Kelly Battaile
Mr. Allen
English 8
21 May 2014
The Outsiders Persuasive Essay
Imagine, growing up in a gang. Fighting seems normal to you, but you do not necessarily take
part in said fights. What if one day, this all changed? Your priorities all of a sudden go from watching
fellow gang members fight, to making sure they never fight again. This is exactly what happened to
Ponyboy Curtis, as a member of the greaser family. In The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, the author
demonstrates how we tend to separate into groups based upon our values, but our lives change when
those values change.
One day at the movies, Pony meets a girl named Cherry Valence. They get to talking, and
Ponyboy wonders why the greasers and Socs have to fight, and why they can not just all be friends with
each other. He thinks that it is money and that the Socs do not want to hang out with the greasers just
because they are not quite as wealthy. However, Pony is wrong, "It's not money, it's feeling—[Socs]
don't feel anything and [greasers] feel too violently," (Hinton 38). He realizes that the only reason that
Socs and greasers can not get along is because the Socs can beat up anyone and anything and not feel
guilty afterwards, but the greasers do not have the heart to be that mean to anyone without feeling
bad. This is why it is such a surprise when Johnny stabs Bob. No one had expected that, especially from
one of the less violent ones of the gang. Johnny is different though, he is not the toughest guy and he
does not see the point in fighting. Along with Pony's help, Johnny and Pony will be able to get the
greasers to realize something that may change the way that they see their lives forever.
While hiding out in the church, Johnny and Ponyboy talk about how their lives are changing.
Johnny tells Pony that he had, "'never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until [he] kept reminding [him]
about them. It [seemed] like they were never there before,'" (Hinton 78). The colors and clouds
symbolize an escape from the fighting going on in their lives. Johnny and Pony grew up as greasers, and
were expected to enjoy fights and act like a part of the gang. However, they realize that this is not all
there is to life, and that there are more important things. In order to escape the violence, Ponyboy and
Johnny begin to find time doing other things like watching sunsets and clouds, or reading books like
Gone With the Wind. Pony tells Johnny that, "'[He can't] tell Two-Bit or Steve or even Darry about the
sunrise and clouds and stuff,'" (Hinton 78). The other members of the greasers do not appreciate some
of the things that Pony does. Most of them seem only to care about fighting and acting tough. This is
why Pony and Johnny get along so well. They can talk to each other about things that the rest of the
group may not think are worth talking about since they are all caught up in trying to act cool.
When Ponyboy first meets Cherry, he knows there is something different about her. Unlike
most Socs, she did not run away from the greasers when they approached her and she had a different
mind-set than most of them. Most Socs would start a fight with any greaser when approached by one,
but Cherry for some reason does not. She reminds Ponyboy of himself, the sort of 'outsider' of the
group who does not necessarily fit in. Both Cherry and Pony enjoy watching the sun set in the evening.
Cherry knows he shares this love for sunsets so before saying goodbye to Pony, she reminds him not to
"forget that some of [them] watch the sunset too,'" (Hinton 42). Cherry acknowledges that Pony may
think that since she is a Soc, she will act like one, but she reminds him that she is different. The sunset
represents peace, which is why the author chooses this to be the value that Cherry, Johnny, and Pony
share. Most other Socs and greasers think that their main purpose is to fight with each other and be
rivals. On the other hand, we have Pony, Johnny, and Cherry who do not really understand why the two
groups feel the need to fight whenever they come in contact with each other. Before Johnny dies, Dally
informs him that they beat the Socs in a fight, but Johnny did not quite have the reaction that they had
expected. Johnny explains to Dally and Pony that it was, "Useless . . . [and] fighting's no good," (Hinton
148). Johnny realizes that maybe there is no point to all of this fighting. All of this time, greasers have
avoided the Socs, but for what? They got what they wanted and they won the fight, but in the process,
their values changed. Now, all of the greasers can appreciate the sunset along with Johnny.
All in all, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton is a perfect example of how simple things can change our
outlook on life. Throughout the novel, the cloud/sunset watchers, Pony and Johnny, are getting the
greasers to see a new alternative to life that does not involve violence with another gang. They work
together, and in the end, they change the gang's view on what their purpose in this world is. By Johnny
saying the simple words, "Useless . . . fighting's no good," the greasers finally come to a realization that
all of this fighting has been useless to them, (Hinton 148). Johnny had always seen the sunset, and even
now that he is gone, the other greasers can start seeing it too.