S. E. Hilton's The Outsiders

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In S.E. Hilton’s realistic fiction novel The Outsiders it revolves around the hatred of two social classes, the Socs (rich, upper-class teens) and the Greasers (poor, lower-class teens). The story follows the experiences of a 14 year old greaser named Ponyboy who is trying to deal with the struggles of being an outsider not only in society but in his own group as well. Throughout the story Ponyboy struggles with his feelings of being an outsider but soon realizes that he has his gang that care about him no matter what. Being that Ponyboy is a greaser means that he could never be a Soc “the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids”(10 Hinton) because “Greasers are almost like hoods”(11 Hinton) who are the poorer middle class of the East-side. Not only is the social class what’s different between these two groups but the appearances of the teens in each. The Socs are clean cut and proper looking while the Greasers have long, greased hair (hence the name) and leather jackets which gives off a more reckless look. Growing up on the lower class East-side, Ponyboy is considered white trash by others due to the connotation that goes with being a Greaser. Though Ponyboy doesn’t fit in with the Socs he…show more content…
Unlike the other Greasers, Poneyboy is smart and sensitive. He is still in school unlike the other Greasers (considering he hadn’t dropped out like the others) and he does relatively well with his work. He’s also pretty sensitive in the facts that he likes to watch sunsets and isn’t really fond of fighting. This makes him feel different than the other Greasers in which he states “I’m not like them. And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do” (10 Hilton). Ponyboy starts to feel as if he doesn’t belong anywhere since he is doesn’t fit into a certain defined

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