Food has been with humanity for millennia. Food ties people of all kinds of people together and can reflect the hardships that the people must face. In Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, this postulation of food has been proven time and time again. In both novels, using the literal and figurative meaning of food, the authors dive into the idea of how food can drive and steer the hardships and changes in each story. Regardless of how the story is illustrated in The Crossover, Josh Bell suffers from many losses and the hardships can be represented by food. For instance, Josh Bell has to go through many issues, but one of the main breaking points is when Josh has to hear how his brother, Jordan's, girlfriend is "the apple of his eye" and how Josh wants a "break" from the conversation (Alexander …show more content…
Looking deeper, another way to view the situation for Ponyboy's journey is to view what it means in a figurative way. To put the idea into effect, Ponyboy missing his Pepsi is not only a reflection on a current problem, but it also reflects how Ponyboy misses his entire previous life and how he wishes it would go back to normal. After suffering from the five straight days on baloney sandwiches, Ponyboy and Johnny Cade "gorged" on food, describing how much the boy's missed society (Hinton 83). All the while Ponyboy continues his journey in life and as a Greaser, the character himself has to come to the realization and is coming to the realization that hard times can be overcome by opening up their perspective. At the end of Kwame Alexander's The Crossover, Josh Bell crams a "salmon sandwich" into his mouth and this fact alone can be interpreted differently, as fish in literature can represent rebirth and realizing higher self, representing that Josh has been reborn into the man of the house (Alexander 231). In