The Role Of Loss In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

It is said that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But is this true? In The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis finds out that it is most certainly not. Although the Socs are more economically advantaged, this does not mean that they do not have problems as well. The same is true in the real world. Everyone has problems, everyone feels the burden of loss. S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is a realistic fiction novel that teaches people that despite our differences, especially in economic status, we are all human and we all have problems.

Unfortunately, Ponyboy has been taught his whole life that Socs have no problems, but that they enjoy causing them for Greasers. Pony thinks “I really couldn’t see what Socs would have to sweat

about--good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs--” (36 Hinton). However, he realizes throughout the novel, via Cherry and Randy, that although someone may be more prosperous, that does not mean that their problems have disappeared, the process beginning when Cherry said, “‘I’ll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the West-side Socs. I’ll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as as a surprise. We have troubles you’ve never even heard of. You want to know something?’ She looked me straight in the eye. ‘Things are rough all over.’” (34 Hinton). This sentence causes Pony to start seeing things differently, not just as black and white. The real world is the same, in the sense that economically advanced people are not truly delighted because of their wealth, but on the contrary seem to be almost wistful, as if they believe the the less successful are more happy. One man even said in a survey from The Wealth Report on The Wall Street Journal, “If we can get people just a little bit more informed, so they know that getting the $20 million or $200 million won’t necessarily bring them all that they’d hoped for, then maybe they’d concentrate instead on things that would make the world a better place and could help to make them truly happy.” (Frank). The man believes that becoming rich will not make people happier, opposite to what economically disadvantaged of today think, which is just as Pony believed: that all of his problems would be solved if he had as much money as the Socs did. Unfortunately, whereas Pony found that money fixing everything was only a superstition, most real people have not discovered that yet.
Not only are people linked through the fact that they all have troubles, but they are also united by loss.

In The Outsiders, loss is almost a theme itself, coming into the plot well before the story took place, when Pony’s parents died. Their loss drove Ponyboy and his brothers, Darry and Soda closer than they might have been under different circumstances. Pony was the most emotionally traumatized of the three by his parent’s deaths and had nightmares after their funeral. His description of it was, “I had a nightmare the night of Mom and Dad’s funeral. . . . I woke up screaming bloody murder. And I could never remember what it was that had scared me.” (110 Hinton). Ponyboy struggled incredibly with that immense loss. Another example of grief on behalf of the Greasers was when Dally suffers from the loss of Johnny, who, according to Ponyboy, “. . . was the only thing Dally loved. And now Johnny was gone.” (152 Hinton). And as a result, Dally killed himself. He was seen as a mean, savage figure in the beginning of The Outsiders, but as Cliffsnotes said, “. . . Dally's character covers a broad spectrum. In addition to his cold, mean image, he is Johnny's hero, he is the one who literally gave Pony the coat off his back, he helped to save the children from the fire, and he was a scared boy who reached out to the Curtis brothers when he most needed help at the end of his life.” ("The Outsiders By S.E. Hinton Critical Essays Themes in The Outsiders."). Dally goes to incredible heights for Johnny and still can not save him. His grief is incredibly painful. Bob’s death however proves the most that Socs feel grief just as much as Greasers. Cherry said to Pony when he asked if she would go to see Johnny, “‘I can’t go see Johnny. I know I’m too young to be in love and all that, but Bob was something special.” (129 Hinton). She grieves for him just as much as the gang when they grieve for Johnny and Dally. Grief can (of course) be found in real life, because, in truth,

death strikes everywhere. People in poverty and people in luxury all feel grief, sometimes even for the same person. Sorrow is felt throughout the world and there is nothing to change that. Young and old, impoverished or wealthy, dark-skinned or light-skinned (note: do not anybody dare to say that that is racist, because it is not), everybody feels the pains of mourning. It is a part of human nature that links us all together.
S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders teaches us all a valuable lesson that we could stand to learn: deep down, we are all the same. We love and hate, grieve and mourn, we all have problems. Pony learns this throughout the course of a week and and the theme is obvious through his narration of that week. So, the question is, why? Why do we still separate ourselves into groups? Why do we push people away because they are poor or just plain different from us? Why are the outsiders still on the outside?