S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

Being true to yourself in an important virtue to carry on throughout one’s life and should be focused on vigilantly. In S. E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders, it features a young Greaser dubbed Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy, the protagonist in The Outsiders, has matured since the ending of the novel, and is now ready to graduate from high school and enter into the real world. Although, he must make the decision of whether he would prefer to remain as a greaser, and stay in his comfort zone, or change to a Soc, and live a more luxurious life, but not be true to himself. Judging by an abundance of corroboration, Ponyboy’s feasible commitment will most likely be to persist in the Greaser faction. First of all, the Soc status does not suit Ponyboy since …show more content…
For example, in the quote, “If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers. . .” (Hinton 26). The quote portrays that Ponyboy will stay with his gang through thick and thin. He would never betray his fellow Greasers since he obviously respects the fact that they are all together as one group. Plus, Ponyboy admires his companions and they would play a major part in swaying Ponyboy’s decision back to the Greaser side. Furthermore, Ponyboy does not see the Soc as a tight knit group of friends like he does the Greasers. He sees the Socs as cold, intimidating, and just not like him at all. Also, Darry could have been a Soc, but he had to keep his family together. Ponyboy respects the fact of how hard Darry worked to keep his family together, but Ponyboy does not admire Darry for anything else, especially since he could have been a Soc if he left them all behind. Lastly, Ponyboy would not like the image the Socs represent. Ponyboy is more of a solitary, quiet minded character, and does not correspond with the violent and psychotic life the Socs voluntarily live. Overall, the Socs, are not the proper group for Ponyboy, so he would select to stay the same, as a …show more content…
The Socs, on the other hand, are more cool in personality and do not feel the deep and intense emotions that Ponyboy does emanate. Cherry Valance, a gratifying Soc, believes this statement to be accurate and makes the comment, “You greasers have a different set of values. You’re more emotional. We’re sophisticated-cool to the point of not feeling anything” (Hinton 38). The quote further proves the facet of emotion that withholds the position of Ponyboy as a Greaser. Ponyboy wants to keep these feelings bottled up, which would make him more like a Soc, but he is incapable of keeping them inside and must express himself. Therefore, his emotions make him more alike with the Greasers. Furthermore, Ponyboy is an intellectual character who thinks differently from the Socs and has a more philosophical edge to him. For example, on page 77, Ponyboy recites the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”. This was when he and Johnny were at the church and Ponyboy wanted to express himself and the poem did just that. He used his philosophical points of view to emote what he was feeling at that point in time. Ponyboy is too emotional to change to a Soc and is more eligible to remain as a