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Reece Trusdale

Mrs. Henry

ELA/Reading 3/6

8 December 2016

The Outsiders Essay

Greasers are dirty, mean, rude and usually considered hardened criminals, but to your surprise,
one of them could save eight little kids from a burning church fire. In The Outsider, by S.E.
Hinton, there are two distinct groups in town, the socs and the Greasers. The Greasers are
known to be the criminals and the socs are known to be the good guys. Recently, the town has
broken those stereotypes. In the story, Ponyboy is a Greaser whose gang is known around town.
In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Hinton develops Ponyboy into an archetypal hero
through the many milestones on his passage into adulthood.

In the beginning of the story, Ponyboy starts off as a young, shy, not your typical greaser, but as
the story moves on, Pony opens up and discovers who he truly wants to be. Ponyboy is not your
typical cool, laid back greaser, he's more on the thought side and doesn't do things that typical
greasers would do. I'm not like them. And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I
do. (Hinton 2) This represents the starting point of his metaphorical adventure. Ponyboy hasn't
realized the trouble that he could get into as innocent as he is. The wake up call that Pony
receives to make him realize the life that he is living is when he gets jumped by the socs It
occurred to me then that they could kill me. I went wild. I started screaming for Soda, Darry. (5)
Ponyboy experienced the first milestone of his development into

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adulthood by realizing what could have happened to him. The things that we know about
Ponyboy and the realization that he has been his first steps into his journey toward adulthood.

Ponyboys adventure into adulthood began to develop. Johnny, Ponyboy's friend, kills a man
named Bob because they were both getting jumped by the socs. As of a result they have to either
run away or face the consequences, and they chose to run away. We gotta get outta here. Get
somewhere.(57) This is the start of Ponyboy and Johnny's self discovery. After leaving town,
and thinking about what they have done for five days, they both realized they had to make up for
their mistakes, they then return home. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally see a burning church and hear
children screaming and decide to save them. I wasn't about to go through that flaming door, so I
smashed the big rock through a window and pulled myself in.(91) This is where Pony becomes
the hero and decides to save the kids from the burning church fire. Ponyboys transition into
adulthood was completed by this heroic act.

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Hinton develops Ponyboy into an archetypal hero
through the many milestones on his passage into adulthood. In the beginning of the story,
Ponyboy starts off as a young, shy, not your typical greaser; but as the story moves on he opens
up and discovers who he truly wants to be. Ponyboys adventure into adulthood begins to
develop. Heroism can be found in ordinary people.

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Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print