The Outsiders Research Paper

The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton is about two gangs who are considered outsiders. These two gangs are outsiders because they do not fit in with society. Particularly, there are three characters who do not only not fit in society because of what gang they are in but they are considered outsiders in there own gang; these three characters are Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and Cherry Valance. One character that would fall under the title of the outsider would have to be Ponyboy Curtis. There are many reasons why he can be considered the outsider. One reason he can be considered an outsider is because he is a greaser who by far is a gang that is outside society. Most important he is an outsider in his own gang. He is an outsider in his gang because he acts different then the other members of the gang. For example when he is given a broken bottle to fight with he dose not fight he just drops the bottle. Where as the other gang members would fight back with the broken bottle. He is an outsider of the gang because he does not feel the
same things that the others do. He feels love and compassion for others. He also thinks that things can get better if people would just try. Where the other members hate change they think all things are good. These are probably the most important reasons why Ponyboy Curtis can be considered an outsider. Another character that would fit the description of the outsider is Johnny Cade.
Johnny Cade is another member of the greasers. A reason that he can be considered an outsider is because of how his outside life is at home. His life is very rough and poor because his family dose not care about anything that he dose. For example when Johnny is laying in a hospital bed dying his mom finally comes to see him after two days of being in that bed and Johnny wont let her see him because he thinks that she will just yell at him like always. Another reason why Johnny can fall into the description of the outsider is because he always thinks that you can find good in everyone even the most feared cold-hearted people. A way he shows this is when he tells Pony to ‘Stay gold” meaning never change. This means he has found the good in Pony and does not want him to lose that. This character, Johnny Cade, can be considered an outsider because of these
reasons. The last character that would fit under the category of the outsider is Cherry Valance. Cherry Valance is a Soc’s which is another gang that is outside of society. Cherry can be considered an outsider not only because she is a soc’s but also because she can see through some of the greasers and make friends with them even though they are the lowest people in society. For example when she talks to Ponyboy at the movies, she is making friends with him even though he is a greaser and she is a soc’s. Another reason she can be put into the category of the outsider is because like Johnny she links that you can find good in every person. For example when Johnny killed Bob, Cherry’s boyfriend, she knew that Johnny was doing it for self defense. These are probably the most important reasons why Cherry Valance can be placed into the category of an outsider with Ponyboy and Johnny. After reading this you can see why these three characters; Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and Cherry Valance can be put into the category of the outsiders. They can be considered outsiders in there gang and it society its self in the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton.