Theme Of Violence In The Outsiders

In the outsiders, violence was a commonly occurring theme. The Socs, the highest social class, and the greasers, the lowest class, are always going at it. It is a common thing in their everyday life for them to be at each others throat. Johny gets jumped, and Pony too. Most is ok, until the night someone takes it to far. Violence is never the answer.

Early on, one night after Pony ran away, because Darry hit him, Pony and Johny ran to the park. When they get there, they come to find the Socs there, and they want trouble. When they insult each other, the Socs put Pony’s head in a fountain, and pulled a blade on Johny. Then Johny stabs Bob’s back. S.E. Hinton then starts Pony and Johny’s conversation with, “ “You really killed him, huh, Johny?” “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….” “Like…”-I swallowed-“like they did before?” ”(57) In this situation, they were drowning Pony, so Johny stabbed Bob. It was all self defense, but it was because of the Socs move on Pony. This is why you should never do violent acts.
The rumble was when the two gangs got together for an old fashion fist fight. It is just a brutal beatdown of the other gang. In the rumble a lot of people were laid on the ground. A lot of people, including Pony, had some injuries. From Pony’s point of view, Hinton wrote, “Finally he kicked me in the head so hard it stunned me, and I lay limp, trying to clear my mind and keep from blacking out. I could hear the racket, but only dimly through the buzzing in my ears. Numerous bruises along my back and on my face were throbbing, but I felt detached from the pain, as if it wasn't really me feeling