Heroes In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

It’s 1965, you’re lost in the heart of a small town in Oklahoma, you see a “greasy” young boy get jumped by older, more fortunate boys, who comes to his rescue? Not a superhero in a cape, but a real human, a flawed person with all of their insecurities and past experiences. This is what a real hero looks like. Two unlikely heroes emerge in S.E. Hinton’s young adult fiction, “The Outsiders”. Dally Winston and Darry Curtis are heroes not because they save the town, but because of the little things they do, as Edgar Watson Howe once said, “A boy doesn’t have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn’t like pie when he sees there isn’t enough to go around.” It has been said , “Show me a hero and I will show you a tragedy.” This quote is perfect …show more content…
“‘I guess your folks feel kind of awful about it, too.’ ‘My parents are dead. I live here with just Darry and Soda, my brothers.’ I took a long drag on my cigarette”(140). Darry is a hero because he does what needs to be done and sees it as that. He doesn’t expect praise even when he deserves it. He sees him stepping up and taking care of his brothers as doing what needs to be done not going out of his way to help. His brothers might not always show it, but they greatly appreciate them and know how their lives might have turned out if Darry hadn’t done so. Darry really is a hero, he doesn’t do what he does for praise, he does it because it needs to be done. Heroes in the world of The Outsiders,in any world for that matter come in all shapes in sizes, and for very different reasons. Dally is a hero because he puts others first and sees the good in them, Darry is a hero because he does what needs to be done for nothing in return. Anybody can be a hero so the next time you’re driving through that small town in Oklahoma and you see that boy being bullied, think about who the hero