Stereotypes In The Outsiders

In the book, “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton there are two main social groups, the Socs and the greasers. The Socs, and the greasers are enemies in the town of Tulsa and often get into fights just because they are different. Socs and greasers often stereotype each other just based on one experience with one their friends. To start off, there are many instances of greasers stereotyping Socs but here are just a few examples. First, when Ponyboy was looking through Sodapop’s yearbook he stumbled upon a picture of Bob and thought to himself, “What was he like? I knew he liked to pick fights, had the usual Soc belief that living on the West Side made you Mr. Super-Tuff, looked good in dark wine-colored sweaters, and was proud of his rings. But
Instead of just seeing them as just a person. Another example is when Ponyboy thinks to himself, “I really couldn’t see what Socs would have to sweat about-good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs-Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I’d consider myself lucky”(36). In this example, Ponyboy stereotypes Socs as having no troubles at all, that Socs have got it good in everything even when he only knew what was on the outside of Socs, their fancy clothes and good looks, but never knew any of them on the inside, their personality, worries, and fears. Finally, the last example was when Johnny and Ponyboy were about to get into a fight with some Socs and Ponyboy said, “You know what a Soc is? White
First off, when the Socs got into the fight with Johnny and Ponyboy, the Socs said, “You what a greaser is? White trash with long hair” (55). In this instance, the Socs stereotype greasers just as poor losers with long hair without ever talking to them and knowing what they are really like on the inside. Another example was when Randy was talking to Ponyboy about him and Johnny saved those kids in the fire and said, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I would never have believed a greaser could pull something like that” (115). In this example, Randy stereotyped all greasers as mean and heartless people just because they were different and poorer than him. He had never talked to a greaser ever on the same level before this instance and just assumed everything about them. Finally, the last example is when Cherry met Ponyboy at the move theater and asked him, “What’s a nice, smart kid like you running around with trash like that for?” (23). Cherry stereotypes all greasers as people that were worth nothing and rude for fun. She only talked Dally in a mean mood and just assumed that all greasers were like that and thought Ponyboy was too nice to fit the picture of what she thought a greaser was. In conclusion, Socs stereotype greasers and nothing kids with long hair and bad manners without ever talking to them just person to person, not Soc to greaser. Socs only looked on the outside