The book The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, is about a gang of brothers and friends who learn the importance of friendship and the feeling of belonging. In the beginning of the book Ponyboy, the main character, is in a gang of greasers and has the usual belief that Socs are rich snobs until someone makes him change his mind. One day though one of the gang takes things too far with the Socs and turns Ponyboy and Johnny into wanted convicts. Because one of Ponyboy’s best friends killed a Soc he becomes a wanted convict and learns the importance of friendship.

            At first, Ponyboy hates the Socs for being so cold hearted but then he meets Cherry a Soc girl at the movies with Johnny and Dally. Ponyboy was half-scared of Cherry when he saw her at the movies and he was especially scared of Soc girls. Ponyboy says he’s half-scared of a Soc girl because he thinks they’re all stuck up and he’s scared of and despises all Socs anyway. Ponyboy also notices that Cherry is very disapproving of Dally because she calls him trash and a hood. This makes Ponyboy feel bad because Dally is Ponyboy’s friend and he doesn’t like it when other people say things about his friends.

            After Ponyboy met Cherry he starts to realize that Socs and Greasers aren’t very different from each other. He said, “They liked the Beatles and thought Elvis Presley was out, and we thought the Beatles were rank and that Elvis was tuff, but that seemed the only difference to me” (37). Here Ponyboy says that them liking Elvis and the girls liking the Beatles was about the only difference that seemed to come up while they were talking. Ponyboy also said that, “Nobody but Soda could really get me talking. Till I met Cherry Valance” (39). This part shows that Ponyboy was getting more comfortable talking to Soc girls since he started realizing that they weren’t very different from Greasers.

            The impact that Cherry had on Ponyboy when they talked was later shown when Randy, a Soc, said that he would have “let those kids burn to death” but Ponyboy said “You might have done the same thing” (115). Before Ponyboy talked to Cherry he might have gone along and agreed with Randy and felt the same way as before towards the Socs. After he had his conversation with Cherry he started looking at other Socs in a different way. An example of this is when he looks at Bob’s picture in Soda’s yearbook and tries to put together the Bob Ponyboy knew and the Bob Cherry knew.

            Ponyboy’s change of views towards the Socs helps him become more mature and open minded. Since Ponyboy changed about hating the Socs so much he made a couple of Soc friends and increased his likeness among both the Greasers and the Socs. Ponyboy knew that Johnny would’ve wanted the same thing, to stop the fighting between them because it has no use. Because Ponyboy made peace with himself and the Socs and learns the importance of having buddies around to always support you.

Cover of The Outsiders

Cover of The Outsiders

Cover of The Outsiders

Cover of The Outsiders

Cover of The Outsiders