The Cycle Of Violence In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

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The “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton has a lot of important themes in it, and the themes relate to teens! “The Outsiders” is about a group of teenage hoodlums called the Greasers. Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darrel or Darry, Johnny, Dallas, and Two-Bit are all part of the group. Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry’s parents died in an auto wreck, making Darry their guardian in his 20s, contrary to average teens. The Socs are also a group of troubled teenagers who are the Greasers rivals. Stereotyping, the cycle of violence, and losing someone are all important themes in the book and are relevant to teens around the world. The Greasers and Socs are always stereotyping each other and are getting stereotyped by others. Socs think that the Greasers and them both have …show more content…

Greasers and Socs stereotype each other just like how teens do in the real world today. There is also the cycle of violence for both the book and teens. The book and teens both show the cycle of violence in many similar and different ways. It recurs many times for both. In the book, Johnny was raised in an abusive house. In Chapter 1, page 12, it says, “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off on something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house. I think he hated that worse than getting whupped.” As seen in the quote, Johnny was abused by his mom and dad many times. His dad beats him and also, not mentioned in the quote, gets kicked out a lot. Due to being abused, he always looks scared and sometimes acts out. Like in Chapter 4, he kills someone. He thinks that he should run away due to the murder and because he can’t take his parents. Some teens also have an abusive home life and act out of it. They could be very mean, run away, be very defensive, be scared, and many more things. The cycle of violence is seen both in “The Outsiders”, and in …show more content…

He grieved about the loss of them both, like teens around the world also do when a crucial part of their lives fades into death. He also had to see both of them die in front of him, and the amount of pain inflicted on Ponyboy after having them both die on the same exact day is massive.. When Johnny died, the whole world came to the realization of how important he was to Dally. So Dally robbed a store, and got shot by police after pulling out an empty gun, all because of one of his best friends death. In Chapter 10, page 154, it says, “He jerked half around by the impact of the bullets, then slowly crumpled with a look of grim triumph on his face. He was dead before he hit the ground.” Lots of teens experience the loss of someone in their life, and some may even become depressed like Ponyboy. Also, seeing a strong person in your life grieving the loss can also make it even harder. Losing a friend, family member, pet, or anyone else close is hard for both people in the book and teens. Same with cycles of violence and stereotypes. Stereotypes, the cycle of violence, and the loss of someone or a loved one are all important themes throughout “The Outsiders”, and are shown in teens today.Greasers and Socs stereotype people and each other,just like how teens

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