All humans struggle at some point in their lives, some more than others. “The Outsiders” written by S.E. Hinton resembles the life of her hometown in the 1960s. During that decade, the times were rough especially for the children as presented in the story. Johnny, who is one of the main characters, most likely gets it all the worst compared to his gang. Johnny has abusive parents and constantly has to worry about being jumped by Socs because he is a greaser. Throughout the story, Johnny learns that maybe he actually has something to live for after realizing there is so much more good in the world. Sadly, Johnny learns this too late in his life so he unable to experience the good in the world. In the end, Johnny learns that all lives, including …show more content…
his own, matter. Johnny hates his life because of being a Greaser and having abusive parents.
He even talks about killing himself a few times. A piece of evidence that supports the topic sentence is, “But after the night of this beating, Johnny was jumpier than ever. I didn’t think he’d ever get over it. Johnny never walked by himself after that. And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He’d use it, too, if he ever jumped again. They had scared him that much” (34). I chose this quote from the story because it explains the way that Johnny has to live this life. Most people would not even make their worst enemy live like this. Johnny does not want to live the way he does which is also why he does not believe in violence. The greasers experience all of these problems and Johnny does not want to live scared which is why he wants to kill himself. This proves the topic sentence because the text shows that Johnny is uncomfortable living scared. If we were a Soc, he wouldn’t have to be scared because there parents protect them but Johnny only has abusive parents who hurt him even more. This is why Johnny hates being a greaser which also supports the topic …show more content…
sentence. Another text message that supports the topic sentence is when Johnny argues, “I can’t take much more. I’ll kill myself or something” (47). I chose this quote because he states how he can not take the pain anymore. He hates to be a greaser, Johnny just wishes that everybody could be equal. Addition to that, having abusive parents who do not care about their son does not help either. In the beginning of the story, Johnny believes he has nothing to live for which is why he talks about killing himself in this piece of evidence. This proves the topic sentence because Johnny states in the quote how he can not live the way he does anymore and that he wants to kill himself. This proves that Johnny does not like the way he lives, showing readers he will do anything to change that including killing himself. To add along to that, a great piece of evidence in the text is when Johnny claims, “Well, I won’t. But I gotta do something. It seems like there’s gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain ordinary people” (48). I chose this quote because Johnny talks about how he wants everybody in the town to be equal. He hates to be a greaser and having social separations in his hometown. Johnny hates his life and he wants to move to anywhere else in the world, as he says in the quote, without greasers or Socs or anytype of social separation. This quote supports the topic sentence because Johnny talks about wishing there was no such thing as greasers or Socs. Johnny wants peace and equal in the world but it is impossible to find that in his hometown. This is why Johnny wants to kill himself because for him, there is no point in living. Johnny leaves his hometown for the first time in his life and he realizes that he actually has a lot to live for because there is so much he has not seen yet. In the text, Ponyboy noticed Johnny enjoying himself when he states, “Johnny sure did like that book, although he didn’t know anything about the Civil War, and I had to explain a lot of it to him” (75). As all readers know, Johnny grew up with abusive parents. Neither of them cared any bit for him and only thought of him as a waste of time. Obviously, Johnny did not receive any childhood stories like most good parents give to their children growing up. Johnny is now away from his parents for the first time in Windrixville and he is experiencing the things that his parents never did for him. Johnny is being read to by his best friend Ponyboy and based off the quote, he surely enjoys it. It is new to him, which is why it makes it special for Johnny. I chose this quote because Johnny is experiencing things that he never would back home. This makes Johnny realize that he has a lot to live for because out in Windrixville, he sees everything as gold and new which makes everything appeal to him. This connects to the topic sentence because Johnny still has not seen so much which motivates him to keep his life going. While Johnny is forced to leave his hometown in order to hide from the police, he experiences many new things. Ponyboy speaks in the middle of the story, “Johnny and I gorged on barbeque sandwiches and banana splits” (83). While Johnny is living in Windrixville, he might have been hunted down as a murderer, but he left his hometown for the first time ever and he is seeing lots of new things. Johnny is experiencing stuff that he never did back home. Johnny was experiencing moments in his life such as going out to eat and getting whatever he wants, which would never happen back home with his abusive parents. I chose this quote because it shows the good moments Johnny experiences. Johnny would never be able to live like this back home. Although it does not say it in the quote, Johnny realizes that he has more to live for than he thinks because he is experiencing the new things that he never has before in his 16 years. This is one of the first times that Johnny does something completely opposite of his everyday life which is what makes this scene so special. After Johnny shows an unheard of heroic characteristic at the church fire, he is sent to the hospital in a near-death situation. This causes Johnny to learn a lot about his life. One of Johnny’s most climax-changing quotes is when he verbalizes, “You want to know something, Ponyboy? I’m scared stiff. I used to talk about killing myself..I don’t want to die now. It ain’t long enough. Sixteen years ain’t long enough. I wouldn’t mind it so much if there wasn’t so much stuff I ain’t done yet and so many things I ain’t seen. It’s not fair. You know what? That time we were in Windrixville was the only time I’ve been away from our neighborhood” (121-122). I chose this quote because it basically sums up my topic sentence. While Johnny is getting close towards the end of his life, he finally realizes that the world has so much more to offer. The one time he leaves his neighborhood and he finally learns so much about what he can actually do. It is a shame that Johnny realizes this at the end of this life because he could’ve explored the world and do the things he did not think were possible. Johnny’s letter explains how the kids he saved lives matter and that they have something to live for.
His life ended at that point but he believes everything he did at the church was worth it. Johnny explains what he feels about dying when he mentions, “Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for” (178). If Johnny could live longer, he would, but Johnny realized that his life was coming to a close so there was no point to do anything else but to die and say his goodbyes. He realized that not only does his life matter but that the kids he saved lives matter. I chose this quote because it shows Johnny’s emotions about his life and just life in
general. Johnny believes that his life does not matter as much as the kids at the church based off a poem. Johnny states this in his letter when he writes, “I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant that you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything’s new, dawn” (178). I chose this quote because Johnny realizes that he is not a kid anymore which means he is not gold. If Johnny is not gold anymore, he sees no point in living because nothing appears new to him (at least in the life he lives in). This connects to the topic sentence because Johnny concludes to the fact that the kids at the church are still gold, which means they have something to live for. Johnny is too old to be gold so he has nothing to truly live for. This is why Johnny did not have a huge problem with his life ending so early. Johnny emotions change in the end of the story because he in the beginning he hates to be a greaser but he feels the opposite now. Johnny proves this idea when he reports, “And don’t be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of gold in the world” (179). Despite the fact that Johnny died at 16, he think everything he did in those short years was worth it. Johnny is somewhat satisfied with dying and that he has no point in searching for gold. In this quote, Johnny tells Ponyboy to keep searching for the good in the world because there are lots of it. If Johnny was not on his deathbed, he could keep searching for gold with Ponyboy. According to Johnny, Ponyboy has a lot more to live for than Johnny. Even though Johnny is dead because of saving kids lives, he considers it worth it which gives Johnny a hero characteristic that nobody else in his gang has. Admittedly, Johnny was not enjoying his entire time out in Windrixville. As all readers know, the only reason Johnny left to Windrixville was because he did not want to be caught by the police while he is being hunted down as a murderer. He experienced lots of new things, but Johnny did not enjoy the fact that he was being hunted by police. He is just an innocent kid who never breaks the rules and this is something he is not use to at all. Readers can’t deny that Johnny does not wanted to be hunted down as a murderer. He would much rather stay in his hometown and deal with much more simple problems then the problems he had in Windrixville. Ponyboy describes their difficulties in the book when he explains, “We had eaten all our candy bars in the first two days. I was dying for a Pepsi. I'm what you might call a Pepsi addict. I drink them like a fiend, and going for five days without one was about to kill me. Johnny promised to get some if we ran out of supplies and had to get some more, but that didn't help me right then. I was smoking a lot more there than I usually did--- I guess because it was something to do--- although Johnny warned me that I would get sick smoking so much” (68). This shows that although Johnny left his abusive parents for the first time in his life, the experience was not all enjoyable because he put his best friend and himself into danger along with starvation. Although this is true, Johnny was able to leave his hometown for the first time in his 16 years living and it was something he has wanted to do forever. To wrap things up, Johnny enjoyed his time in Windrixville much better than his time in his hometown being a greaser and having abusive parents. It is hard to believe that your life matters when you have nothing to look forward to. The story “The Outsiders” presented a 16 year old boy named Johnny who had nothing in his life. Johnny lived a horrible life because he had abusive parents, Socs jumping him, and being a poor greaser. As the story continues, Johnny learns that he has more to live for than he thinks. When Johnny leaves his home for the first time in his life, he sees much more good in the world which makes him look forward to something in life. Despite that, Johnny learns that right before his death. In conclusion, Johnny learns that all lives, even his own, matter.
Oh Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. Johnny was my best friend, a part of my family. I knew that I could always count on him whenever I needed him. Even though his family was violent with him, he was still there for me. He can also always count on me to be there for him. Other people don't know him as well as I do, I remember all the great times we had looking up at the stars at 1 a.m. in a lot. *pause* We also went to the movies. This one time there were these two pretty good looking girls there, and they were Socs too. They were sweet, nice and funny, they were even nice to us Greasers. Anyway, Johnny wouldn't hurt anyone unless he absolutely had to, Johnny didn't like to fight that often. The only time he would fight would be in the rumble, or if
Even though he was a skilled worker, he was proud, and full of arrogance. But after his terrible tragedy, his rude character died in the birth and death room, and Johnny was reborn as a more patient and caring person. He still won't take pity from anyone, but on the inside he is probably crying out for help. Although he has no one to talk to, he does have special talents that help keep him going strong.
...t like the rest of the Greasers he wouldn’t kill or nothing no matter what. They could of said Johnny not no killer but don’t push him because he will go off but instead they made it seem like he was a kid that lived in a household that didn’t care about him and that he was a punk and never stood up for himself.
..., even by Ponyboy, who is the youngest of the group and two years younger than Johnny. Dally, the toughest and the meanest guy in The Greasers, is Johnny’s idol and seeing how he acts in situations probably influenced Johnny’s choice of action. Watching these bigger guys close in on him and Ponyboy being drowned, he was probably thinking, ‘what would Dally do what would Dally do?’ So he did what he thought Dally would do he pulled out the knife and stabbed Bob Sheldon so he would have extra hands helping him to fight off the rest of the guys, but that did not happen because they ran off in fear of Johnny.
Although Johnny did kill someone these are reasons why a boy named Johnny is innocent. Johnny is innocent and is the hero of the gang because he had saved kids from a burning church and he kept Bob from killing Pony. This proves that Johnny is a hero of the
...er it has put their life in. As for “The Outsiders” we have the two social groups the Socs and the Greasers who separate themselves based on wealth. The Greasers always thought the Socs had it better than them, but in the end they find out that the Socs are cool to the point where they do not hold a grudge towards them. By reading these two stories I realized we are young individuals who make mistakes. We are not perfect, sometimes we go through a path in life that may rip our life away, but yet we learn from our mistakes and turn our life around.
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
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.
I understand that I am going to attempt to keep Johnny out of jail because what he had done in my perspective was self defense. This happened in The Outsiders book. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print. I feel that you may think that Johnny is guilty of homicide because he had killed Bob during the evening by the park. He had not attempted to kill him, he was using self defence, as the novel had stated in chapter 4, Johnny warns the socs that showed up that they were in a part of town that they were not supposed to be in but the socs ignored the warning and still provoked the fight. Later in chapter 4 it also informs us that the socs were starting to drown Ponyboy so Johnny had used his switchblade without really meaning to kill anyone. Johnny has informed me that he and Ponyboy Curtis were walking in the park in the evening and that a vehicle had shown up and some boys had gotten out and threatened them. These boys had pulled out a knife and threatened to use it against them. One of the boys then started to assault Johnny and another attacked Ponyboy. The one attacking Ponyboy then decided to move him to a fountain and tried to drown him. When Johnny realized what they were doing he had turned to them and pulled out a knife and flung at them without meaning to kill Bob. But keep in mind that Bob was drowning Ponyboy so this act was used in defense. I feel that Johnny is innocent because he was using self defense, but he should not have ran from the crime scene. Another thing in chapter 4 was that a little while later when Ponyboy came conscious again Johnny said, "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. “They might have killed you. And they had a blade... they were gonna beat me up...." I found this informat...
In S. E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, all is well until the end of this section; the innocence of Ponyboy of Johnny lost to the murder of Bob.The loss of Johnny’s innocence is the heavier surprise. He has mainly been the victim of his problems with his situations, showing the innocence, before
Josh Shipp says that “you either get bitter or you get better. It's that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you.” This is true for Bob Sheldon from the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. Bob Sheldon is a 18 boy who lives with only the struggle of his spoiling parents. Bob’s coping of this physical conflict shape him into a spoiled and reckless individual who his two-faced.
Through the development of the story impression of belonging seems to lack however despite these challenges through perseverance and support from other members of the gang they expand their grasp on belonging. At the start of the outsiders Ponyboy mentions “I lie to myself all the time but i never believe me” In this extract it is clearly displayed through the tone of disbelief that ponyboy being the youngest of the gang and his family he often feels removed and does not realize that later the people closest and the friendships you make are where you belong the highest. Subsequent to this event a metaphor used to describe Johnny “a little dark puppy kicked too many times” exposes that after his parents abused him he did not feel as though he had a family, nevertheless through friendship Johnny promptly discovered that he belonged and that was with the Greasers as they made him feel needed. Remarkably at the introduction of the story most gang members didn't feel as though they belonged but since The Outsiders coveys a bildungsroman it demonstrates that the characters are continually developing and maturing throughout the story.
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…
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.
The Outsiders is a book that changed the style of young adult writers because it went off from the genre that young adult writer were using during that time period. The reader sees the everyday problems that teenagers were going through, “I can’t take much more Johnny spoke my own feelings I’ll kill myself or something” (Hinton 47). Johnny felt unloved because his parents treat him bad and say hurtful things to him, but when Johnny is with the gang he feels loved because they embrace him, and let him stay at their house if he cannot bear to go home to his parents. So many writers were use to telling fairy tells and fables, the realism of the outsiders made it the first of its kind during the time period it was written. Todd Howard points this out in his book Understanding The Outsiders, “ Thus the overwhelming commercial success that The Outsiders enjoyed among teens shortly after its first publication, it sent astonished publishers scurrying to find writers who could duplicate the novel’s formula and gave a pause to literary critics” (Howard 8). Authors in the early sixty’s never thought about writing a book showing the gang and social class differences, and this is why The Outsiders was a successful book because it opened people’s eyes to the problems some...