Definition of Family

11/15/11

Nick Majeskie


Author’s Note: This story is about one of the main themes in this story; which is definition of family.


There are many themes in the book “The Outsiders”, written by S.E. Hinton. The themes are defying stereotypes, definition of family, and loss of innocence. The one I’m focusing on is definition of family. The reasons I’m doing this is because it seems to me that in most movies now a days there aren’t parents or they are crazy parents. One example is the Fairy Odd Parents. The main characters name is Timmy and he has these really awkward parents and never notice all the magic going on from his Fairy’s, so where are all the parents?

In the book “The Outsiders”, the main characters names are Ponyboy and Johnny. They both are considered greasers and outcasts. They are the youngest members in the greaser’s gang. Another thing they have in common is their families. They both come from broken families and they don’t have a good life at home. They both have guardians that yell at them and don’t get along well with each other.

Ponyboy’s family likes him and protects him from the harmful stuff in the world. The main issues with his family are his parents are dead. The parents of Ponyboy died from a horrible car accident so Ponyboy’s family is his two older brothers. His two older brother’s names are Sodapop and Darry Curtis. Sodapop is the middle brother and is the more caring brother and is very laid back. One quote in the book for Sodapop is “Hey there Pony, were ya been?”, he said in a sleepy voice (pg. 45), when Ponyboy came home way too late. This quote shows how Sodapop is way more laid back. Then there is the oldest brother Darry. Darry is more of a firm person and sometimes gets cranky on his youngest brother Ponyboy. A quote for Darry is, “WHERE IN THE ALMIGHTY UNIVERSE WERE YOU?” he yelled (pg.45). This quote shows how Darry can be a cranky to his little brother. Both brothers care deeply for Ponyboy. They just show their care in different ways.

Johnny’s family is worse than Ponyboy’s. Johnny has a family with a mom and dad but, that isn’t a good thing. His parents beat him especially his dad and yell at him. When Johnny was in the hospital from what happened to him at the church he thought the only reason his mom would show up is to nag on him for getting hurt at the church. Early in the book Johnny said, “It isn’t the same when you old folk don’t care about ya”, he said this when Ponyboy told him he had it all and that the gang loved him because he was the gang’s pet member. What I think this means is he doesn’t care about something unless his parents care about the same thing, but they don’t seem to care about anything he does. Sadly, Johnny dies without ever experiencing his parent’s love.

Finally, there are many more movies or books that have the same issues with the main characters. In this book it was more obvious because that was what all they talked about in the ending of the book. This proves that the definition of family means a lot to the characters of the book.