The Outsiders Response To Literature Essay

The Outsiders: Response to Literature

Friendship is a very important bond shared by two friends that cannot be described by mere words. In the fictional narrative The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton shows us the importance of friendship through the hardships of the two protagonists, Johnny and Ponyboy. They use their friendship to overcome many obstacles throughout their story. One example of friendship can be found in the movie “Toy Story,” in which the main protagonists, Woody and Buzz, must find their way back home while at the same time gain each other’s trust and friendship. Friends will always support your side in an argument, they look out for you, and comfort you when you are in need. Friends will always support the side you stand on in an argument. This is shown in The Outsiders, where Two-Bit says: “You
know, the only thing that keeps Darry from bein’ a Soc is us” (126). What he was trying to say was, Darry could have been a Soc if he wanted to; he could have been easily accepted by his looks, athletic ability, and massive populatrity. However, because his friends and family were on the side of the Greasers, he supported and stuck with them instead of abandoning them to make his own life easier. This is a true example of friendship. Another example of this is found in the book: “Dally’s okay,” Johnny said defensively, and I nodded. You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do” (26).What Johnny said is a response to the Soc girls in the movies; they had called Dally dirty, but Johnny and Ponyboy stood up for him and defended him, even if it meant losing those girls. Real friends will always look out for you and watch your back. “One example of this in The Outsiders is shown by Johnny after he saves Ponyboy: “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you” (57). Johnny said this after stabbing Bob the Soc, because he would rather have to face the consequences of killing someone than having Ponyboy killed when he could have done something about it. A similar example is when Ponyboy gets jumped by the Socs and his friends and family come to save him: “Then there were shouts and the pounding of feet, and the Socs jumped up and left me there, gasping. I lay there and wondered what in the world was happening – people were jumping over me and running by me and I was too dazed to figure it out. Then someone had me under the armpits and was hauling me to my feet. It was Darry” (6). After Ponyboy had gone to the movies, alone, a few Socs got out of a car and started to beat him up. A short while later, the rest of the Greasers were there to save him, a true quality of friendship. Another thing friends will do is comfort you when you are feeling emotional.
The first example shown is when Johnny comforts Ponyboy after Johnny stabs Bob the Soc: “Johnny jumped up and dragged me by my sweat shirt. He shook me. “Calm down, Ponyboy. Get ahold of yourself.”” (57) Johnny is comforting Ponyboy because he is screaming out of fear. It should be the other way around, since Johnny will be getting the real punishment since he’s the one that stabbed Bob, but Johnny seems to be cooler and more mature; also, Johnny said earlier on that he gets scared when Ponyboy does, so he could be comforting himself at the same time, in a way. The second example of comfort is later on in the story, when Johnny is in the hospital and Ponyboy tries to comfort him: “He lay breathing heavily for a moment. “I’m pretty bad off, ain’t I, Pony?” “You’ll be okay, I said with fake cheerfulness. “You gotta be. We couldn’t get along without you” (121). Ponyboy tries to comfort Johnny in his last days, and himself, too, because he doesn’t want to think about Johnny, his best friend, dying. However, he knows the truth: Johnny’s life is slowly but surely
ending. You know when you have a good friend when they will always support your side in an argument, look out for you, and comfort you when you are in need. Darry is supportive for the rest of the gang by not being a Soc, and Johnny and Ponyboy support Dally in the drive-in theater. The whole gang saves Ponyboy at the beginning of the book, and Johnny saves him again from drowning by killing Bob and accepts the consequences. Finally, Johnny comforts Ponyboy when he is screaming in fear after Bob dies, and Ponyboy tries to comfort Johnny in his last days of life. The theme of friendship was well supported throughout the book, and I look forward to reading more books by S.E. Hinton.