All throughout history, there were people who had it and some who had nothing. The year is 1966 and if one were a kid growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One belonged to one of two groups, one was either a "Socs" or a "greaser". "Socs" are the rich kids from the good side of town. That basically means just that they have money, nice cars, nice homes and a bright future. "Greasers" are the poor kids from the bad side of town with no future and no real hope. Always at each other's throats trying to one-up each other. In The Outsiders author, S. E. Hinton reveals the theme of sacrifice which is discovered through the choices Ponyboy makes such as being with cherry, saving the kids from the fire, and running away thus displaying one must make sacrifices …show more content…
for others despite the consequence. Ponyboy’s early choices begin to show the theme of sacrifice.
First, Ponyboy begins to see that the socs are not that different and bad and makes the choice to become friends with a socs. One can see this when Ponyboy says, “It seemed funny that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset” (Hilton 35). Ponyboy’s decision to be friends with cherry and go agest all that he has ever known with the greasers and taking the chance of getting jumped by other Socs. Though the consequences of this decision lead Ponyboy to enchanted Socs and almost get into a street fight until cherry talks the Socs out of it. Ponyboy’s choice to be with cherry shows his willingness to make sacrifices despite the consequence. As Ponyboy continues to grow throughout the novel, his choices continue to show …show more content…
sacrifice. Following this, Ponyboy makes the choice to run into the fire and save the kids. Sacrificing his life was not an easy choice, but Ponyboy’s willingness to sacrifice led him to realize this was the right choice was to save the kids. This is shown when Ponyboy says, "Where're the kids?" "In the back, I guess," I hollered, and we started stumbling through the church,” (Hinton 79). Ponyboy’s clearly worried about the kids and the consequences of dying and the kids not getting out alive, but he has to sacrifice his life and runs in. Ponyboy regrets a choice,“If that old church ever caught fire there'd be no stopping it,” (Hinton 68). In taking the moment and persuading himself to make the sacrifice. Ponyboy’s choices become harder as the novel progresses, but Ponyboy's willingness to sacrifice helps him know what is right. However, Ponyboy’s hardest choice comes later. Last, Ponyboy makes the difficult choice to run away.
Leaving the greasers behind was not an easy choice, but Ponyboy’s willingness to sacrifice led him to realize this was the right choice to make to help Johnny. This is shown when Ponyboy says, "We gotta get outta here. Get somewhere. Runaway...” (Hinton 50). Ponyboy’s clearly struggling with the consequences of leaving and his fear of the police possible catching them, but he has to sacrifice staying and run away so they do not get caught despite leaving the greasers behind. Ponyboy later rethinks his choice when he says, I was beginning to relax and wonder if running away was such a great idea,” (Hinton 46). Even Tho Ponyboy thought the choice of running away as a bad idea he still stayed with his friend, therefore, showing ponyboys willingness to
sacrifice. Ponyboy, in S. E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, is an intelligent and brave young man who must make sacrifices in order to overcome the differences between the greasers and socs. Hinton wants the reader to see Ponyboy’s willingness to sacrifice were show as being with cherry, saving the kids from the fire, and running away. Ponyboy sacrifices everything showing the reader that one must make sacrifices despite the consequence.
First, the beginnings are quite different. In the book, the story begins with Ponyboy leaving the theater, thinking to himself while walking home. He chose to walk alone, which in this story, is beyond being a bad idea! This results in Ponyboy getting jumped by the wealthier kids, known as the “Soc's”.
Ponyboy was a bad kid, he fought against Socs and he even smoked a weed, which is a cigarette. Later on he got into worse trouble and had to hide. He wanted to change and be a different person. While he hid he was scared and frightened and was beginning to think of how he was doing in life, and his thoughts were not very well. After the church incident, he began to change a little.
He is smart, and gets good grades in school. This is purposefully mentioned several times within the story, and people tend to be surprised to learn that he is a Greaser. In addition, some Greasers are nicer than people tend to think. When the church burned down, Ponyboy and Johnny run in to save the children without a second thought. They acted with selflessness, putting the safety of the children above their own. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Ponyboy is asked if he and Johnny are "professional heroes". He responds by telling the entire story of how they're Greasers and Johnny is wanted for murder, shocking the man in the ambulance. It is difficult for him to believe that a group of Greasers would do something so heroic. Johnny dies as a direct result of their actions, but neither Ponyboy nor Johnny regretted what they
Out of all of the members of the gang Johnny and Ponyboy were the closest, because they were the youngest and also they were not as tough as the other boys. After Ponyboy got in a fight with Darry about being late at getting home, Ponyboy ran to the lot and told Johnny that they were running away. Without hesitation the two boys took off running. Johnny needed no explanation. He had a rough life at home and without the support from the gang he may have already killed himself. Johnny just wanted to be there and support his friend like they had been supporting him through everything. At many points throughout the novel Ponyboy teaches or shows Johnny something new. “You know Johnny said slowly “I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept, reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before” (Hinton,78). When Johnny says that to Ponyboy is gives readers a glimpse of how Johnny having Ponyboy in his life makes it better. Another key point of their friendship in the novel is after Johnny kills the Soc. This is a key point because they run off to Jay Mountain to hide from the police and while they are there they discover more about each other and themselves. The boys are at that church for about a week before Dally came to check in on them and while they were inside that church they read Gone with the Wind. As they read Gone with the Wind they started to make connections
People should have a conversation with someone and get to know them before judging them. Ponyboy changed the way he thought of the Socs. At first he thought of the Socs as thugs who enjoy jumping Greasers. He later learned that Socs have problems that Greasers don’t know of and not all Socs hate Greasers.
Moreover, Ponyboy is a thinker. He can think for the opposite side of his gang, the Socs. Although the Socs almost drowned him, he can still understand the Socs and didn’t be blinded by the hate. He in the chaos and impulsive world can see through the surface of the conflict and see the core of the world that people are the same. That is really amazing and Ponyboy does have the board mind of a
He knows that Ponyboy has a chance because he is very smart. How they both reacted to not having parents shaped and effected who they are. “Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time(2).” This explains how Johnny was effected by his parents. His parents constantly fighting and beating him made him who he was. A part of him was effected by all the chaos and pain he had to go through every day. “We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. I don't mean I do things like that. Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police.” Social roles are a part of self-image that makes a person who they are. In the novel Ponyboy explains the groups that the Greasers and Sochs were split into. This
Dally is mocking a Soc named Cherry, calling her ‘fiery’ and saying that’s how he likes girls. He then proceeds to put his arm around her, when Johnny, who idolizes Dally, stops him and says, “Leave her alone, Dally.” (Hinton 24) This dismisses two stereotypes about Johnny, that he is a ‘lost puppy’ who needs the rest of the group to defend him, and that Greasers shouldn't care what happens to Socs. This is significant because it shows Pony that Johnny is stronger than he thought before, and that he might be as caring and thoughtful as Ponyboy is. Later in the book, Randy, a Soc, is talking to Ponyboy about Bob, Randy's best friend who Johnny killed to save Ponyboy's life. Randy tells Ponyboy that all Bob wanted was for his parents to get him in trouble. Randy then dismisses the conversation about Bob by saying, “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I couldn't tell anyone else.” (Hinton 116) This is invalidating the stereotype that Socs and Greasers have nothing in common, and should hate each other. Randy and Ponyboy in particular, considering that Ponyboy was there the night Randy’s best friend died. This matters because it is showing that Socs and Greasers might be able to understand each other better than people within their own group, although they are stereotyped to be complete
“The greatest sacrifice is when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of someone else.” Sacrifice does not come easy, but one sacrifice can inspire many as seen in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the novel McMurphy sacrifices himself to undergo a lobotomy to inspire the other men on the ward that they aren’t crazy and they can stand up for themselves.
In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy, along with his brothers and friends, has to face the daily struggles of being a greaser among the Socs. This fiction book focused on Ponyboy’s life and the problems he ran into with the Socs. He and his gang of friends had fights with the Socs that happened often, and had to deal with a Soc being killed by one of the Greasers, though it was an act of self defense. The three topics addressed in this intriguing novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what it means to be a hero.
Ponyboy Curtis struggles growing up as a poor youth with his two brothers. One night while he is out with Johnny, Ponyboy is attacked by the Socs. Johnny ends up killing one of the Socs. They both flee from the scene before the news gets out. They are caught in a fire and Johnny and Ponyboy become heroes for saving some children. The story has a tragic end for Johnny but Ponyboy realises that he is fortunate, having family and friends that love him
Typically, greasers are depicted as people similar to hoods, as Ponyboy states, "Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while" (Hinton 4). Yet, even though Ponyboy is a greaser, he avoids getting into trouble for the sake of staying together with his family. He explains that, "I don't mean I do things like that... Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave. So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can, and we're careful not to get caught when we can't" (Hinton 4). Alternatively, Pony also enjoys activities such as reading and watching movies. Even simpler things, such as sunsets and clouds, are something he found beauty and enjoyment in. This sets him apart from the greasers because according to Pony, he states that, "And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do" (Hinton 3). Since nobody other than Ponyboy himself shares the enjoyment of these particular pastimes, which is drastically different from pursuits such as shoplifting and fighting in rumbles, Ponyboy is divergent from the standard attributes of the greasers. Therefore, Ponyboy is a thoughtful and dreamy individual who holds different interests and aspirations than the
After the church fire Ponyboy comes to the realization of many things. Two-Bit and Ponyboy are eating at a restaurant known as Tasty Freeze when Randy asks to speak with him. Ponyboy tells Randy, ¨Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn’t have. It’s the individual¨(115). He finds out that you cannot define someone based on of they are part of the Socs or the greasers. Furthermore, he finds out that every one is a individual and that means that just because he is a part of a certain group it does not mean that they are all going to react or perceive a situation in the same exact way. In addition, he say this to Randy because when there was a fire in the church Dally was not willing to risk his life to save someone else's when Johnny and Ponyboy were more than willing to help the kids. This shows event shows how all Greasers and Socs are not the same. In the beginning of the novel Ponyboy believed Darry disliked him and thought he was a nuisance. However, later on at the hospital Ponyboy tells Darry, “I’m sorry” (98). Ponyboy’s words expose how he feels bad for thinking Darry disliked him all along when in truth he loved him more than words could describe. He realizes that Darry fears losing another family member that is why he is so overprotective of Ponyboy. Hence, proving Ponyboy is clearly a dynamic character.
This started to happen when he was in the church trying to hide away from the police because of the murder of one of the Soc’s. “I was trembling, and it wasn’t all from cold” (Hilton p.57). This shows that Ponyboy was scared, starting to break, and noticed that maybe this “hard bad boy” life isn't for him. Ponyboy put more and more thought about what it takes to be a greaser, which made him realize that maybe the gang life wasn’t good for him. “We were good fighters and could play cool, but we were sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser” (Hinton, p.88). Ponyboy is expressing that it is hard to be as strong as the other boys and sometimes he just couldn't or he couldn't be ok with what they were doing. “It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, ‘cause I’m supposed to be smart’ I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head” (Hinton, p.4). Ponyboy knows he has the potential to be something else and while being in hiding in the church it helps him realize that if he really wanted to he could be whatever he puts his mind
He realizes that he had an identity that he can communicate and be like a greaser, but doesn’t devote to the greaser way of life. In the scene, Ponyboy has an advanced way of life that includes both the Soc and greaser style, “Socs are just guys after all...Thing are rough all over.” Ponyboy at this time, understands how a Soc and a Greaser are similar and are of the same kind, human, yet are also different. He establishes an idea that the identity of a person is important because it describes who you are. As a result, Pony learns to look between the lines of people, not just at the extremes. The evidence that supports this is also “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” as I stated before. Andy says, “I’m Andy, he screamed wordlessly, I’m Andy.” When Andy’s death was coming close, the only thing we wanted in the end, was an identity. Similar to Ponyboy who is different from the gang and has a distinct personality. He is disparate because in the gang, Pony was the only one who ever thought about the sky, clouds, and books, which proves him exclusively in the group. This proves that Andy and Ponyboy are different from their gang and have a personality different from the group, and they both actually want to be different and be known not as a Royal or a Greaser, but as Andy and