The Outsiders Research Paper

Kaitlin CaldwellDivided communitiesWhile some believe the strongest theme of The Outsiders is childhood innocence, I believe the strongest theme is divided communities. I support this by S.E. Hinton’s use of dialogue, description and conflict.I believe the theme is supported by dialogue in the book. This supports how the author has the characters use more slang if they are a Greaser than if they’re a Soc, for example “not like the Socs who bump greasers and wreck homes and throw beer blasters for kicks” (Hinton 3). There is also a lot of dialogue that goes on between the Greasers and Socs “You mean if I’m looking for a good jumping, you outnumber us so y’all gunna give it to us?” (Hinton 45).The theme of divided communities is supported by S.E. Hinton’s use …show more content…
Hinton also supports the theme with her use of conflict between the social classes “Johnny was laying on the ground, he was beaten up bad” (Hinton 32). There is a lot of conflict between the Socs and Greasers. Also when two-bit said “if you try anything with Johnny I will personally beat the tar out of you” (Hinton 35). This represents conflict because the Soc came on Greasers territory which causes multiple conflicts in the book.Even though there is evidence of childhood innocence being the theme of The Outsiders, I think the more central theme is divided communities because of how much text evidence there is to support it. For example Johnny says “I killed him, I killed that boy...” (Hinton 56). Johnny killed a Soc. “if it hadn’t been for the gang Johnny wouldn’t have known love and affection” (Hinton 18). The Greasers parents died or don’t care about them but the Socs are rich and their families are together.I believe the main theme of The Outsiders is divided communities. This supported by S.E. Hinton’s use of dialogue, description and conflict. Certainly some people believe the theme is childhood innocence, but by reading the book I see that divided communities has much more text

Show More