KidLit Forum

The book illustrates the class diference between two young bands: the greasers and the Socs. This difference can be observed even in the names of the town: East side and West side. It seems that we have to deal with two types of persons who are diametrically opposed, which is not true. During the book we see that the rich and the poor have many things in common: Ponnyboy and the Socs girls talk about the same interests in literature, music, sunsets. Morover they have to confront the same problems: fear, love sorrow. As the narrator states: ”we are not in the same class. Just do not forget that some of us watch the sunset too”. For me, this is a memorable passage that exemplifies that, no matter how important the differences are, they still live in the same world, beneath the same sun. The book is full of violent acts, fights, that seem to have no purpose. The two gangs chase one another apparently with no reason. They fight for nothing material, just to defend and celebrate their identity. I think that identity represents a major theme in this book. The greasers distinguish themselves by wearing their hair long. They cannot afford jewels, cars as the Socs, so they look for something more affordable. The hair represents their identity. We can see this in the episode in which Ponnyboy is threaten by Socs to cut off his hair. By doing so, they would destroy his individuality.

Another very important passage for me is that in which Randy says ”greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Sometimes I thinkit is the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs”. What does it mean?!!! It seems that they accept their situation,maybe they are pessimists, they are unable to overcome the limits of their gang identity.
After all these notes, I think that there should be a short discussion about the narrator. How reliable is he?!!! Should we trust himself? I do not think so. First of all we have to deal with a very young narrator whose parents have died recently. He is poor, isolated, overprotected by his older brother. All we know about the story comes only from his own point of view, as seen by his eyes. On the surface he seems honest, descriptive (successfully describes the violent surroundings), intelligent, he likes reading books etc. But there is an episode very strange.....he comes to a point in which admits ”I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me”. Morover there are many times in which he loses his counsciousness. It is very strange to have a narrator who presents such important social aspects even if, most of the time, suffers from uncounsciousness.

This book is for teenagers, about teenagers and it's written by a teenager. In my opinion "The Outsiders" is a book about friendship and by the end of this book, I'm sure that the reader (teenager or adult) would be able to realize the author's message- it is wrong to judge people before getting to know them. Let's be honest, it happened to everyone at least once to judge someone just by her/his appearance but once we really got to know that person we were ashamed of our first thoughts. After all, we are basically the same, no matter where we come from, what we wear or what we like to do. This book makes us understand that it's what's on the inside that counts.
Cherry Valence, a Soc girl, is the only one who is able to see beyond the appearances. She doesn't judge Ponyboy, nor Johnny by their affiliation to the Greaser gang, she likes them as individuals- they are polite and know how to behave themselves. Before this meeting the conflict between the two gangs seemed irreconcilable so, Cherry makes the connection between the two worlds possible.

I think that even if we leave nowadays, in a 'totally' free world, we are more or less just like them...we don't hang out in gangs or at least we don't call them like that...we call them groups of interest, as our kidlit master is...in opposition to the romanian master, but of course the difference is that we are peacefull and tolerant with our peers and won't kill anyone in a moment of rage or when we are disturbed by other "gangs"

Well said, Maria! I totally agree, we don't like people judging us but we keep judging others Once we are in a group we end up talking behind others back ... Unfortunately this is the way things work these days

And what about Johnny Cade? He is one of the greasers, he comes from an abusive family and the group is his only support. I consider him as the principal impulse for the important events of the story. He argues with Dally at the drive-in and tells him to stop bothering the 2 Soc girls, Cherry and Marcia. Their interaction and kind of friendship determine anger through Soc boys. After that the Soc boys attack Johnny and Ponyboy. Johnny's acts of bravery lead to the murder and to the death of that Soc boy. Than Johnny and Ponyboy run away in that abandoned buiding, they change hair colour and haircut.
Johnny is also very courageous when he rescues the children from the burning church. In the end he dies in the hospital because of the injures he got in that fire.
As a conclusion, teenagers never think before acting in any kind of situation.

The book is very interesting, it shows us the differences between the poor and the rich. In this book the narrator presents us two groups: the Socs and the Greasers. The Socs are wealthy and the Greasers are poor. Each team has a marker of identity. For example, The Greasers wear their hair in a certain way, that is why they are called like that. And the Socs have rings and cars. They are happy that the Greasers are poor. If someone would ask us which of these two groups is better, we might choose the Socs because they are rich and if they are rich definetly must have culture. But it is not like that. It is true that the Greasers are poor and have a greaser hair but they also have culture. The Greasers like literature and popular music. For example Ponyboy shares the same interest for literature as Cherry Valance does. Cherry is a Soc so I think that there should not exist certain differences because we all are capable to learn.
Ponyboy hates the Socs but at the end of the novel he realises that the groups have certain things in common.
Johnny Cade is also an important character, he is on the Greasers’ side because the Greasers have helped him a lot. The Greasers are his only family. His real family did not treat him very well.
Cherry Valance is a nice girl, she does not hate the Greasers, she even likes one of them. She likes Ponyboy because he was polite with her. But however I did not like when she told Ponyboy that she probably would not speak to him at school because of these social differences.

"It’s okay… We aren’t in the same class. Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too."

Ponyboy speaks these words to Cherry Valance in Chapter 3 after he, Two-Bit, and Johnny spend time with Cherry and Marcia at the drive-in. Ponyboy points out that the sunset closes the gap between the greasers and Socs. He realizes that, even though the two groups have unequal lifestyles, attitudes, and financial situations, they nevertheless live in the same world, beneath the same sun. The words “some of us watch the sunset” suggest to Cherry that although some of the greasers live up to the stereotype of greasers as rough and unrefined, some of them, like Ponyboy, have a keen appreciation for beauty—as keen as that of the richest socialite. By agreeing on the basic fact that rich and poor people look at the same sun, Ponyboy and Cherry take a small step toward a potential reconciliation between the rival gangs. This moment of concord comes early in the narrative, and its idealistic tone makes the rifts and violence to come all the more painful.

I think, all this story has a meaning:it teaches us that even we are upset or in a conflict with someone else, doesn’t matter what differences are between us, because in the end we will realise that we are actually equal... all of us watch the same sunset...