The Outsiders Research Paper

Sunsets are beautiful. It allows you to take a breath and reflect on both the roses and the thorns that life throws at us. It’s no wonder that the characters in this story loved and mentioned them so much. The novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a fictional story about two rival gangs in Oklahoma who may see the same beautiful sunset but still experience the world in different ways. The rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs become violent and Ponyboy Curtis is left behind to tell us about his story. We see how each character struggles with the challenges that come with being young and being trapped inside limiting social expectations. The theme that stereotypes do not always define who you are is developed in this story when Ponyboy

and Johnny heroically save kids from a burning church, when Cherry decides to help the Greasers, and when Randy has a heart to heart conversation with Ponyboy.
The theme that stereotypes do not always define who you are is developed when Ponyboy and Johnny decide to risk their lives and save kids from a burning church. What readers should know is that they were running from the police because Johnny killed Bob the Soc. They spent a week hiding in an abandoned church before Dally came to visit them. When they left for food they came back to a burning church and realized that they may have started the fire. In that instant, they don’t decide to run, they decide to save the kids instead. In chapter 6, Jerry tells Ponyboy, “Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent straight from Heaven” (Hinton 95). What’s happening in this moment is Ponyboy is trying to explain to Jerry that he’s a hoodlum, someone that’s not worthy of such praise. Most people would look at him and think he was a thug or a thief but Jerry didn’t see him that way. This moment illustrates how stereotypes do not always define you because Ponyoy didn’t fit the stereotype of a violent, uncaring Greaser. In reality, he and Johnny were good people and Jerry recognized who they were based on their heroic actions, not their appearances. Another example that supports this theme is when a girl Ponyboy likes, shows him she’s not what she seems.