Morality In The Outsiders
In the novel “The Outsiders,” S.E Hinton uses morality to demonstrate that appearances can be misleading. Greaser, Ponyboy Curtis’ literary interests and academic accomplishments set him apart from the rest of the gang and make him an admirable best friend. Although, Dallas “Dally” Winston is a troublemaker, he can still be trusted to stand up for you. Bob Sheldon is a spoiled, selfish individual who values meaningless traits.
Ponyboy remains humble even though he excels academically. While hiding in the church, he reads to Johnny and has to “explain a lot of it to him. It amaze[s] [him] how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than [he] could - [he] was supposed to be the deep one” (Hinton, 75). Ponyboy didn’t judge
Johnny for not knowing how to read, but instead he complemented Johnny on how he was able to find deeper in meaning in the book.
Dallas Winston is more than just a criminal, he is protective and considerate of the boys. Johnny idolizes Dally because he witnessed him “gettin’ picked up by the fuzz… for breaking out the windows in the school building, and it was Two-Bit who did that… he just took the sentence without battin’ an eye or even denying it. That’s gallant” (Hinton, 76). Dally was willing to sacrifice his freedom in order to save Two-Bit from getting in trouble with the law.
Bob Sheldon is seen as a bully and leader of the Socials. He degrades and threatens the Greasers when he says “nup, pal, yer the ones who’d better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind - dirt” (Hinton, 55). If Hinton had told us more about Bob’s kind acts and good qualities, we might have been able to see what Cherry saw in him other than his good looks, money, and popularity. Society judges whether a person has high or low morals based on what they wear, where they live, and how much money they have. Hinton breaks these perceptions by giving the Greaser higher values than the Socials.
Ponyboy remains humble even though he excels academically. While hiding in the church, he reads to Johnny and has to “explain a lot of it to him. It amaze[s] [him] how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than [he] could - [he] was supposed to be the deep one” (Hinton, 75). Ponyboy didn’t judge
Johnny for not knowing how to read, but instead he complemented Johnny on how he was able to find deeper in meaning in the book.
Dallas Winston is more than just a criminal, he is protective and considerate of the boys. Johnny idolizes Dally because he witnessed him “gettin’ picked up by the fuzz… for breaking out the windows in the school building, and it was Two-Bit who did that… he just took the sentence without battin’ an eye or even denying it. That’s gallant” (Hinton, 76). Dally was willing to sacrifice his freedom in order to save Two-Bit from getting in trouble with the law.
Bob Sheldon is seen as a bully and leader of the Socials. He degrades and threatens the Greasers when he says “nup, pal, yer the ones who’d better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind - dirt” (Hinton, 55). If Hinton had told us more about Bob’s kind acts and good qualities, we might have been able to see what Cherry saw in him other than his good looks, money, and popularity. Society judges whether a person has high or low morals based on what they wear, where they live, and how much money they have. Hinton breaks these perceptions by giving the Greaser higher values than the Socials.