The Outsiders Research Paper

The novel The Outsiders by SE Hinton is about growing up in a society divided by social class, and dealing with the troubles that come with it.

An important theme in the novel that I will be talking about is social class and how it affects the people categorized in them.

A character that shows us the theme of social class is Ponyboy.

He shows us this theme when he’s forced to deal with the troubles and issues that come along with him being of a very low social class, and what happens when he tries to overcome them.

This theme is shown to us after Bob is killed by Johnny and they’re forced to flee their city into the countryside, despite the killing being a form of self defense. The two knew that the police would most likely give Johnny the death sentence if they were discovered because Ponyboy said that they would “put you in the

While there are still lots of discrimination and stereotypes, they aren’t as extreme as shown in The Outsiders.

Another character that shows us the theme of Social Class is Cherry. She’s unable to become friends with people of a lower social class, and her friendships are limited by who she’s meant to talk to. Although possible, she would face a lot of bigotry from her fellow Socs.

She shows us how this theme impacts her when she’s seen walking with Ponyboy and Johnny after watching the movie when her Soc friends pull up in a car and berate her for “walking the streets with these bums.” Although Cherry does attempt to overcome the social class barrier, she’s still insecure about friendships with people of a lower class and tries to comfort Ponyboy by saying that her avoidance of him is “not personal.” This shows that Cherry actually likes Ponyboy, but the social class barrier restricts her from interacting with him in public. This is unfortunate as she and Ponyboy have many similarities and could’ve been good friends, if not for the divide in society between