The characters in
a book are complex and develop as the story progresses. One example of
character development is coming of age. Coming of age is the transition a young
person goes through. This transition is from childhood to adulthood. In The
Outsiders by S.E Hinton, the character Ponyboy is going through his coming
of age. His social class affects his coming of age. His social class has caused him to grow up in
a dangerous environment.
Ponyboy’s social
class caused him to be placed in a dangerous siutaion. Ponyboy is a Greaser, a
member of the lower class. The Greasers “are almost like a hood” (pg. 3). The
Greasers are looked down upon by the Socials, also know as the Socs. The Socs
are members of the upper class. The Socs view the Greasers as a group of
hoodlums and “white trash with long hair” (pg. 55). The Socs harass the
Greasers, both verbally and physically. The Socs and Greasers grew to become
hate each other. This hatred led to violence between these two groups. Ponyboy,
being a Greaser, is placed in a hazardous. He is caught between the ongoing
problems of the Greasers and the Socs.
Ponyboy coming of
age is being affected heavily by the problem of social class. Being a Greaser,
he is harassed by the Socs. In the beginning of the book, Ponyboy is assaulted
and almost killed by the Socs. The Socs seemed like terrible people to him, but
then Ponyboy meets a girl named Cherry Valance. She is a Soc girl that he meets
at a drive in movie. He talks to here and realizes that they share interests.
One line in particular encapsulates the conversation between Ponyboy and
Cherry. She tells him “ Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too”
(pg. 46). She is trying to say that the Socs and the Greasers have things in
common. These conflicting ideas, the
Socs and the Greasers being alike and the Socs just being cruel towards the
Greasers, is going to cause Ponyboy’s coming of age to be confusing for him.
Ponyboy’s coming
of age is based on both social class, and it is also based on his friends and family.
His gang friends are telling him that the Socs are not to be trusted. But
others, such as Cherry Valance say that the Socs and greasers are the same. The
people that he is around are influencing his coming of age. But the major
influence on his coming of age is social class.
