The Outsiders: Standing Through Struggles There are many factors people can’t control in life. Their initial wealth, the groups they were born into, their social status. All of these things contribute into how they grow, and the person they become. It affects how they treat others, how they treat money and their morals. Both the Socs and the greasers are heavily affected by this, but the greasers do a better job in fighting through. They resist these struggles and don’t let them completely define who they are. They make it so they’re less affected by their socioeconomic state. The greasers are heavily affected by their socioeconomic situation. In their city they suffer from prejudice. People think that they’re just good for nothing greasers. …show more content…
They think they’ll steal and drop out of school and will never accomplish anything. This is shown on page 2 in The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, when Ponyboy is explaining the greaser’s situation. “Someone will come by and yell greaser at them[Greasers]...that’s what’s used to classify kids like us on the east side.” People use the term greaser like an insult. They use it to put people down and make them feel terrible. This makes the greasers feel looked down on. It makes them feel like outsiders. They start to take on the the mindset of not striving for anything more than just surviving. Look at two-bit. He doesn’t even care if people know of his theft. He steals and doesn’t even try to keep a sliver of a good reputation. Or Dally, he has no job and is even proud of his criminal record. It’s all because they can’t see themselves any other way. And it’s all because the greasers live on the East side. It’s all because of their poverty and their socioeconomic state. The Socs are also affected, but in a different way. The Socs are affected because they have too many things. Most people would think that’s a good thing, but this leaves the Socs with nothing else to want. They drive the latest cars and throw huge parties in even larger houses. Yet, they get accustomed to it. As shown on page 115, when Cherry Valance was explaining the Soc’s difficulties, “we’re[the Socs] too cool to feel anything” They start to build up a tolerance and don’t get any joy from these things. They start to get depressed. If they have everything and can’t be happy how can they be happy at all. They have material things but with no meaning, the things don’t matter. This also carries over to their relationships. They can’t really feel happiness so, their friends and family are like their material possessions. They don’t mean much, for they’ve built up a tolerance to feeling. This is no way to live and, it’s all because of things they can’t control, their wealth, and social status. Both the Socs and the greasers are also heavily affected by their home life. The Socs are rich because their parents work hard to make money. This makes it so they don’t have much time to pay attention to their child. They don’t care about what their child does. Look at Bob, his parents didn’t set any boundaries so he tried to push them. he tried to make it so his parents came off of their high ranking positions to punish him. This is shown on page 116, “That was what he[Bob] wanted. To make someone say No, and they never did… He wanted someone to lay down the law and give him something solid to stand on.” This makes the Socs including Bob do things with no worries. They try to be mean and cruel seeking attention. They don’t care who they step over as long as their parents see them. I can’t think of any parent who cares about their child that would condone underage drinking and would let their child physically hurt other kids. Things all the Socs do, yet their parents don’t care. The greasers have similar problems. They don’t have good parental figures as well. But for them it’s because they’re deserted. Like Johnny,“His [Johnny's] father was beating him up and his mother ignoring him”(Hinton, 12). Their parents don’t care about them. They even abuse them. And in ponyboy’s case the only father figure he has is his brother Darry who’s, “Cold...Doesn’t understand anything that’s cold hard fact, and has an icy stare.”(Hinton, 6-7). The greasers don’t have people that will punish them or in Johnny’s case extra punish him. They don’t have people that provide for them so they’re forced to steal and just get by. All with their socioeconomic state beating down on them. This could be insignificant. They could just grow up and become their own father figure, but it’s more lasting than that. In Maslow's Hierarchy of needs it states that when a person's needs, besides self actualization, isn’t achieved the person will try their hardest to achieve and not lose that need. Even after they’ve fulfilled that need.* This means that both the greasers and the Socs will try to win the love of their parental figure even after they’re long gone. This will affect what they do in their life for years to come. That is truly what makes them affected by this. Affected by something they can’t control. In the end though the greasers handle their situation better than the Socs.
This is because the greasers try. With ponyboy getting caught up in books and movies and the rest of the gang singing, doing acrobatics, and wearing their stereotype. When the greasers are heading to the rumble they jump around while singing, “I am a greaser, a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city, man do I have fun”(Hinton, 136). They do these things because they mean something to them. They fill their lives with breaks of fun between all the chaos of their environment. The Socs throw beer bashes and jump greasers, but to what end. They’re immune to fun and emotion. these things don’t matter, yet they do these things and pretend to have fun. They don’t try to think outside of the box and find better and unique ways to combat their situation. With home life, the greasers have replaced parental figures and a safe home with their community. Their group of friends which they are close with and help ease the pain of whatever they’re going through. They’re able to relate to each other and understand each other. They play games and joke around and gain genuine joy from each other’s presence. The Socs have fake relationships. Their friends don’t ease their pain. They’re friends run away when their friend is killed. They abuse their friends like how Bob acted toward Cherry Vallace at the movies. He drove away just leaving her. They don’t care about their friends and they don’t feel. They just accept their stereotype,where they’re too cool to feel. Because of this, the Greasers are handling their situation more effectively than the Socs
are. In my life I’ve met some people who in my eyes, are terrible. They vandalise school property, and make fun of people, including me. Yet, I never took time to think. Were these “terrible” people I’ve had to deal with since kindergarten really that bad. Maybe it’s their circumstances that makes them who I see them as. And maybe every time they do something bad it’s just taking a little of the pent up emotion they’ve stored from what they have to go through. Then releasing it. Now that I think about it I know nothing about their lives. I may never will, but maybe I should take that into consideration,when they bump me or are rude. They could be born into poverty like the greasers, or have parents that ignore or abuse them. Maybe they just need to be understood, like the boundary between Socs and greasers. Everyone has things they can’t control in life, the unknown factors that are others, and even their environment. The only way to overcome this is to stand up. It doesn’t matter how severe your problems are, or where they even come from. The only thing that matters is if you don’t let your environment control your life. That’s what the greasers do, and that’s why the greasers are less affected by their environment compared to the Socs. Even if they’re both affected severely.
Stereotyping is a constant theme throughout The Outsiders. It may seem as if the Greasers are the ones that really have to deal with presumptions, but the Socs also have quite a bit of stereotyping to deal with. While the outside world tries to force these stereotypes onto the gangs, they also tend to assume things about each other. This leads to divisions between them that most likely would not exist if stereotyping was not so abundant. The Greasers are pegged as nasty hoodlum troublemakers that are dropouts and criminals. On the other hand, the Socs are made out to be the opposite- crisp, intelligent young adults that have no real problems. Many cases of stereotyping between the two groups leads to violence between them.
Have you ever thought that Greasers have a preconcieved perception of Socs. Well, if so you are basically saying that what you have heard or a certain action is true to every Greasers and every Socs. In the story, “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton a reader's perception can change. In “The Outsiders,” a group of boys that live on the same side of town are considered to be Greasers. They are called Greasers because they are connected together based on their socioeconomic life, where they live, and how they live. Greasers have such a strong brothership and connection as stated in “The Outsiders.” The Socs are a group of boys who are the rich kids that live on the West side. Socs are regarded with being spoiled by their parents. The reader's perception of these two groups may fluctuate from a negative perception to a positive perception.
Once, a wise soul has spoken, “Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful”. Adversity means having troubles and difficulties. It’s what you need to persevere through in order to do something you’ve wanted to do for a long time. If you want to pass that test, you’ve gotta conquer your fears and fight through all the troubles that arrive in front of you. Become your own hero. Adversity is a situation that took place in the novel “The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton.
The rich man and soc’s are not happy. They are constantly worried about their looks, houses, and cars. The poor man and greasers obviously don't have a lot of money, but their needs are simple and they are kind to each other. Greasers always trust each other even during rough times. Also, greasers and the poor man are not always stressed since they are all family and they have a good time by playing games or hanging out.
Greasers were the lowest among the society. The society had negative thoughts towards Greasers, because there were not many things people expected from the Greasers other than doing bad things such as stealing, having rumble, and other bad things that happened around the society. Not every Greaser does bad things, however, the Greasers took the blame for anything bad even if it was the Socs fault. It is because everyone expected the Greasers to do bad things instead of the Socs. Even though the Greasers had a bad reputation, they didn’t care, but instead they enjoyed their lives. Sometimes the Greasers do bad things but only for fun and because it was the society’s expectations. If the Greasers did something good, no one would expect or believe the Greasers did it. No one would ever expect the Greasers to be heroes, just like the man whose kids were saved by Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dallas. “’Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?’ Sent from heaven? Had he gotten look at Dallas? ‘No, we’re greasers.’” (Page...
"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."(3). This quote from the book shows that people will think even worse of the Greasers because of their actions. Normal people would not do what they are doing because they have principles. The Greasers were fugitives, and this gave people an even bigger reason to be fearful of them and consider them a disgrace to society. The Socs did comparable things, but were not punished for them like the Greasers, and were still able to keep a sterling image of themselves. "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."(3). Unlike the Greasers, whatever the Socs do, it will not ruin their reputation at all. Overall, from looking at both the Greasers and the Socs, it is easy to say that the Greasers are a bigger disgrace to society concerning their behavior than the
After all, they are the “out” group— the clique that society condones. Ponyboy, the protagonist, also identifies himself as part of them. While reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, he felt Pip, the main character reminded him of the greasers–”the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn’t a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down on him” (Doc B). Greasers are lookeed down opon in society becuase they aren’t rich, and the image associated with them is negative. They are believed to be a general menace to society; people think they all steal stuff for kicks, attack innocent bystanders for no reason, and are uneducated hoodlums. They are outsiders to society as a whole. Pony, no matter how smart or talented he may be, will always be treated as an outsider by the Socs just because he’s a
I feel as though the novel The outsiders has many themes, but the most important one is belonging. The greasers are a group of poor, low class youth that don’t have much and live on the wrong side of town. They are always held accountable for their actions. On the other hand, the Socs are a bunch of high class youth that are very privileged and aren’t held accountable for their immature actions.
Imagine being dim-witted, stealing and carrying blades everywhere you go, and being unable to feel deeply, those words would make people think of Greasers. Most people when they think of gangs they think, that they fight, steal, and do not care about what is going on around them. Those statements that Greaser's and other assortments of gangs are brainless, criminals, and unfeeling may not be true, Ponyboy, the main character in S.E. Hinton’s book The Outsiders, opposes all of those statements.
Since Socs have that mentality of being violent to Greasers they won't come to terms with them and break into violence by jumping Greasers or just stomping on people. Another example of violence is “I ducked and tried to run for it, but the soc caught my arm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain. I had fought, but the hand at the back of neck was too strong and I had to hold my breath.” to further explain the quote, Ponyboy and Johnny have done nothing wrong, but Socs, is drunk and mad at them and almost kill ponyboy without truly thinking about it with their clouded judgement and if weren't for johnny both of them would have easily been killed. If the scenario happens where bob kills Ponyboy and Johnny the likes of the Socs being let off would be higher just because everyone stereotypes the greasers as mean, tough, and greased hair. It's like if a white male and a black male were put in court for stealing anything there is a very high chance that the black male would have been guilty, because that's just how society works it is influenced by people that can reconstruct it into their own
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
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
The Greasers one of the gangs in the community are more than just a group of friends. They're more like a family. In fact, two of the group's members, Darry and Sodapop, are actually Ponyboy's older brothers. Darry, the oldest of Ponyboy's brothers, is also his legal guardian since his parents have recently died in a car accident. Ponyboy's other friends include Steve, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Dallas. Together, this group makes up the gang known as the Greasers.The gang's signature hairstyle is long and slicked back, with lots of grease. They commit petty crimes like stealing, fighting, drinking, and smoking cigarettes.The Greasers are looked at by the people of their community as wild because of their appearance and their poor living conditions.
They both go through hardships. Everybody knows what a tough time Greasers have and how hard their life is, but no one knows what a hard time Socs have because they are supposed to be too cool to feel anything. This itself is one of the hardest things that the Socs go through, and Pony only realized this in his conversation with Randy. “Randy was supposed to be too cool to feel anything, and yet there was pain in his eyes.”(P.116). The Socs were not supposed have feelings, but no one knew, or no one could believe, that they were going through pain because they did not act like it. After Pony’s conversation with Randy, he realizes that the Socs are just like them. “ ‘He ain’t a Soc,’ I said, ‘he’s just a guy. He just wanted to talk.’ ” (P.118). Another similarity is the place where they live their lives. No matter how different or similar their lives are, they live in the same world, the same country, even the same town. “Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too.”
When all Ponyboy wants to do is walk home peacefully, “ I decided I [did not] like it so much, though, when I spotted that red Corvair trailing me ” (Hinton 5). Even though Ponyboy had done nothing, the Socs still want to beat him up. Difficulties like this lead to serious hatred between the two groups, and this is just one of the reasons why they always have problems with each other. In addition, if the Socs would stop bothering the Greasers, they would be able to avoid more worse situations, “‘I killed him,’ he said slowly. ‘I killed that boy.’ Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there in the moonlight, doubled up and still” (Hinton 56). If the Socs would not have attacked Johnny and Ponyboy in the first place, bob would not have been killed. Un like in “The Allure of Gangs” where gang members do not care for each other, mentioned in paragraph fourteen, “Some are told that they will be killed if they ever try to leave the crew,” Johnny really does care for Ponyboy, so if someone in Ponyboy’s gang gets jumped, they will get back up and try to protect each other. The Socs and Greasers have a difficult relationship since the Socs can not figure out when they have taken things too