Character Analysis: The Outsiders

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Pages: 3

Who’s considered an “outsider”? Some people grow up outside of society. They don’t look for fights, they look beyond. The Outsiders takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the 1960’s. This novel is about two social groups of teens, Socs and greasers. Along the way, there are conflicts that cause separation between buddies in a hurtful way. Which characters from the novel were different or set apart from the rest of society? The “outsiders” of the novel are Ponyboy, Johnny, and Cherry based on textual evidence. They’re those who can see beyond societal division and boundaries. First of all, Ponyboy, without a doubt, feels like an “outsider” in his group of buddies, the greasers, and the Socs. According to document B, Ponyboy is an “outsider” because he’s supposed to be the smart one, while, most greasers aren’t recognized as smart. Also, he’s the only greaser in his biology class, which is an A class. Additionally, document C states that Ponyboy is different from the rest of the greasers because surprisingly he’s open to Cherry, a Soc, and he defines his boundaries between the Socs. In …show more content…
Document C specifically says that Cherry is the odd one out because surprisingly she can fluidly interact with Ponyboy knowing that he is a greaser and greasers are enemies of Socs. Furthermore, Ponyboy could have remembered the poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay, around Cherry meaning that she digs dreamy stuff like the sunrise and clouds and stuff. In fact, document E states that Ponyboy had remembered what Cherry had told him, that things are rough all over. This detail shows that Cherry indeed can anticipate that wherever you are, there is social structure and that it’s rough which indicates that she is very realistic, unlike Socs who are cool to the point and aloofness. It is evident that individuals like Cherry are set apart from the rest because they see beyond difficult situations like social