Character Analysis: The Outsiders

He was only 20, but he never really got to know what that was like. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the mid 1960’s. In addition, conflicts between two gangs were on the rise and the Curtis family was stuck in the middle of it. The main character Ponyboy Curtis had had two older brothers Sodapop and Darrel “Darry” Curtis. Darry happened to stand out because of his father figure presence in this novel. He had to grow up when he was only 20 years old. Both of Darry’s parents had died in a car wreck, forcing him to take on the responsibilities of his two younger brothers. Darry is a responsible, caring, and a prideful young man.

Have you ever had two friends that are enemies? In the story, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, Cherry Valance (her real name is Sherri) is a fashionable, fiery, red headed, emotional, understanding, and trustworthy friend. The story took place in the mid 1960’s in Tulsa, OK. Greasers and Socs are two very different, yet same groups, which most definitely do not get along. After Ponyboy and Johnny got jumped, Johnny killed Bob, a Soc who was also Cherry’s boyfriend. During Ponyboy and Johnny’s hiding out in an abandoned church, the church starts on fire, while the children are playing in there. Johnny and Ponyboy somehow made their way back in to save the kids. Johnny and Ponyboy both made it out alive. Unfortunately, however, Johnny gets out with severe burns and a broken back. While he is in the hospital, Cherry has a conflict with herself: she is asked by Ponyboy to go see Johnny in the hospital, but she says no because she doesn’t want to face the person who killed Bob. In the time of the trial, Cherry and other Soc’s testify and come clean about the night of the stabbing. Consequently, since they told the truth, Johnny, Sodapop, and Darry all got to stay together. Cherry Valance is an emotional, caring, and trustworthy friend.

Once Ponyboy was out of the fountain, Johnny had explained to Ponyboy why he attacked Bob “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade... they were gonna beat me up…” (57).

In the novel the Outsiders, “Let me fight Darry…” Ponyboy said, “I guess you can.” Darry responds. This shows that Ponyboy should go to the system. If Darry would not let Ponyboy go to the fight, than it would make him a better guardian. On page 135 of the novel Outsiders, Ponyboy is telling Darry to let him fight, and Darry agrees to letting Ponyboy fight. After the rumble Ponyboy got a concussion for fighting for fighting with the socs, therefore Ponyboy is better in the system. Someone else might argue that fighting would help Ponyboy if he ever needed self defence. Ponyboy is better off with the system, because the system won’t let him smoke and Ponyboy would not get hit by Darry.

In the first scene of the film, Ponyboy exits a theatre to what looks like the city center area. As he begins his walk home a mustang filled with Socs see him walking and immediately start insulting him, telling him to wash the grease out of his hair. The torment does not stop there, they follow him throughout town, throwing scrap wood at him and chasing him down the street. It escalated to the point the Socs jump out of the car and takes him down, pointing a switchblade at his neck and cutting him. This type of harassment is normal for Greasers, which is why they never should walk alone. This scene is an example of victim precipitation theory. Ponyboy is an adolescent male with a poor upbringing walking alone, even in broad daylight, he is considered an easy target for the Socs and they know they can get away with it. Another example is when Ponyboy and Johnny decide to run away together, they were spotted by the Socs who had been drinking and looking for easy targets.

In the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Darry is a stern, protective, but compassionate character, that shares many characteristics and attributes with me. Intelligent, popular, and athletic, Darry became “Boy the Year”; however, despite received a football scholarship, Darry could not go to college because of financial problems and his parent’s death. Instead, he had to become a roofer to support his family, revealing his deep compassion and acceptance of responsibilities for his brothers at an early age. Nevertheless, his compassion is not always shown into perspective to us, as he is strict and quarrelsome with Ponyboy in order to give him the opportunities, such as going to college, that he had lost. Moreover, Darry is extremely protective about

Dally eventually comes and visits the boys, who are both convinced that they should return home. Dally submits and takes both of the boys out to eat; when they return to the abandoned church, they find it has been set on fire and a bunch of school children are trapped inside. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dallas all rush in to save the kids, resulting in Ponyboy being knocked out. When he wakes up, Ponyboy is in the hospital along with Dally and Johnny. He finds out that everybody is all right, except for Johnny, who is in critical condition. After he and Dally are released from the hospital and win victory in a rumble with the Socials, they return to the hospital to dolefully find that Johnny has passed away. Dally darts out of the hospital in a fit of rage and is later shot by the police after being caught robbing a grocery store. Ponyboy is devastated, and soon begins to lose his mind until his English teacher assigns the class to write an essay about something meaningful. Ponyboy decides to write about the events that recently happened to him in hopes that it could make a

“We haven’t patrolled this area since the first nights of the curfew, do you know what would happen if they found out?” the husky sounding one questions.

Ponyboy Curtis, an innocent young adult, that has nothing to prove to anybody, is in the gang called the Greasers, and gets caught up in a lot of trouble because him and his friend Johnny Cake, take a walk after Darry Curtis, (Ponyboy’s oldest brother ) hits him after an argument. During that walk, the opposing gang, the Socs, gang up on Ponyboy and start beating him up. In reaction, Johnny approaches the Socs from behind and stabs one of them to save Ponyboy from drowning to death. After the Soc was stabbed to death the others ran off in fear, and Johnny and Ponyboy take off away from the scene and go to Johnny’s best friend, Dallas Winston for advice. Dallas tells them to go off to an abandoned church on a hill, but to get there, they would have to take a train. When they got there, they would need to spend the money he gave them on food, and items to change their appearance. So the two boys took Dally’s advice, and took off.

“Damn,” Rodriguez said. “How in the hell could they establish an off-world colony without us knowing?”

"Well, I've got to go watch over my bunch. They are ferocious today," someone said.

“Is that the best idea sir? We have no idea who they are or what they want.”

“Who are you an what do you want” said the man with a annoyance in his voice

In addition, Hinton’s allocation of Ponyboy as the narrator aids the novel in being well-read through several eras. Readers observe his bildungsroman, much like teenagers from any generation will have to do in their own lives. Near the end of the novel he expresses his feelings about the Socs, saying, “Socs were just guys after all. Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too” (Hinton 118). Because it does not matter whether the adolescent reader comes from the same time period of the novel or from today’s society, this fictional journey is especially significant. Without the point of view of Ponyboy, The Outsiders would be a novel that may not shape an adolescent’s reading experience as significantly as it does; furthermore, another relevant literary device in use is symbolism.

“Yes, and I don’t know if they followed me, either, so they could be coming, but I am not sure. But we need to figure something out; what are they?” I answered.