Loss Of Childhood In The Outsiders, By S. E. Hinton

The learning of Loss of Childhood in literature

What is a child? according to United Nations Humans Right, “a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child.” As a child, childhood should be the most innocent phase of your life. In this phase, one has no care in the world, but to sit home watching their favorite cartoon, while mommy and daddy take care of them physically, financially, and emotionally. What about to the children who don't come from healthy household and have to support themselves? These types of children don't get to experience a normal childhood like any other child and are forced into adulthood making adult decisions. In S.E Hinton's novel "The Outsiders", The narrator

is a fourteen-old boy name Pony boy who writes a paper about his summer with his friends about his neighborhood war between Greasers and Socs. Pony boy is raised around a gang called The Greasers, which consist of lower class, troubled home teens. Their rival gang called Socs, which consist of middle and upper-class teens. In Lois Tyson, “Critical Theory-Psychoanalytic Criticism”, she defines psychoanalytic concepts established by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), for people to use literary criticism to “show how this view of human behavior is relevant to our experience of literature.” (pg12). Hinton characters Ponyboy, Johnny, Sodapop, and Dally are all children who transition into adulthood due to neglect, poverty, and violence with lack of emotional readiness. Psychoanalyzing each character behavior using the defense mechanism theory, children are able to relate and learn from each character to prepare for their future.
The loss of childhood can be detrimental to a person's mental stability. Ponyboy is the novel's narrator who psychologically suffers from the loss of childhood. Ponyboy’s parents were killed in a car accident, so he now lives with his two older brother’s Soda and Darry. Ponyboy’s viewpoint in the novel is about a scorned teenager who is exposed to situations that aren’t beneficial for a teenager or for child development. Hinton emphasizes how ponyboy is exposed to situations that he shouldn’t be exposed to as a teenager, ‘’’Johnny! I nearly screamed. ‘What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for killing people! (Hinton 32).’’’ This quote signifies that Ponyboy is starting to witness a large amount of violence. Johnny killed someone in order to protect Ponyboy. These sorts of events are detrimental to his mental state and his development as a teenager. He isn't able to process or come to terms with, these chains of events that seem to keep reoccurring in his life. The effects of a loss of childhood correspond to Ponyboy being insecure or having an unstable sense of self, "I wasn't scared. It was the oddest feeling in the world. I didn't feel anything-scared, mad or anything. Just zero (Hinton 13). Pony feels an unstable sense of self due to the recent intense experiences that have occurred in his life. He feels alone, and because he's unable to come to terms with his grief and guilt. He struggles to find his self-identity. Ponyboy is easily influenced by his gang and the soc girl he's able to see the perspective from both sides and leaving him in the middle of both gangs. Tyson emphasizes Hinton's novel stating examples of common core issues, “Insecure or unstable sense of self- the inability to sustain a feeling of personal identity, to sustain a sense of knowing ourselves. This core issue makes us very vulnerable to the influence of other people, and we may find ourselves continually changing the way we look or behave as we become involved with different individual or groups (Tyson 17). Tyson explains how personal identity can shape one’s sense of self which relates to Ponyboy. As a result of witnessing so many tragedies in his life, he’s insecure and unstable. These situations can define his behaviors in fundamental ways Pony boy’s character helps young readers understand how you can be easily peer pressured to do things or become a person you're not any longer familiar with.
Psychological impressions affect children at a young age.

Hinton focuses on how hardships while growing up shapes self-identifying as an adult. Johnny Cade, a teen who is considered a “lost puppy” mentions to Dally if his parents have been worried about him after he been hospitalized in critical condition ‘” My parents,” Johnny repeated doggedly, “did they ask about me.” “No,” snapped Dally, “they didn’t”’ (Hinton 327). Johnny is mostly isolated by his relationship with his parents. The parents neglect shapes Johnny’s identity for the urge of his parent’s acceptance. Subsequently, the urge of his parent’s acceptance limits his childhood responsibility and puts restrictions on Johnny and his parent's relationship. Childhood behavior is supposed to be formed around innocence, the need of protection, nurturing and supposed to be viewed as ideally happy and carefree. Meanwhile, Johnny's construction of childhood entails notions of isolations, loss of childhood, and the dependence of approval. Tyson explains a useful way of understanding behavior in "Psychoanalytic Criticism." He mentions, "Fear of abandonment – the unshakable belief that our friends and loved ones are going to desert us (physical abandonment) or don't really care about us (emotional abandonment.)" Specifically, Tyson is mentioning isolation impressions causes psychological strains on a person. Similarly, Johnny relates to Tyson's theory because Johnny's fear of abandonment accelerated his childhood because of

his personal expectations, pressures him to abandon his childhood and engage in his parent's approval. Kevin Roy, in "Growing up as ‘Man of the House': Adultification and transition into adulthood for young men in Economically Disadvantage families."' Mentions how children in urban communities embrace adult roles. Roy says, "Even ongoing relationships with parents can provide critical social capital for young adults. Close ties may be particularly helpful to young adults at specific turning points, such as when they become parents themselves." Relations with your parents can improve your psychological impressions such as showing you an example of being a good parent crafting one's identity. Johnny relates to Roy because his parents didn't craft one's identity. His childhood involves critical decisions affecting his life trajectories of family, life, and education. Hinton interprets to young readers how lack of healthy parents can promote growing up faster and cause one’s behavior to affected by it.
Hinton emphasizes on how Soda pop is a victim of poverty, which causes him to transition into adulthood at a young age.

Soda pop is 16 years old drop out and comes from a minority family household. Both his parent died and now his older brother Dally looks after him. Pony boy shares his view of Soda’s decision to drop out. He states ‘“I winced inside, I’ve told you that I can’t stand it that Soda dropped out … Drop out, made me think of some poor dumb-looking hoodlum wandering the streets breaking out lights-it didn't fit my happy-go-lucky brother at all'" (157). Soda decided to drop out of school to get a job and help Dally support the family financially. Supporting a family is a responsibility that is mainly associated with adults and not children. Children around Soda’s age first priority is education while adult figures take care of the bills. Instead, Ponyboy first priority is to help his family. Roy also states "young men allocate their own time and space and limited resources to meet needs of other members of their families, even if that means personal sacrifice" (66). Soda challenges with poverty and family conflict make it easy for him to give up on his education and take on adult responsibilities as a young man. Soda understands that if he drops out of school, he would be judged as a hoodlum, dumb, and reckless, but his love for his family doesn't give him the freedom to choose. Instead, he finds an outlet for himself, Ponyboy states "Sodapop enjoys

racing, fighting, dancing, and basically anything that would blow off steam." (112). Soda embraces his decision to drop out of school, but if you psychoanalyze his behavior you're able to see that an early entrance to adulthood could be the reason he loves to fight. Soda suffers from the unconscious defense mechanism; displacement to avoid what he knows he can’t handle, which is becoming an adult at an early age. “displacement (means) taking it out" on someone or something less threatening than the person who caused our fear, hurt, frustration, or anger” (Tyson 15). Soda rather fight people in order relieve himself from his pain. Roy continued to talk about young men who take on adult roles as men of the household, he articulates that “Their confrontations with challenges such as family conflict, violence, or emotional concerns that would burden adults many times their own age seemed to shape how they saw themselves” (66). As a result of soda’s economic status and family conflict he had to transition to adulthood causes him to use displacement in order function in this situation. Soda Character helps children that come from urban communities relate to his situations and still understand that it comes with stress and pain.
Dally also is another character that suffers from his environment. Dally, “the toughest” Greaser, struggled with hard times since the beginning. Hinton describes the fact that at the tender age of 10, Dally was arrested. He was a victim of today’s society. Through his fight of deprivation, the poverty he was living in robbed him of his innocence. Unfortunately, there was no one there to help him suppress the wrongdoing as most children have. The neglect forced Dally to have a hate for the world. He despised authority and anything dealing with them. Pony says, “He was tougher than the rest of us tougher, colder, meaner” (127). At such a young age he was robbed of his childhood. On average, children don’t seek crime without reason. The inner anger in Dally triggered his wrongdoings. As a victim of his society, after Johnny “his pet” dies, Dally goes crazy. He robs a store and points a gun at the police leading to his death. This shows that Dally’s innocence was long gone. Children look at the police for safety not to kill them. Dally dangerous behavior after finding out Johnny died depicts that’s he takes his anger out on others. Readers would question why did he see robbing as a getaway from what had just occurred. This also connects to how he took his anger out against the world and his peers around him. Dally was hardened in his ways of not caring. He never knew any good in his life and had no role models to help him escape his life of crime. Tyson states “we unconsciously behave in ways that will allow us "play out," without admitting it tour selves, our conflict, and feelings about painful experiences and emotions we repress” (13). Dally use of displacements is a little different than Sodas. Dally takes his anger out on others that extreme violent behavior. Instead of confronting what really caused him to get angry, he decides to engage in an act that leads to his death. Dally is one character that young readers may come across in life. As child acting out of control is always is a red flag that something is causing the child to act out whether it is at school or home it affects their behavior. After reading the book a child may have a better understanding that there is the reason behind every action a person performs, while understanding the consequence of risky behavior.
In Literature, it is normal to take a child character and place them in an adult situation. This help younger readers prepare themselves for future situations by analyzing children in books behavior that depicts the loss of childhood. Each character in Hinton’s book all were children who were put into adult situations and not by choice, but by their environment. Each of their situations caused each character to suffer mentally creating the unconscious defense mechanism. Ponyboy suffers from an unstable sense of self, while teaching young readers that no matter what they do don’t let your negative things shape your identity. Johnny suffers from abandonment problems which cause him to go looking for acceptance in all the wrong places. Elaborating to young children that strong support system is key to a child’s life. Sodapop and Dally both suffer from the use of displacement. Soda use of Displacement comes from so much responsibility that he has no breathing space to be a child so he uses violence and dangerous activity to release his anger. This help young readers understand that pain doesn't go away it just gets released through another way, which is majority violent activity. Dally shows readers the consequences of risky behavior, while showing them that there is a reason some people are so angry and mentally damaged. Reading children literature books that depicts loss of childhood or innocence could be a bit overwhelm for young readers, but I honestly believe it can help them better understand others behavior and prepare them for the pros and cons in life.

Bibliography

Convention on the rights of the child
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989
entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print.

Roy, Kevin, et al.” Growing up as the ‘Man of the House’: Adultification and Transition into Adulthood for Young Men in Economically Disadvantage Families. “New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development, vol. 2014, no. 143 Spring 2014, pp.55-72 EBSCOhost, doi:10.002/cad.20054

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006.