Works of literature inevitably have various archetypal events worked into them during their making. These events are fundamental to storytelling and help to fuel the flames of conflict, as well as provide important life lessons and themes to the reader. An event that occurs quite often in works of literature is a character making a decision. The aforementioned decision has negative consequences for said character and others in the story. The coming-of-age novel The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, is quite familiar with this concept of character decision making. During the novel's plot, which involves a conflict between two rival gangs, The Socs and The Greasers, Johnny Cade, in a moment of exceptional turmoil, makes the decision to stab a member of The Socs. This decision has profound consequences not only for Johnny but for various other characters in the story. This is because the Soc that Johnny stabs succumbs to the knife wound. The author, S.E. Hinton, wrote this micro-tragedy to teach her readers that violence does not solve…show more content… These things instead serve only to breed more prejudice, more violence, and more hatred which ultimately leads towards more suffering. Jihadi terrorism in Middle Eastern countries is a rather extreme but clear example of this idea. Following Al-Qaeda's September Eleventh attacks in 2001, America invaded the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan to overthrow extremist Caliphates like Osama Bin Laden. The Jihadists killed thousands of innocent civilians, but in doing so they only acted as a catalyst of their own suffering as a result of their unskillful actions. It can be concluded then, that violence, even for a noble cause such as saving a life, leads only to the suffering of the self and of others. That is not to say that the ethics of the individual should not be upheld, but is simply a statement of nihilistic truth based on
