The Outsiders Theme

Words: 576
Pages: 3

Have you ever met someone who changed their character almost completely from an event in their life? Ever witnessed someone change in the blink of an eye, to a personality you didn’t even know existed? The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton does a great job of explaining how that feels. The main character, Ponyboy, is a greaser, a gang of guys with a bad reputation. Throughout his story, a theme is that you should get to know a person’s other side before judging them. First of all, this theme of getting to know a person’s other side is portrayed when Ponyboy asks Cherry to go see Johnny in the hospital. An example of this is in chapter 8,“ It was the least she could do. It was her boyfriend who had caused it all... and then I stopped. Her boyfriend... ‘I couldn't,’ she said in a quiet, desperate voice. "He killed Bob. Oh, maybe Bob asked for it. I know he did. But I couldn't ever look at the person who killed him. You only knew his bad side. He could be …show more content…
In chapter 12, “‘Darry yells too much and tries too hard and takes everything too serious, and Ponyboy, you don't think enough, you don't realize all Darry's giving up just to give you a chance he missed out on’”(Hinton 175-176). This quote relates to the theme because before this conversation, Ponyboy thought that Darry didn’t like him because he was always yelling at him. He now realizes that Darry wants to make sure he grows up differently from the rest of the gang. He doesn’t want Ponyboy to be stuck working two jobs like he did. He just wants Ponyboy to go to college and make something of his life.
All in all, a theme in The Outsiders is you should get to know a person’s other side or personality. Otherwise, you will judge them for things you are not entirely certain about, which would make you the bad person. Bob, Dally and Darry all had other sides. Ponyboy just had to understand them and find