In S.E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, Ponyboy, discovers that people should not be judged by what gang or group they belong to. Through the book, Ponyboy learns hard lessons about people and he learns that there are good and bad people from both "sides of town". Ponyboy comes to see that socs like Randy and Cherry are not that different from him and just because he is a greaser doesn't mean he has to resort to violence and fighting. By the end of the book, Pony's friend Johnny, who is dying, tells him to "stay gold' and to stop fighting because it won't get him anywhere. In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton shows us that violence solves nothing and that we should judge people as individuals and not by the clothes they wear or if they are a greaser or a soc
Ponyboy and Johnny first learn that the socs are a lot like themselves when they meet Cherry and Marcia at the movies. The four kids take a liking to each other right away, but later Cherry tells Pony that he shouldn't be offended if she ignores him at school. Even though she likes him, Cherry is afraid to be friends with Ponyboy because he is a greaser and she feels she shouldn't be seen talking to him. Ponyboy is not even shocked by her statement and he just replies "yeah, I know". This shows that they are so caught up in their roles as greasers and socs that they are afraid to even be friends with each other.
But there is another point behind the novel, The Outsiders, and that is that violence solves nothing. This is shown by the actions of both greasers and socs in the book. On the one hand, the soc Bob got himself killed because he was trying to drown Ponyboy in the fountain. Bob was being nasty to Ponyboy for talking to his girlfriend Cherry, mostly he is beating up on him because he was a greaser. This shows how people will beat up on people just because of the group they belong to which is really mean. Later in the book, S.E. Hinton shows that the greasers are violent to, because they seem to enjoy going to the big rumble to fight the socs. As well, the tough greaser Dally gets himself killed just like Bob the soc when he is threatening the police with a gun in the park. S.E. Hinton clearly