Lifestyles In The Outsiders

Have you ever tried explaining to someone how you feel about something and they could not grasp what you were trying to say? This is because every person is different; everyone thinks in unique ways. Many other things can change how a person thinks, for example, their social and economic statuses. But no matter how different people are, they are still human and they still have feelings. The Outsiders is about two groups of very diverse people who have very different ideas about the world.

Social is how you interact with others. In The Outsiders there are two very different gangs. You can see how different people interact with each other.

Johnny is a greaser and greasers stick together. Johnny is a member of a gang, but this gang is more like

a family. When things go wrong they stick up for each other. “... one night I saw Dally getin’ picked up by the fuzz, and he kept real cool and calm the whole time. They was gettin’ him for breakin’ out the windows in the school building, and it was Two-Bit who did that. And Dally knew it. He just took the sentence without battin’ an eye or even denyin’ it.” (Hinton 76). In this quote Dally does not want Two-Bit to get in trouble so he takes the blame. This shows how far the greasers will go to help one another.
Bob is a Soc.

Socs are very different than greasers. Like greasers the Socs are also a gang, but the Socs are only a part of the gang so they can have a higher status. The Socs are like bullies, they gang up on people, and they usually beat up the weaker kids. The Socs are not really friends. They are more like a pack of dogs, each trying to fight it’s way to the top. In this gang they do not support each other in the way greasers do. If you were a Soc and you had a problem the last place go for help was your “friends”.

Someone’s economic status is how much money they have. The Outsiders is about two different groups that have very different economic statuses.

The greasers part of the third class. Most of them are in poverty. Greasers are poor. Because of this they are less attached to material items. Because most of them are in poverty they have an understanding of one another. “We’re poorer than the Socs and the middle class.” (Hinton3). Because Socs on the other hand are the first class. All of their parents are wealthy and will purchase anything their children want. Because of this they are strongly attached to material items, and in times of distress they do not reach out to one another.

Someone’s social and economic status can largely affect someone emotionally. In The Outsiders many people are affected by their social and economic

statuses.
Because Johnny grew up in a home where he was abused and neglected and the Socs had jumped him before, Johnny was always scared. Johnny was super on edge because he thought that the Socs would sneak up on him and beat him up again. None of Johnny’s friends had gone through that kind of abuse so they had trouble developing empathy for Johnny. Without the support from his parents and the understanding from his friends Johnny felt alone and unsafe.
Bob grew up in a home where he got whatever he wanted. Because of this he was stuck up and things always had to go his way. Bob’s parents were overly kind to Bob. “He kept trying to make someone say ‘No’ and they never did…. To have somebody lay down the law, set the limits, give him something solid to stand on.” (Hinton 116). Because no one ever gave Bob that solid ground to stand on an because his friends didn’t help him through his hard times Bob felt insecure and scared.
In this world people are constantly being put into categories by others. Some of those categories may to be the best to be in, but that does not mean that the other groups are perfect. Everybody goes through hard times, some people are just better at hiding the pain. This book is a lot like real life. In real life many people go through the same things and feelings. You might know someone who went through a traumatic experience. If you do know someone the best thing you can do is develop some empathy for them, you do not have to fully understand what they went through Johnny and Bob are very different, but they were able to feel similar things. This is because they went through similar circumstances. They both had trouble with their parents, and both of their friends could not quite help them. If very different people go through bad experiences it can cause them to become more like each other.