What Are The Stereotypes In The Outsiders

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Have you ever been stereotyped, or judged based on your friendships, or social class? A novel by S. E. Hinton, “The Outsiders”, deals with these issues. The novel introduces Ponyboy, a 14 year old boy, as he narrates the story of him and his friends living on the less fortunate side of town. Teenagers relate to this book because it deals with real life issues they can connect with. This book deals with stereotypes and how these can revolve around what class you are in, and what friends you have. These themes, Stereotypes, Society and Social Classes, and Friendships are the most notable within the book. Within the story, both Greasers and Socs are represented by their Society and Class. Throughout the book, the focus of this topic recurs when …show more content…

get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day, and an asset to society the next.” What Ponyboy means by this is that they cause trouble but since they are stereotyped as the elite class they do not get into trouble like the Greasers do. This relates to teenagers because they may be judged based on what they look like and how they dress. This is what gives them their individual identity. These stereotypes are what make up the identity of both the Greasers and Soc groups, however, these groups have bonds and friendships that are very important to them throughout the book. Friendship is one of the main topics expressed by the Outsiders. Throughout the novel, friendships are an important theme of support for one another. On page 102, Ponyboy says, “We had always been close buddies, and those lonely days in the church strengthened our friendship.” Being close is what made Ponyboy be there for Johnny during hard times throughout the story, from killing Bob to being in critical condition in the hospital he was there for Johnny. On page 26, it says, “You take care of your buddies no matter what they do. When you're a gang, you stick up for your members.” The gang sticks up for each other no matter how bad the circumstance is and they treat each other like family with strong bonds between one

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