Analysis of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton, gives us a taste of the rivalry between two different social classes; the socs (the rich kids) and the greasers (the hoods). Ponyboy, who lives in the "hood" with his brothers and the rest of the gang, is always on his guard against the socs, who jump greasers like him for fun. When Ponyboy's friend, Johnny, kills a soc who was beating the two of them up, the pair goes into hiding in the countryside. While hiding from the police, wanted for murder, the kids become heros when they save some small children from a burning church. Ponyboy had always thought that the socs had all the breaks and that their lives were so easy, but after befriending a soc girl, Cherry, speaking with a friend of the murdered boy, and watching his brother fight a soc who had once been his buddy, he begins to realize that even though we may be separated by social classes, no matter how much money we have, life still is full of hardships.

In Ponyboy's life, the socs and the greasers live in two entirely different worlds. When he befriends a soc girl, Cherry, his ideas about the rivalry between the socs and the greasers begin to change. After Ponyboy tells Cherry about the greasers always being jumped by the socs, Cherry tries to make him believe that socs are not always so cruel. "I'll bet you think the socs have it made . . . You want to know something? Things are rough all over. (p. 46)" Ponyboy looks upon the socs as the rich kids who get all the breaks while the greasers are the troublemakers who are always struggling for money, so it's easy to understand why he believes the greasers have a tougher life. The only problem the socs have to worry about is keeping their grades up, or so Ponyboy thinks. Later on, Cherry tells him that the socs' problem is that they have everything handed to them on a silver platter and don't have to work for what they have, so they go searching for excitement and entertainment. Slowly Ponyboy begins to learn that, although we may be separated by social classes, it doesn't matter if we are rich or poor, life still has problems. This becomes even more clear to him after Johnny commits a murder, in the process of saving his life.

After Ponyboy returns home from being wanted for murder, Randy, a soc who was the best friend of the boy killed by Johnny, visits him. Randy tells him that the only reason his friend beat up greasers was because he wanted his parents to give him some boundaries. "That was what he wanted. For someone to tell him 'No' . . . to set the limits. (p. 116)" This is when Ponyboy finally understands what Cherry meant when she told him that even the socs had problems. While the greasers were struggling for money and fending for themselves, the socs would go out and get drunk or into fights, just to get attention and to have somebody notice and tell them 'No'. Their largest problem was that they had too much freedom with no authority or leadership, and didn't know what to do with it. This goes to show that although we may be separated through social classes, no matter how much money we have, every person's life is full of hardships.

Slowly, Ponyboy begins to understand that the socs and the greasers aren't as different as he first thought, but no one else sees it that way. At the next rumble, or fight, between the socs and the greasers, Ponyboy decides that fighting like this is wrong. As he watches his older brother and a soc, who used to be his high school buddy beat each other up, he realizes that " . . . they used to be friends, and now they hate each other because one has to work for a living and the other comes from the west side. (p. 143)". The two groups of teenagers grew up hating each other because they were from two different social classes. Two friends from high school were forced to become enemies because of how much money their families made, although both of them suffered from obstacles in their life. Whether those problems were about not having enough money to finish school or having too much freedom, life was not a bed of roses for either of them. This shows us that even though we may be separated by social classes, we are all similar. If you are rich or poor, life is still full of obstacles.

Ponyboy finally learns that it doesn't matter what side of town you are from or how much money you have because everyone is human. Life is full of situations that we must overcome and no amount of money can change that. For although we may be separated by different levels in society, we are all alike in the fact that no matter how much money we have, we can overcome situations, even if they are difficult.