poor) and are in the same gang. They both feel out of place at different times, disconnected even. Through the characters Ponyboy and Johnny, Hinton reveals to readers what it genuinely means to be an outsider.
Out of all of the members of the gang Johnny and Ponyboy were the closest, because they were the youngest and also they were not as tough as the other boys. After Ponyboy got in a fight with Darry about being late at getting home, Ponyboy ran to the lot and told Johnny that they were running away. Without hesitation the two boys took off running. Johnny needed no explanation. He had a rough life at home and without the support from the gang he may have already killed himself. Johnny just wanted to be there and support his friend like they had been supporting him through everything. At many points throughout the novel Ponyboy teaches or shows Johnny something new. “You know Johnny said slowly “I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept, reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before” (Hinton,78). When Johnny says that to Ponyboy is gives readers a glimpse of how Johnny having Ponyboy in his life makes it better. Another key point of their friendship in the novel is after Johnny kills the Soc. This is a key point because they run off to Jay Mountain to hide from the police and while they are there they discover more about each other and themselves. The boys are at that church for about a week before Dally came to check in on them and while they were inside that church they read Gone with the Wind. As they read Gone with the Wind they started to make connections
This shows that Greasers get beat up by the Socs, & the Socs drive into the Greaser’s territory to jump them. Johnny gets scared, & after this he never walks alone again. According to pg. 92 of The Outsiders, “I leaped out of the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost falling, coughing and sobbing for breath. Then I heard Johnny scream…” This is when Johnny & Ponyboy are trying to save the kids.This shows the violence that Johnny was exposed to. He was exposed to the violence at the church because of the violence he was exposed to when Ponyboy and him got jumped. In total, the Greasers were exposed to a lot of violence in the story.The second reason why the Greasers struggle more than the Socs is because they have to make many sacrifices. Quote from the book to back up your perspective. In the book, Darry had to work to help pay the bills of the house, & to keep Ponyboy in school. He was way overworked, and he didn’t have any freedom to go anywhere because of his
The Outsiders S.E. Hinton is about two gangs, the Socs and Greasers, who do not get along and are fighting each other as well as society. Both of the gangs are judged by their appearance, social status, and where they are from. One character that stands out in the story is Ponyboy because he is dynamic with many sides to his personality, and he is the protagonist of the story. Ponyboy can be described as sensitive, smart, and brave.
The Outsiders is a book based on a gang of friends and family known as the “greasers”. It’s safe to say that there are many valuable lessons to learn from the happenings in the story. Ponyboy Curtis is one of the many important and brave characters that make the novel what it is. He learns throughout the story things that had to be figured out the hard way. Many teenagers find it easy to relate to Hinton’s words in the book and with the characters because they well express what the reader is feeling inside.
In The Outsiders it is given that through faith and devotion to one another Ponyboy and the gang use their close friendship in troublesome situations for instance when Johnny tells Ponyboy “i had to” he does this as an act of loyalty to Ponyboy to show him that he can trust him no matter what situation they are in. Most of the story is told from first person or Ponies perspective which shows us without exception every aspect of the story. When Johnny dies at the end of the book Ponyboy only then realizes the importance of him, and the gangs need for someone like Johnny to give them a sense of purpose after mentioning “we couldn't get along without him . We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang.” Throughout all of Ponyboys hardships Johnny was always there to support him even when Ponyboy wanted to run away after darry slapped him, he never asked any questions.
Literature allows the reader to experience a variety of conflicts and emotions of the characters in the plot or novel. In The Outsiders, Johnny faces various conflicts. Specifically, Johnny struggles with abusive, unloving parents, the fact that he never got a proper education, and that he was wanted for manslaughter. Thus, Johnny must learn that his life is precious.
The Outsiders is a novel by S.E Hinton, that follows a young boy named Ponyboy who grows up in a gang. Johnny, Sodapop and Darry help him find how he fits into the world and without them he would have a hard time finding his own identity. Without having a close group of friends he would have a tough way of life, especially with the Socs. Being in a group that you associate with, that have different values to yourself can lead you to disregard your own ethics and do things you wouldn’t normally do, but at the same time this can assist and reinforce your own values…
Everybody, at one point or another, has done something for a friend or a group of friends that might have been inconsistent to their values. They might have lied to one friend for another, making them feel uncomfortable, or help them cheat on a test, which they wouldn’t ever have imagined him/herself doing. People in the book, The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton, struggle in the theme that loyalty to friends can prevent individuals from showing their truest self.
With loyalty comes trust, when you may trust trust many people. If you trust a person, you can trust them with their loyalty. Loyalty is one of the most important qualities of the Greasers in The Outsiders. The Greasers are very loyal to each and every member, but the Socs, not so much. In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton communicates that loyalty is one of the most important qualities of the Greasers.
In the beginning of chapter 11 Ponyboy says, "Darry is a good guardian he makes me study and knows where I am and who I am with (165)”. The reason why this is a great example of the theme family sticks together is because the things Darry does for Ponyboy are things a parent would do. The next example of theme is when Ponyboy tells himself "Don't remember how Johnny was your buddy and don't remember that he didn't want to die (156)”. This is another example that also great because Ponyboy doesn’t want to remember but he knows in the inside that he does want to remember the good times with Johnny and even the bad ones. At the end of the outsiders the theme family always sticks together shows up a
The Outsiders written by S.E. Hinton is a book about two different groups that don’t get along, the Socs and the Greasers. The two unions may act like they are tough and have no emotion on the outside, but on the inside, they are full with feelings and are very caring people. After Johnny was hurt, Ponyboy says to himself “A pain was growing in my throat and I wanted to cry, but greasers don’t cry in front of strangers”(Hinton 102). The 2 social classes may put on a front in public, but deep inside they care about others and have
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
Do criminals still have the right to be respected or should people just disrespect and ignore them? In the book called The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, there is a gang called the Greasers. The greasers are also known as “hoodlums.” The Greasers live on the East side, they are poor, and they also break the law. They also steal, hold up gas stations, and they jump on children. The society might think that they break the law because that is just their hobby. Even though The Greasers are hoodlums, they are still considered as honorable people because they perk up for each other, they show concern for one another, and they gambled their lives for other people.