Morality In The Outsiders

Even if a person breaks the law, can they still be honorable or even virtuous? The greasers from The Outsiders validates this proposition. Ponyboy, his brothers, and his friends are greasers living in 1965 Tulsa, Oklahoma. When Johnny, Ponyboy’s friend, kills a member of a rival gang, he runs away with Ponyboy. Later, Johnny dies after saving children from a fire. After learning this, Dally, another one of Ponyboy’s friends, kills himself. At the ending, Ponyboy is cleared of all the charges he faced for running away, and is not separated from his brothers. After examining S. E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, I have reached the conclusion that even those who don’t always adhere to the laws can still be righteous and moral. One example of the greasers being righteous is Johnny. After he fled, he said, “We’re goin’ back and turn ourselves in” (Hinton 87). This is vital as it shows that Johnny wants to turn himself in for committing a murder. This shows that he is candid and is willing to face the consequences of his crimes. When he was saving children from a fire, “one was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled, ‘Shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out!’” (Hinton 92). This is a key detail since Johnny, usually a quiet juvenile, is shouting …show more content…
Johnny showed honesty by turning himself in. He showed that he was caring by shouting encouraging words to the children. Ponyboy showed that he was peaceful by saying that he would never cut anyone. He also showed kindness by saving children from a fire. Finally, Dally showed that he cared about his family by taking Sodapop’s sentence. He also showed this by saying that he’d risk a robbery if it meant that his family wouldn’t get in trouble. Where there are laws, there will always have lawbreakers. However, always remember that if a person commits a dishonorable crime, one can’t simply assume that they are an dishonorable