Violence In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

The rule that animals follow in wild life is to beat others and avoid the enemies who are stronger than them, which makes violence happen everywhere. The same situation took place in S.E Hinton “The Outsiders” too, the condition that greasers face in their life makes them use fighting to solve their problems. The theme of violence in the story impacts Johnny the most. Due to Johnny is the one who experiences the most violence, all of his friends are from a gang, he became quiet and timid, and he died.

The existence of violence in “The Outsiders” totally limits Johnny’s social circle into only greasers. There is a quote in Hinton P.12, which introduces how Johnny suffered from violence. “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except...... He would have run away million times if we hadn’t been for the gang, Johnny would never have know what love and affection are.” There is no one to care about Johnny except for greasers, and that is caused by the violence in family, also long term fighting resulted in Johnny being introverted. The violence in the society led Johnny to meet the people who are also always involving in fighting. Therefore, we can see the theme of violence impacts the social circle of Johnny, and it confines his friends in a gang.

The theme of violence in the story also makes Johnny a coward and a silent boy.

There is a quote from Hinton P.12 which talks about Ponyboy’s impression of Johnny. “He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes.” A man who looks nervous is actually scared of man things, which shows Johnny’s timidness. Furthermore, in chapter 2, when Johnny and Ponyboy meet 2 soc girls. “He looked around for Dally , then managed a shy ‘Hi’ to the girls......nervous around strangers.” Here conveys his nervous feeling when he tries to communicate with people, which exactly tells he is not talkative. Thus, we can see the consequence that Johnny experienced much violence is Johnny being timid and

silent.
The impact of violence can also be shown in the death of Johnny. After Johnny stabbed Bob, he and Ponyboy went to church to avoid police. Nevertheless, the fire in the church caused him to be injured. There is a quote in Hinton P.148 describes the scene when Johnny is nearly dead. “Johnny didn’t even try to grin at him useless...... ‘fight’s no good’ He was awful white.” Here, Johnny shares his opinion with Ponyboy that fighting is meaningless, since he has much experience of suffering violence. Moreover, if Johnny and Ponyboy did not fight with socs, they won’t run to the church. Consequently, the theme of violence ultimately killed Johnny.
Silence, greaser friends and death are the evidences that violence in S.E Hinton “ The outsiders” impacted tremendously on Johnny and proves Johnny is the character who experiences the most violence. After Johnny suffered family fighting, and social violence, he became the person who scares people and fights with people. Overall, the theme of violence displayed the fighting between socs and greasers , and finally brings the story to an end.