Greasers And Socs In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

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Have you ever thought about Greasers and Socs having similarities? Ponyboy Curtis (Greaser) and Cherry Valence (Soc) are alike and in common liking the same things. Greasers and Socs might like similar things but in different ways. Greasers are poor, and Socs are rich but they both like fights and are unsure of themselves. In the Outsiders, S.E. Hinton’s characterizations of individual Greasers and Socs reveal that both rich and poor kids face problems and feel trapped by their social statuses.
Greasers have a hard life and they will have to go through many obstacles in their life. Ponyboy points out “We get jumped by the Socs” and “We’re poorer than the Socs and the middle class” (Hinton 2-3). This shows that they have to go through getting jumped and don’t have a lot in life. Therefore, they barely survive and the Greasers have to look out for each other or they will not survive. In “The Allure of Gangs,” Kathleen Rowley explains that “Ironically, some kids enter a gang to combat their feelings of fear-fear of gang members” (40). Furthermore, the Greasers …show more content…
Cherry points out to Ponyboy, “Things are rough all over” (Hinton 35). Basically Cherry is saying that the Socs have to go through rough things such as drinking, getting too much, and always it into trouble. In addition, the Socs can’t show emotion and are constantly trying to fit in because they are rich and “cool”. In “Cool at 13, Adrift at 23,” Jan Hoffman expresses that when teens or affluents “rush into pseudomature behavior, that set(s) them up for trouble” (1). In other words, Hoffman believes that kids that rush into this type of bad behavior it gets them in a lot of trouble, like the Socs. To put in another way, Socs use this behavior and gets them in a lot of trouble from drinking, and not knowing right from wrong. All in all, Socs have a cool rich life but are alcoholics who jump Greasers and have a bad
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