Susan Eloise Hinton's The Outsiders

The Reality Behind the Greasers A deeper meaning lies within everyone that is not often revealed. The Outsiders is a fiction novel by Susan Eloise Hinton that conveys this message. Throughout The Outsiders, the characters outer shell is broken down, and it's easier to detect their inner selves. An author from Horn Book wrote, “ This remarkable novel gives a moving credible view of the outsiders from the inside--their loyalty to each other, and their sensitivity under tough crusts, their understanding of self and society.” Throughout the novel, this is easily proven on numerous occasions. The greasers show they are smarter than they seem to be and convey that they aren't all bad through their loyalty, compassion for one another, reliability, and understanding of society.
The Outsiders takes place in a society torn apart due to social classes. There are two sides displayed within the novel. There are the Greasers of the lower class and Socs of the higher class. They hold hatred against each other but eventually begin to have an understanding of their society. The Socs assume that Greasers are dumb, aren't any good to …show more content…
Alongside loyalty and reliability, the compassion or love for one another is beyond the stereotypes. On numerous occasions these tough Greasers end up breaking down or showing their emotions. One of these instances where readers can truly understand the reality hidden behind the Greasers is, “That was his silent fear then-of losing another person he loved,” (Hinton 98). This quote helps convey that even under that tough outer shell, while it may seem that Darry doesn't love Pony, Pony means the world to him. Darry is scared of losing one his loved ones because like all of the other Greasers, he's already lost so much. This can be related outside of The Outsiders, due to everyone having the common fear of losing the ones closest to