The Outsiders And West Side Song Analysis

To have a sense of belonging is as important to us humans, as food and water.
According to the excerpt of, “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton, one could say that it’s a fight between two social classes the Greasers, and the Socs. The excerpt from, “The Outsiders” also introduces many of the main characters like Steve Randle, Two-Bit, Dally, and Sodapop in a brief manner. In the musical, “West Side Story” by Stephen Sondheim, we can say that the two gangs the Sharks and the Jets are rivals. In this song, the Jets are introduced which includes Riff, Tony, Action, and Baby John. From this song, one can also tell that eventually all of this is going to lead to a big rumble. Both of the gangs from both books are constantly fighting to try and prove themselves superior to one another. In the excerpt from the novel, “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton, …show more content…
In the excerpt from, “The Outsiders” we can see that there is more of a serious tone, whereas the excerpt from, “West Side Story” which is the Jets song has more of an amusing tone. A quote from, “The Outsiders” that can be used as an example of a serious tone “Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and heaved rocks at them.” Whereas compared to the quote from the Jets song which is “ When you're a Jet, You're a Jet all the way, From your first cigarette To your last dyin' day.” If we compare these two quotes then we can see the significant difference between the two is that one of the quotes one can observe creates a much more violent scene which is, “The Outsiders” and the gang is fighting against all odds. Meanwhile, the Jets song creates a much more non-violent tone where no one gets hurt. The tone can also be considered amusing in some cases. Literary devices maybe sometimes key to get the author’s point across to his or her’s