The Flawed Resolution of Conflict
The world is filled with misery, pain, and violence. In The Outsiders, 14 year old Ponyboy Curtis and friends get a good glimpse of this. In Ponyboy’s town two social groups despise each other, Greasers and Socs. Greasers being the poor, low class citizens who live on the east side. As well as Socs, the rich, higher class citizens who reside on the west side. After a fight that ultimately leads to some of Ponyboy’s closest friends ultimate demise, Ponyboy realizes that they need to abolish their old ways and that people need to resolve issues without violence. After running into Bob, a Soc, and some of his friends, Ponyboy and Johnny, Ponyboy’s friend, were in danger. Some Socs were trying to drown Ponyboy in a fountain nearby. Johnny, free from a Soc’s clutches was faced with a difficult decision. Kill Bob and suffer the consequences or risk having his friend drown and he watch (56). Johnny’s decision to kill Bob indirectly leads to his own death later on. If Bob and his other fellow Socs hadn’t been so violent, so power hungry, so malevolent Bob’s death nor Johnny’s would have happened. Johnny wouldn’t have had to kill Bob and flee to Windrixville in which a …show more content…
Johnny and Dally dying indirectly from a run in with a couple Socs, the rumble no leading to any solutions other than more pain and fighting. Nearly everything negative that happened to the main character was in direct correlation to the ongoing rivalry between Greasers and Socs. Ponyboy had learned this lesson the hard way through all the pain and death he had been enlightened. Now, with this lesson in mind Ponyboy can move on seeing the world from an outsider perspective and see the many flawed ways that humans use violence to resolve conflict. Ultimately, violence is not the answer, it is but the question. No is the
The world is filled with misery, pain, and violence. In The Outsiders, 14 year old Ponyboy Curtis and friends get a good glimpse of this. In Ponyboy’s town two social groups despise each other, Greasers and Socs. Greasers being the poor, low class citizens who live on the east side. As well as Socs, the rich, higher class citizens who reside on the west side. After a fight that ultimately leads to some of Ponyboy’s closest friends ultimate demise, Ponyboy realizes that they need to abolish their old ways and that people need to resolve issues without violence. After running into Bob, a Soc, and some of his friends, Ponyboy and Johnny, Ponyboy’s friend, were in danger. Some Socs were trying to drown Ponyboy in a fountain nearby. Johnny, free from a Soc’s clutches was faced with a difficult decision. Kill Bob and suffer the consequences or risk having his friend drown and he watch (56). Johnny’s decision to kill Bob indirectly leads to his own death later on. If Bob and his other fellow Socs hadn’t been so violent, so power hungry, so malevolent Bob’s death nor Johnny’s would have happened. Johnny wouldn’t have had to kill Bob and flee to Windrixville in which a …show more content…
Johnny and Dally dying indirectly from a run in with a couple Socs, the rumble no leading to any solutions other than more pain and fighting. Nearly everything negative that happened to the main character was in direct correlation to the ongoing rivalry between Greasers and Socs. Ponyboy had learned this lesson the hard way through all the pain and death he had been enlightened. Now, with this lesson in mind Ponyboy can move on seeing the world from an outsider perspective and see the many flawed ways that humans use violence to resolve conflict. Ultimately, violence is not the answer, it is but the question. No is the