Theme Of Hardship In The Outsiders

According to C.S. Lewis, “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” This idea of tough times can be found in many texts. In Bob Dylan’s “Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” it discusses tribulations that are happening in different areas. Dylan refers to hardship as rain and “the deepest dark forest”. In the book, The Outsiders, the conflict between the Greasers and Socs create hardships that characters have to face. The theme of Bob Dylan’s “Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is Facing hardship/obstacles can shape one’s identity, and this is expressed through the characters, their experiences, and lyrics.

To begin with, the theme of facing hardships and obstacles appears in Bob Dylan’s “Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”Throughout the song, the lyrics suggest that life is hard and unfair. The artist talks about the obstacles people are facing. The artist
The war between the Greasers and Socs have created many hardships for multiple characters. This hatred toward both groups has caused many people to get hurt, both physically and mentally. “You really killed him. huh, Johnny?” “Yeah.” His voice quavered slightly. “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade...they were gonna beat me up….” Johnny was quiet for a minute. “Yeah,” he said, “like they did before.” A panic was rising in me as I listened to Johnny’s quiet voice go on. “Johnny!” I nearly screamed. “What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for killing people”(Hinton 57). In other words, Johnny and Pony were getting beat up by the Socs. Johnny saved Pony but, by doing so, he killed a Soc. Johnny now has to face the obstacle of taking one’s life. This will shape his identity because this experience will follow Johnny wherever he goes. Conclusively, hardship helped form the identity of several characters in the book, The