Rivalry In The Outsiders

Words: 682
Pages: 3

The Outsiders Essay – “Pony and Darry just don’t “dig” each other. Why? / Why not?”

The book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton is about two social groups known as the Greasers and the Socs. There is a rivalry present between them and one night one member takes things too far. A major topic that is present in the book is the relationship between Ponyboy Curtis and his Brother Darry, and more specifically how they don’t “dig” each other. It also talks about the changes to this topic. This essay discusses about why they didn’t dig each other in the first place and the positive changes to the relationship. The main reasons Pony and Darry don’t get along are because of their age difference, Ponyboy’s perception of Darry’s behaviour, and Darry becoming the father figure of the house while Pony still sees him as his older brother. Their relationship does however change towards the end of the book when Pony realises that what his brother Soda and their friends have been saying about Darry is true.

The first main point of this essay is the fact that Pony and Darry are six years apart in age. Darry is 20 while Pony is only 14 which leads to different perspectives of the
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After the death of their parents Darry has become the legal guardian of Pony and Soda. This means that he is looking after them in ways more than a brother would, providing the income, appointments, checking in with school work. Pony doesn’t see this as it has been a sudden change in his life and he needs time to adjust to it. This evidence shows that the role changes cause fights leading to more stress and friction being placed on two young adults. It is clear however that towards the end of the book their relationship changes and they realise that they both care about each other but cannot express it