The Outsiders is a very intriguing novel, it is a class conflict between the socs and the greasers and it also has a load of loyalty to each other, and In “The Outsiders”, S. E. Hinton develops the themes of class conflict and loyalty through his use of character, imagery, and narration.
Now there are two themes to this novel, which are the socs and greasers class conflict and they use different styles to show how different they are, but also how similar they are. the first style is using imagery to prove a point because of something one of the main characters, Ponyboy said, “Can you see the sunset real good on the Westside? You can see it on the East side too.”(Hinton). Now this shows that class conflict is that both sides hate each other and think that they are different but in all reality, they are just the same. another style that is used is characters and one of the characters said that “I am a greaser. I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man do I have fun!”(Hinton). Now that is saying that they have a lot of conflicts between social groups and that they are two different groups because of them doing different things they each find fun. In the novel, Hinton uses imagery and characters to show how class conflict is a theme but also how the two groups are and aren’t so different after all.
The second theme is Loyalty and the characters from each group have loyalty for each other and loyalty for their group which shows that they care for each other “Most important, they believe in, trust, and support each other, all sentiments which can be universally admired despite the circumstances in which they are displayed.” (John S. Simmons). Now John S. Simmons, in his point of view said that all of them help each other and would do anything for each other. Now Hinton, on the other hand, uses this quote to show the loyalty of the greasers, “You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you’re a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn’t a gang anymore. It’s a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering park like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber.”(Hinton). See the greasers believe that if you are a greaser, you stick up for other greasers or you take the blame for each other because they’re all like family. This is why Hinton has Loyalty as one of the themes because no matter what the greasers are loyal to each other and sometimes to the socs also but if anyone reads this novel then they can tell that there is a lot of loyalty between people.
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Hinton has other things in his novel and they are styles like characters, which one of the characters is Ponyboy and he is the main character and he is a greaser, but he is not like the others, “I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s the day. Like the way, you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be.”(Hinton) now this is said by Johnny, his friend, but he says it because Ponyboy talked about this poem he read, but ponyboy is not like any other greaser because he likes school and he likes reading while most of the other greasers are dropouts. Now the thing is that these characters were played by “The impressive array of young actors who starred in The Outsiders include C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise and Leif Garrett. “So many of the young and talented cast have gone on to the great success that I think the new length will be that much more fascinating to audiences,” Coppola added.”(Business Wire) they were good at showing how johnny and ponyboy were so different from the other greasers which were actually what it was like in the book so the actors that played ponyboy and johnny were good at playing them.
Another style they used was imagery which showed how the class conflict was a theme Now Hinton puts this one quote“It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.” (Hinton). Which again it shows that just because the Northside and Southside are from two different areas, it does not mean that they are that different, even though they do have some differences. Now the differences are pretty great like how “Diane Lane, as a Soc princess named Cherry Valance (no, I’m not making up these names), spurns the drunken boyfriend who brought her and strikes up an acquaintance with Ponyboy and his sidekick Johnny (Ralph Macchio, a beautiful dark-eyed camera subject and a very skillful young actor).
Although she also brushes off their hoody friend Dallas, it’s also clear that she’s attracted to him.” (Gary Arnold). So this states that Dallas, a greaser, bugs cherry but she doesn’t like how he is but in the other case she likes how Ponyboy is because of his similarities to her and socs which shows that all socs and greasers are not all the same, each one of them acts differently from some but some socs and greasers act alike and so they use imagery so you, the reader, can imagine how it looks of them being different.
One style is narration and it shows the theme of class conflict and one quote from Hinton is that “Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too.”(Hinton). Now, this shows how there was a class conflict between the two groups because all of the greasers are rough but it is still good because the socs can tell that they are human and that they can be hurt. Now another quote is by David Kelly which states that “The action concerns tensions between distinct social classes leading to a murder, but Hinton’s real theme, about the darkness associated with adulthood, is not easy to miss.” (David Kelly). It states that the greasers, mainly Ponyboy and Johnny are worried about growing up and becoming adults in the future Now that is two more reasons why one of the themes is class conflict and it is the main theme.
Now Hinton has one of the themes as loyalty and that is because all of this novel, it is easy to tell that the people have loyalty for each other and care for each other now Hinton uses characters to show the loyalty between people “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.” (Hinton). Now, in this case, it is one of Ponyboys friends telling him to stay Gold and by that, he means to not lose the light of being nice and caring unlike all of the other Greasers. Now Hinton also shows class conflict through characters of saying “Well I won’t. But I gotta do something. It seems like there’s gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain, ordinary people.” (Hinton). By this, he means that there is so much drama and class conflict in this place between the south and north sides that he would just like to find some normal place that does not have any sides and is just one united town So, in other words, the characters in this novel can tell how bad the class conflict has gotten but also how strong their loyalty has gotten between each other because as the two sides fight more and more, the stronger people have to be loyal to each other.
In conclusion, the two themes of the novel were class conflict and loyalty because class conflict was the main theme because during the novel all they talked about was how the Greasers and the Socs hated each other because of them coming from two different sides, North and South, and the reason they were so different was that the Greasers are low life criminals trying to fit in while the Socs are rich snobs making fun of the poor Greasers. Now the other theme was loyalty which was a theme because the Socs had loyalty for other Socs and the Greasers had loyalty between other Greasers and some Greasers had loyalty for some Socs, like Johnny and Ponyboy. which is why, In “The Outsiders”, S. E. Hinton develops the themes of class conflict and loyalty through his use of character, imagery, and narration.
