In a world filled with divine expectations such as taking part in a gang this novel walks through two tales with a single core comprehension. The Outsiders by S.E Hinton captures the voices of the young boys such as ponyboy and johnny in a realistic way that relates to young boys in gangs today. The book takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was first published in 1967. The novel shows differences in values and socioeconomic status between the poor Greasers and the wealthy Socs have made them rivals. The pandemic currently occurring has brought to light similar socioeconomic differences with the real world.
The main source of The author’s anger was the social-class divide among the students at her high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There’s two sides of the gangs: the socs (socials) they live on the west of the town are very wealthy, the opposing side are the greasers which are the gang of the poor , lower class people from the east side of the town. The rivalries between the groups were their social and economic classes. The young boys from the westside have hatred towards the young boys from the East because they are lower class and the same goes for the wealthy side. The tension between the two has risen and gave the boys a gang mentality. S.E Hinton wrote the novel from the point of view of the greaser Ponyboy in an effort to humanize the gang. The events are briefly shown throughout the book.
The socs live on the west side of the town and greasers live on the poorer east side of the town. They both come from different backgrounds, but both are impacted from the stereotyping and problems surrounding the two groups. The bitter divide makes the young individuals like ponyboy and Johnny to be in a harsh predicament. The stereotypes facing the teens are still seen among modern times. In 1948 Rosa Parks fought for what she believed in by defying segregation. The park act of defiance and became an important representation.
According to henryford.org (she became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation). Much like the greasers, non whites in South Africa are stereotyped by mostly everyone. The greasers are lower social class unlike like the socs. Cherry is a part of the socs and very different from them in many ways, she’s sweet and has no type of hatred towards greasers. Cherry sees a ponyboy and offers to walk her to him. She explains she can’t be seen with him simply because he is a greaser and he is stereotyped that he’s poor. She’s well aware of the label that is set to ponyboy and insists to be friends with him. In The Outsiders, the socs, as well as police officers, school administrators, and socs parents have a prejudice towards greasers. Throughout the novel ponyboy and Johnny unintentionally were changing their label after experiencing dramatic events.