Complex Themes In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

S. E. Hinton wrote the novel The Outsiders to present a complex theme that her characters have to deal with. She portrays an environment where characters created happiness for themselves but then have it destroyed by an action of grief. Throughout the book when one of the characters experienced joy there would also come pain. For example there was a character named Bob in The Outsiders that brought Cherry Valance comfort but when Bob died a great distress came over her which causes her to learn how to let go. In summary, one will understand that the author is trying to cast the theme that the main characters in the novel will experience delight, but it will get interrupted by agony.

To start off, Darry and Ponyboy love each other but they are constantly fighting which causes both of them to lose their temper, which then causes Darry to hit Ponyboy. Darry and Ponyboy love each other so much, they are all that each other has, but they are always butting heads and cannot get along. For instance one night Ponyboy came home late and Darry and him got into a fight that ended poorly, “‘you don’t yell at him!’ I shouted. Darry wheeled around and slapped me so hard that it knocked me against the door.” (pg. 50). As this reveals, Darry …show more content…
E. Hinton in The Outsiders was trying to paint the theme of with joy comes pain. The author was trying to show the audience the characters happiness which is able to shatter any minute. As one may have connected by now, these situation happen in life too, such as when 9/11 happened everyone brought pride to the twin towers but when they were knocked down it brought people to tears because it was devastating to them. Even though this was a devastating incident it caused America and the people to have more safety and security to themselves. All in all, there are many circumstances in life where hardship comes among people but we have to learn how to grow past it and bring back the satisfaction to