The Outsiders

In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy Curtis lived in a town with class divide, gangs, and hostility. Ponyboy had to learn to adjust to his life with his gang, the "greasers", and learned to hate the rich kids, the "socs".

In the beginning of the novel, he seems t0 describe himself as just trying to fit into the world. He's fourteen and had never really questioned anything. He just wants to make his way around with his two older brothers and the rest of the greasers. He takes everything he's taught without question.

Then, one night, something goes wrong. He and his friend Johnny are in one of the most difficult situations of their lives. They go on the run and break away from the greasers. More and more tragedy strikes, and at the end of the book, Ponyboy has a lot to consider about his life.

At the end of the novel, many Socs and Greasers alike have gotten hurt or lost somebody from the incident. Ponyboy even gets to know some of these Socs and comes to like them a bit. It is only at the end of the book that he begins questioning all the fighting and this tough guy persona he has to put on.

In a way, this book reminds me of Romeo and Juliet. At the end of R+J, the families only realize how horrible their fighting was until many people die. Same in this book- Ponyboy begins to realize how unessecary the class divide it. That doesn't mean there will be no more fighting, but the fact that he came to that conclusion shows that he is Coming of Age. Coming in age includes questioning the world around you and not taking everything for granted, which is what Ponyboy had to do at the end of the book after all that he's been through.