Final reading response on the Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
Now that I am finished reading The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton, I have learnded a lot. Not just about myself, but about the real purpose of growing up, and how coming of age really affects someone, and their life. In this book, the main character(mc), Ponyboy, goes through a series of not-so-great events while growing up, and coming of age. These events teach Ponyboy valuble life lessons, shape his coming of age, and influence his growing up. The three main lessons Ponyboy learns in this book are that friends are family(or even more), that violence has no meaning, and that social class doesnt say everything about a person. Ponyboy isnt the only one who learned these lessons; I did too.
The first lesson that Ponyboy learns is that friends are family, and sometimes even more. In this book, the greasers, which is a gang, or group of friends that call them selves the greasers, are like a big family. For some of the members of the gang, like Johny, Ponyboys best friend, the greasers arent just LIKE a family to him, they are his family. Johnys parents didnt care about him at all. If he didnt come home at night, they wouldnt even care. The greasers really took care of him, and showed/gave him a real family. As Ponyboy saw this, he realized that you dont have to be related by blood or law to be a family, but by love.
The second lesson that Ponyboy learns is that violence has no meaning. Through out the whole book ponyboy constantly asks himself why he fights, and never comes up with a reasonable answer. So in the end, he starts asking other greasers why they get in fights. The only answers he really gets are " because its fun" or " because im mad" . In the end, Ponyboy realizes that violence isnt right, and usually doesnt solve anything.
The third, and perhaps most important lesson that Ponyboy learns while growing up is that social class doesnt say everything about a person. The greasers, Ponyboy's gang, has one real enemy, the Socs. The socs are another crew from a different side of town. They are much richer than the greasers , and get everything they want. They ride fancy mustangs around to show off, and beat small greasers almost to death whenever they have the chance. For three quarters of the book, Ponyboy hates the socs more than anything. Ponyboy thought that the reason they were/are so mean is because they are rich. In the end, he learns thats not the case. He talks to some former socs, and realizes that most of them are really nice people, and there are only a few that do bad things, and only when they are drunk out of their minds. Ponyboy learns that social class doesnt neccasarily tell you everything about someone.
After reading the outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, i have learned a lot about growing up, coming of age, and how other people may go through it. In this book, the main character, Ponyboy, and his best friend Johny go through some amazing and unforgetfull expiernces, and it all sums up to a clasical coming of age/growing up story. In the midst of all these crazy experiences, Ponyboy learns three new important life lessons; friends are family, violence usually doesnt solve anything, and social class shouldnt make one judge another.
