Comparing The Gangs Of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

In SE Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there are two gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. The Socs are the rich, west-side kids. The greasers are the poor, scraggly kids. These groups love to get into it with each other. Johnny, a greaser, killed Bob Shelton who is a Soc.

The year is 1960. Heroic Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade rescued five school children from a burning building. Many were interested in their story, but none got a chance to talk to them personally. In Ponyboy’s opinion, “They asked too many questions too fast, and got me mixed up. If you want to know the truth, I wasn’t really feeling real good in the first place.

How are the kids dropping out of school compare and contrast to kids joining gangs relate to the novel, The Outsiders. Like in “The Allure of Gangs” Ponyboy, Johnny, Sodapop, Darry, and all the Socs were in gangs and they hated each other. “Alarming Number of Teens Are Quitting School to Go to Work” is related to The Outsiders because Sodapop quit school to provide food and shelter for Ponyboy and Darry. Three things that will discussed are why the Greasers and the Socs are in gangs, why Sodapop quit school, and why the Socs think that they are way better than the Greasers. Hope you enjoy this essay.

“ ...while the Socs had so much spare time and money that they jumped us and each other for kicks, had beer blasts and river bottom parties because they didn’t know what else to do” (Hinton 43). This shows that Greasers have problems with wealth and why they are in groups such as gangs. This also shows that they do not have anything what the Socs have as they come from poor families with parents that neglect them or they passed away. Moreover, in the article “The Allure of Gangs,” “Feelings of being caught in a trap in a hopeless situation, in a poor neighborhood with no way out…,” (para 7). This shows that kids in poverty are and why they join gangs.

“Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs” pg.117 -Randy, “The Outsiders”. “The Outsiders” was written by S.E. Hinton. In this novel, we are introduced to two characters with very similar characteristics, however, they also displayed many other personality traits that were very opposite as well. Dally was a Greaser, who always got in trouble. Bob was a Soc, who got away with whatever he wanted .

But greasers have limitations. They can only defend themselves, they could never allow themselves to start a fight with the socs because they would not get away with it like the socs do. When Ponyboy and Johnny were having a walk with Sherry and her friend, Bob and his friend Randy show up and demand that the girls leave with them instantly. Sherry

Socs are rich kids who get drunk and like to start fights, greasers are hoods who stick together no matter what, who do you think has it worse? Greasers are sometimes beaten by socs because they use to much hair grease, or the way they behave. Socs are always looking to beat up the greasers because they have a lot of money and do whatever they want. Some people think it's imperceptible why the socs would have it harder, because greasers are always robbing stores, mugging people and some people would think greasers have it worse because socs beat them up. Greasers have no money to buy nice things and most of their families are broken apart.

The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.” (The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton). ‘Greaser’ was a popular term used in the 1950’s to describe “a rough young man, especially one who greases his hair back and is a member of a motorcycle gang” (Greaser, Oxford Dictionaries) and although the term is not used as often as it was in the 50’s, the idea behind teenage rebellious gangs/ groups still exists among us much like they did in Hinton’s famous novel back

Then there 's the Greasers, who live poorly and get blamed for most of the things that go down in the city. Ponyboy, and Johnny, two Greasers, that at first, clang to the fact that they hated Socs. All they wanted to do was fight the other gang to look tough and earn respect. In the beginning of the story, Ponyboy wishes he looked tough.

Many people have used violence to solve problems that they have at some point in their life, but as you look back at what you accomplished, you realized that violence doesn’t help you in a good way. Ponyboy learned that the hard way. In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton presents the idea that using violence against your rival(s) isn’t the solution, it is the problem. One scene that reveals the idea that violence isn’t the answer and that it can only hurt others, was in Chapter 3 when ponyboy talks about what happened to Johnny. He said, “Johnny was lying face down on the ground.

In the story The Outsiders written by S.E Hinton, there are two rival groups/ gangs, the greasers and the Socs. A young boy named Ponyboy explained his journey being a greaser and the sacrifices, consequences, and decisions he had to manage with. This story reminds me of William Shakespeare's story Romeo and Juliet of their similarities which are they gangs, fights, and loyalty and differences that are the wealthiness, behaviors, and between the two books. One of the similarities of the two books is the groups/ gangs, because in Romeo and Juliet there are the Montague and Capulets and in The Outsiders there are the greasers and the Socs. They are both enemies and try to sabotage and fight each other when every they have the chance to.

In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, it talks about a gang with not much money called the greasers, that goes up against a wealthy gang called the socs. The greasers have a big disadvantage here since they do not have very much money and can’t get off the hook as easily as the socs. Showing that the law is unfair for the greasers because they are poor. Dally gave Ponyboy and Johnny a gun and got put in jail for it. Johnny killed a guy in self defense, and said that if he ever got caught, he would get the electric chair, and if Ponyboy ever got caught he would be sent to the reformatory.

When people make choices that could drastically change their life, the decision they make is based on the influence of others. In the novel, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton a gang called the Greasers is stereotyped as being the “mean types” that slack off at school. Then there are the Socs who are the rich kids with cool cars that happen to like “jumping” greasers. As these two gangs are rivaling, they both go through some dramatic events that change their perspectives on life. In the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton the character Darrel Curtis is unquestionably influenced by his gang as it prevents him from being successful to becoming the father of the gang, and overall being someone to look up to.

Gang rivalries always string along much more than just a bitter rivalry and some tension. For the Gresers and Socs, it led to murder. For these two gangs the root of their rivalry is their social and economic differences. The Greasers are East side lower class kids who grease up their hair and the Socs are high class stuck ups from nice neighborhoods. The Greasers despite being thought of as ruthless criminals have a unique sense of loyalty among themselves.

The variations in gangs contrast the way each group is handled. One of the major facts with gangs is the recognition established through points of convergence. In relation to their