The Outsiders (Honors Essay 1)

The Outsiders
D’Vaughn McCrae

Socials fight Greasers, Greasers fight Socials (Socs for short). That’s just how it was and that was the only world that Ponyboy Curtis, a thirteen year old Greaser, ever knew. But one night, Ponyboy and his friend Johnny get into a fight that ended when Johnny murdered a Soc named Bob. Ponyboy learned three things from that night: having a label doesn’t make you better or worse than anyone else, fighting doesn’t solve anything, and if you want things to change, you have to change them for yourself.
Labels are clear cut in this story. Socs are the kids with the polo sweaters, Mustang convertibles, and money. The Greasers are the ones with the leather jackets, oily hair, and empty pockets. That’s all anyone really notices about each other and hatred builds from their lack of understanding what is beneath the surface characteristics. Greasers hated Socs because they perceived them as spoiled jerks. Greasers were hated because they were perceived as the kind of kids who were bound to get into trouble one way or another. They were stereotyped as typically dumb. Despite the stereotype, Ponyboy was an Honor roll student. He knew all Greasers weren’t like that and sometimes he worried he wouldn’t even fit in with his Greaser friends since he was considered smart. These narrow beliefs were shattered by two Socs - Cherry and Randy. Pony meet Cherry and got along with her instantly. He trusted her enough to tell her about the incident when Johnny was nearly killed by a group of Socs. Cherry pointed out that “all Socs aren’t like that…that’s like saying all you Greasers are like Dallas Winston.” Dallas was a Greaser in Pony’s gang who was known for going to jail multiple times and constantly getting into trouble. Pony knew that not all Greasers were the same and he was proof. But even so, Johnny still felt that separation between Socs and Greasers. Probably the biggest difference between the feuding groups was that the Greasers were the ones who had it tough with bad parents, and little money, while Socs were the ones who got everything handed to them on a silver platter. Cherry soon after says “things are rough all over”, but that didn’t make him believe it. Johnny couldn’t imagine that Socs would even have any real problems. He was still struggling to process the thought that Socs were all different too. Only when he talked to Randy about Bob did he finally realize that everyone has problems and struggle.
“Bob was a good guy. He was the best buddy a guy ever had. I mean, he was a good fighter and tuff and everything, but he was a real person too” was one of the first things Randy said to him. How could a label be expected to fully define a person? How could a label sum up the whole person. Everyone has their own complexities. Pony was surprised to learn that Bob even had problems at home with his parents. “He kept trying to make someone say ‘no’ and they never did…That was all he ever wanted.” This was the line that really got Pony thinking until he finally realized that not even Socs have it too great. Bob longed for proof that his parents cared enough to keep him on the right track and stable so he found ways to get into trouble in hopes of prompting a response from his parents. Bob was yet another example of a Soc that lived beyond the stereotype.
The story creates the question “what is the good of fighting over a label?” and illustrates that there really isn’t any good in it. “It doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing…Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs,” was one of the last things Randy said to Pony. Pony learned that fighting doesn’t make anyone better or worse than they already were. In the end, a fight is more likely to inspire more fights than stop them. Even if you punch someone’s face in, they’re still going to be who they were before the fight, and so are you. You may even be a little worse off than you were before because you end up just wanting to fight more, and in turn, you’ll have all the more reason to be angry, because nothing changes from it. There’s no positive accomplishment. Nothing changes from it. The war just continues.
If you want things to change for yourself, you’ve got to make it happen within yourself. Ponyboy hadn’t expected to go too far in life since his family was poor. College was expensive so, for a while, his hard work in school seems pointless. It was Darry, Ponyboy’s oldest brother, who was always really strict with Ponyboy about his homework and grades. Ponyboy was a really smart kid. Darry reminded him there was a reason for that. Darry said, “With your brains and your grades, you could get a scholarship.” The story as a whole made the point that if a person – Greaser or Soc - wanted a better future, they were going to have to work for it. They may work for it in different ways. It may be stressful and difficult but you can get somewhere outside of where your current label has you now. A person can be whoever they want to be. Unfortunately, a lot of people limit themselves to societal pressures and the expectations of others. But society cannot tell you who you are. Each person determines if he will stay within the restrictions of the identity or if he will set a new course for himself.
People are people no matter what others think about them. We are all living here on this earth, with more in common than we may realize. We all have emotions, differences, and similarities. The fact is we’re all humans, no matter what we do or don’t have.