Social Classes In The Outsiders

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is about two social classes (the greasers and the socs) and what separates them. The story is told from the perspective of a fourteen year old greaser named Ponyboy Curtis. “Greasers” are one of the two social classes. They are the poorer of the two, and though both classes are usually misjudged because of how they look, the greasers often get the worst of it. “Socs”, the other one of the social classes, are rich and upper-class, and they’re expected to be the victims, not the persecutors, even though socs frequently beat up greasers and cause damage. Ponyboy does not like being classified as a greaser, nor does he like the stereotypes that come along with it. The book is about fighting against stereotypes, because

you shouldn’t judge a person by how they look. The division of the East and West sides, (greasers are East, socs are West) represents how divided they are because of the things they own, like cool cars or criminal records, and the clothes they wear, like leather jackets or madras ski jackets.

The time period of The Outsiders also affected the characters because of different laws than the ones we have today, and the influence of different artists and people, which had great impact on how people saw them. Also, the division of the East and West sides cause the stereotypes of greaser’s and socs to become even more prominent. Both greasers and socs’ came from home environments that were ‘broken’, abusive, or ignorant.The overall environment of both socs and greasers impacted their success and happiness.

The Outsiders is set in the 1960’s. This time period impacted the plot because of the different trends, such as greasy hair or madras shirts, and the different laws from our time period now. Also, artists such as Elvis Presley, Paul Newman, and The Beatles, impacted the way greasers and socs dressed, acted, and what they did. As said by Ponyboy: “I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman - he looks tough and I don’t” (Hinton 1). Ponyboy wanted to look like Paul Newman, because Ponyboy is a greaser and they are supposed to look tough. This shows that because he is a greaser, Ponyboy feels the need to conform to the stereotypical “tough” greaser look. The socs also

have a certain way to dress, for example: “clean shaven with with semi-beatle haircuts, wearing striped or checkered shirts with light red or tan-colored jackets or madras ski jackets” (Hinton 141). While the greasers go for a more tough or “hoody” look, the socs appear to be respectful and kind, which affects how people see them. This is proved to be true when Ponyboy say about the socs: “They could just as easily been going to a rumble as to the movies. That’s why people didn’t ever think to blame the socs and were always ready to jump on us” (Hinton 141). This affects Ponyboy and many other greasers because they feel that because they are greasers, the world sees them as bad people. This has an effect on the character's success and happiness because many greasers and socs feel like they need to conform to their stereotypes. The laws of the 1960’s also influenced the greasers and socs. Their laws are harsher in some aspects, but also softer in others. An example of this is, “I suddenly thought of Dally . . . in jail at the age of ten … Dally growing up in the streets” (Hinton 90). This law is different from the ones we have today because if a ten year old kid committed a crime, they would be sent to a juvenile detention center, not real jail. Also, laws today would not permit a criminal kid to just live on the streets; they would probably be sent to a foster home, or stay with a relative. This effected Dallas’ success and happiness greatly because he learned to be tough very early in life, which influenced his future self to become mean and cold. There are also laws that are easier on the persecutors, compared to the laws that are in place today. “‘I got a good chance of bein’ let off easy,’ . . . ‘I ain’t got no record with the fuzz and it was self-defense’”(Hinton 87). Nowadays, if someone committed a murder, they would get the death penalty or a long jail sentence, even if it was self defense. This impacts Johnny’s success and happiness because the idea of an easier jail sentence prompts him to turn himself in, and he can’t be successful or truly happy in jail. In conclusion, the time period of The Outsiders influenced many characters, and both greasers and socs.

The two social classes, greasers and socs are separated by the division of the East and West sides.

Socs, or the upper class, live on the West side, while greasers reside on the East side. The division of the East and West sides pushes greasers and socs even farther into their harmful stereotypes. As an example: “Greasers can’t walk alone too much or they’ll get jumped” (Hinton 2). This will have an effect on the greaser’s happiness because they have to be scared to walk alone, which means they are most definitely not happy. This shows the division of ow the West and East side because Greasers can’t even walk alone on their own territory without the fear of being beaten up. This divides the social classes further because they become another way to classify greasers and socs, for example the socs are described as, “the jet set, the West-side rich kids” (Hinton 2). and as Ponyboy says about the greasers, “the term greaser is used to class all us boys on the East side” (Hinton 2). Now, the greasers and socs are even more separated by the places they live. The West side no represents socs and rich kids, whilst the East side represents greasers and hoods. Another example of this is when Johnny says, “‘What are greasers doing this far East?” (Hinton 54). The fact that Johnny was questioning Ponyboy, and that he was surprised by this fact, proves that there is a large boundary between the two classes. Also, entering a rival territory could get you beat up or worse, for example

Johnny tells the socs, “‘You’re outta your territory’,” Johnny warned in a low voice. “‘You’d better watch it’” (Hinton 54). When Johnny says this to Bob it is proved that there is a border between the East and West sides, making it harder for greasers and socs to get along, and maybe if they weren’t so separated by the East and West sides, they could have communicated better without the fear of being beaten up. The division of the West side and the East side impacted the characters by making it harder to communicate with the other group and enforcing the unwanted stereotypes onto both of the social classes.

The home environment of both greasers and socs impacts the way they see the world and the people in it. While the greasers often come from abusive or broken families, the socs come from families who they often think do not truly care about them. This has an effect on the character's success and happiness because it causes the socs to become mean-spirited and cold, because they often come from families who are blissfully ignorant of the damage their children are responsible for. Bob is a perfect example of this, as shown when Randy talks about him “‘[Bob] kept trying to make someone say ‘No’ and they never did . . . That was what he wanted . . . to have someone lay down the law, set the limits, give him something solid to stand on” (Hinton 116). Bob, a soc, just wanted to feel like someone cared about him enough to stop him. This had an effect on him and his success and happiness, and, as a result of this, he was reckless and mean. For example, he beat up Johnny and tried to drown Ponyboy. He got drunk, and in trouble. And, in the end, he got killed. Bob getting killed happened because no one ever stopped him from getting drunk. No one ever stopped him from jumping people. So, he eventually got himself killed because he had no restrictions. Another good example of an abusive home environment is Johnny’s family. Johnny’s family regularly beats him, and that has a huge impact on the way Johnny sees the world, and, especially, the people in in it. This is shown when Ponyboy describes Johnny, “He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes . . . his father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him” (Hinton 11-12). This proves that, because Johnny was always being beat up, he was suspicious of almost everyone around him. This influences Johnny’s success and happiness because he is now always nervous, which makes it hard for him to live a normal life without being paranoid at every turn. Johnny receives bad treatment at home, so he is naturally wary of almost anyone. I know Johnny is like this because, “I looked at Johnny. His eyes were shut and he was as white as a ghost . . . Two-Bit knew better than to scare Johnny like that” (Hinton 27). Johnny is treated differently than the other greasers, because he is so jumpy and nervous. This is a result of him getting abused at home, which affects how he sees the people in the world, because even after he found out that Two-Bit was the one scaring them, it obviously still made him very worried. The home environment of the gangs influences the way they act, feel, and think about the world and the people in it.

To conclude, many factors impact the character’s success and happiness by influencing how they dress, what they do, and how they act. In The Outsiders, these factors revolve around the time period, the division of the West and East sides, and the character’s home environment. Some characters in The Outsiders, such as Ponyboy, overcame the greaser-soc stereotypes, while others, like Dallas or Bob, were influenced by their environment and simply couldn’t take it. In conclusion, a character’s environment affects their success and happiness to some extent.