The Outsiders

Background does not matter when you are a hero. In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, the author argues that heroism defines a person by their actions not by their background, history, or looks. The events at the church, the incidents that happened before the church and the aftermath all show the changes that happened over time that would eventually negate Ponyboy’s history and background and regard him as a hero. There are different points of heroism in the story and different forms of heroism in the story but for now we are going to look at the most important three, Cherry acting as a spy, Ponyboy rescuing the kids and what he was defined by before he was a hero.
Ponyboy is very much defined as a hero after the events that happened at the church in which he rescued all those kids from death by grabbing them out of the burning church. He did out of courage and kindness and was praised as a hero for it. “Mrs.O’briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something? Sent from heaven? Had he gotten a good look at Dallas? “No were greasers” I said. I was too worried and scared to appreciate the fact that he was trying to be funny. “You’re what?” “Greasers you know like hoods, JD’s. Johnny is wanted for murder, and Dallas has a record with the fuzz a mile long.”(95).The quote present here relates to the theme and explains the ambulance driver overlooking his past and still appreciating him as a hero. The author is putting emphasis on the heroism in the quote and that no matter what background heroes come from, they are looked upon for their actions and the same applied for Ponyboy and what he did for those kids. The reason that he was looked upon as a hero was because of his actions, but what was he defined as before the church? He was a greaser, just your average every day greaser who was looked upon as a hood, a thief, and juvenile delinquent to society. “It was my pride. It was long and silky, just like sodas only