Literary Analysis of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders by S. E Hinton, the author argues that heroism defines a person by their actions not by their background, history, or looks. The events at the church, the incidents that happened before the church and the aftermath all show the changes that happened over time that would eventually negate Ponyboys history and background and regard him as a hero.
There are different points of heroism in the story and different forms of eroism in the story but for now we are going to look at the most important three, Cherry acting as a spy, Ponyboy rescuing the kids and what he was defined by before he was a hero. Ponyboy is very much defined as a hero after the events that happened at the church in which he rescued all those kids from death by grabbing them out of the burning church. He did out of courage and kindness and was praised as a hero for it. “Mrs.
O’briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you Just professional heroes or something? Sent from heaven? Had he gotten a good look at Dallas? “No were greasers” I said. I was too worried and scared to appreciate the fact that he was trying to be funny. mfou’re what? ” “Greasers you know like hoods, ID’s. Johnny is wanted for murder, and Dallas has a record with the fuzz a mile long. “(95). The quote present here relates to the theme and explains the ambulance driver overlooking his past and still appreciating him as a hero.

The author is putting emphasis on the heroism in the quote and that no matter what background heroes ome from, they are looked upon for their actions and the same applied for Ponyboy and what he did for those kids. The reason that he was looked upon as a hero was because of his actions, but what was he defined as before the church? He was a greaser, Just your average every day greaser who was looked upon as a hood, a thief, and Juvenile delinquent to society. “It was my pride. It was long and silky, Just like sodas only a little bit redder.
Our hair was tuff – we didn’t have to use much grease on it. Our hair labeled us greasers too – it was our trademark. The one thing we were proud of. Maybe we couldn’t corvairs or madras shirts, but we could have hair. ” Ponyboys pride was his hair and that’s what he considered himself to be defined by. It was a painful change for him to make when he had to cut it off. When Johnny told ponyboy that he is going to cut their hair ponyboy replied by stating the previous quote. Ponyboy could have been defined as a hero before the events at the church in a different way and from a different perspective.
He could be a hero in Johnnys eyes or sticking with him ever since he killed the Socs Bob to him lying in his death bed. He is a hero for standing by his friends through the good and the bad. Although Ponyboy is the most notable hero in the story there are others who did other things such as Cherry acting as a spy for the Greases and giving them info. In the end all of the different stories of heroism in the story all relate back to the main theme heroism is defined by your actions not by your background, history, or looks. The Outsiders By Pancakewaffe