The Outsiders Theme Essay

“They weren’t looking for a fight, they were looking to fit in.” This quote reflects one of many themes from The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Loyalty, appearance, and Society & Class and isolation are just some of the themes that are brought to light. Loyalty is what holds the Greasers, a gang on the poor, East side of town, together according to fourteen-year-old, Ponyboy. In the novel, there are other Greaser gangs which are “small groups of friends who stick together.” The other gangs are not rivals like the Socs, the rich kids on the West side of town, as the other gangs are of the same social class as each other. The gangs were formed to be a defense because “the warfare is between the social classes.” Not only is loyalty important to the …show more content…
The description of appearance is vastly different between the two rivals. The Socs, or Socials, are described as well-dressed, rich kids that drive nice cars and have nicely cut, clean hair. Meanwhile, the Greasers are described as hoody, rugged, dirty, poor kids with longer and greased back hair. Since the Greasers cannot afford nice clothes, they have a style that identifies them as Greasers. Ponyboy observes peoples’ faces, which is shown throughout the novel with the descriptions of character’s faces given. An example is the description of Dallas Winston. Ponyboy describes him as having an elfish face with high cheekbones and pointed chin. He has eyes that are described as cold and ice blue. Another example is Johnny Cade. He has eyes that are described as big and black and always had a nervous or suspicious look to them. He is also described as having a dark-tanned face. Ponyboy also described his brothers’ faces, but realized he didn’t accurately describe their faces based on their perspectives on life. As you can see, appearance has a big affect on the characters in the