Misjudging Places In The Outsiders Essay

I’ve happen to notice in this world that other people assume your identity based on your appearance. Appearance is just like a costume, it covers you up to hide your true identity. Judging people based on their appearance is a real issue in the world today. In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the problem of misjudging based on appearance is very apparent throughout the novel. It shows us how people judge you by your looks. S.E. Hinton’s theme in The Outsiders is Appearance represents your identity in the world.

People take one admirable look at your clothes and hair and are quick to make an accusation about your identity. An example of when this happens in The Outsiders is when Ponyboy is talking about his appearance. Ponyboy says

“I have… and greenish-grey eyes. I wish they were more grey, because I hate most guys that have green eyes” (1). What Pony is trying to point out in this sentence is that he hates most people with green eyes. Pony is saying that Socs have green eyes, and he hates most Socs. The Socs have green eyes and that's one thing that makes them a Socs. Another case of misjudging in the first four chapters is when Pony is walking home from the movie theater and he says, “I decided I didn’t like it, though, when I spotted the red Corvair trailing me” (4). Pony is telling us that he realizes that there are Socs in the car. He knows Socs drive fancy cars, so he knows that the car is occupied by Socs. These are examples of when people assume your representation based on appearance.

Large groups of people have certain signs that labels them that group, like gangs. This happens when Ponyboy and Johnny are in the church and pony says, “Our hair labeled us greasers, too- it was our trademark” (71). Pony is saying that greasers have a certain feature about them that makes them greasers, and that is hair. Another example of this is when Dally finds Pony and Johnny and says, “Kid, I swear it don’t look like you with you with your hair all cut off. It used to look tuff” (82). In this sentence, Dally is saying that Pony doesn’t look like a greaser, but he looks like a socs. Dally is saying he doesn’t have that greaser “signature look” of long hair. This is more examples of how people make up your identity by your appearance.

There are many people in the world today that misjudge people just by one glance at them. This is shown when the greasers are getting ready for the rumble and Pony says, “Soda and Steve and I had put on more hair oil than was necessary, but we wanted to show that we were greasers… greasers may not have much, but they have a rep. That and long hair” (132). Pony is saying that greasers are nothing but greasy hair. He’s saying that that's all that greasers are known for. So if a person isn’t a greaser but has oily hair, are they a greaser? A final example from the novel is when the Socs arrive to the rumble and Pony says, “They looked like they were all cut from the same piece of cloth: clean-shaven with semi-beatle haircuts, wearing striped or checkered shirts with light-red or tan-colored jackets or Madras ski jackets” (141). Pony is telling us that we could easily pick out a Socs from a crowd. So Pony just told us that anyone who has those specific features listed above is a Socs. These are two final examples of how the world is full of misjudging people.

The main theme from S.E.

Hinton’s book The Outsiders is appearance represents your identity. Just because you’re dressed like a hobo doesn’t mean you’re a hobo, or just because you're dressed like a Socs or a greaser, does it mean you just might happen to fall into one of those two categories? I’ve heard and seen many people called “gay” because a countless number of people happened believed they looked gay. This is one of many real world examples of how this is an issue. I also hope that the book showed even more examples of how this is an issue. This subject reminds me of a quote Robert Fulgham once said. Fulgham said, “Sticks and Stones may break our bones, but words will break our heart”. I think this quotes mean that people take words more seriously than they actually are. Although sticks and stones can physically hurt you, they can't mentally hurt you, but words can. We let words damage our hearts like it can break a bone. To conclude, appearance is like a blanket, it covers you to hide your true identity. Fads are a great example. If you hate something as silly as silly bands (no pun intended), but it happens to be a new and popular fad, then you will want to wear silly bands to look normal and fit in and that could tie you into the group the others are involved with. So don’t judge someone by their appearance, get a chance to actually know who they are and what they are like, then you can judge

them.