Loss Of Innocence In The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton’s, The Outsiders realist fiction novel takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma a place with Soc’s and Greasers. Ponyboy a 14 year old boy, lives with his brothers, Sodapop and Darry. Ponyboy remembers his mom and dad, who died in an auto wreck, which is a painful memory for them. One lesson the story suggest is that just because we grow older we don’t have to lose our childhood innocence. While some readers may believe this means the central theme of S.E. Hinton’s story is brotherly love I argue the theme is preserving childhood innocence- as evidence by S.E. Hinton’s use of dialogue, characterization and descriptive language. From time to time the dialogue in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders shows that we should preserve childhood innocence.

“” Natures first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leafs a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay,”” (Hinton 77) S.E. Hinton use this to show that you’re innocent when you’re a child and everything is new and when you get used to everything it’s like old. Getting close to the end of the book Johnny is dying so he sends Ponyboy a letter in his book “Gone with the Wind” telling Ponyboy not to change how he acts and not to grow up.Then, at the middle of the story the readers see the difference in characterization in Ponyboy and the rest of his gang after pony said “nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do,” (Hinton 3). In these lines, we see how Ponyboy is the only one in their gang that wants to read and doesn’t find it dumb or hard to understand. Ponyboy also said “when I was

ten
Applegate 2I thought Mickey Mouse and Soda looked alike and were alike,” (Hinton 39).

Showing that Ponyboy was very inexperienced and thought Mickey Mouse Sodas horse was just like Soda and they were brothers.Thirdly, we see how some actions Ponyboy’s gang does help show the need for childhood innocence like when pony says,” Darrel, who we call Darry, works too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture,” (Hinton 3). Darry is only 20 and he has a job working on roofs he works so hard so he can care for his brothers Soda and Ponyboy he has no time to be a kid himself he is working like a man when he is only a child.While some believe the main theme is brotherly love I argue its preserving childhood innocence. While this is a good point, because Ponyboy’s group definitely sticks up for one another in a brotherly fashion, it lays a strong foundation for preserving childhood innocence. Jonny had never been a coward he was a good man in a rumble, (Hinton 34) this shows how has Johnny loses his innocence, he becomes fearful of the Soc’s and begins to carry a switchblade to keep his gang safe, you might think this shows brotherly love, but it also shows preserving childhood innocence because when Johnny got used to being targeted by the Soc’s he lost his innocence, that’s why he would carry stuff like switch blades to keep him and others safe from the Soc’s. While the Greasers grew up they lost more and more of their innocence to rumbles and hatred of the Soc’s.

Therefore, it is clear that the main theme is childhood innocence, not brotherly love just because you grow older doesn’t mean you need to lose your innocence. To end off with some readers may still think brotherly love is the main theme but I argue its preserving childhood innocence. The characterization shows the difference in ponyboy and the rest of his gang while dialogue and descriptive language shows what they wear and hold they