In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, a group of boys are attempting to defend themselves from their enemies while going about in their daily lives. The novel focused on a boy named Ponyboy Curtis and his journey in his neighborhood trying to survive the fight against the socs. He deals with this constantly with his brothers and the other members of the greaser gang. The three topics addressed in this fascinating novel are the journey from youth to adulthood, the power of friendship and the fight between the rich and poor.

First, the story shows significance to the journey from youth to adulthood. “They had me down in a second. They had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows, and if you don’t think that hurts, you’re crazy” (5). This is important because it shows that Ponyboy needs to learn how to take care of himself in the outside world, especially when the socs are after people like him. After, the socs jumped …show more content…
“He had on a madras shirt. I can still see it. Blue madras. One of them laughed, then cussed me out in a low voice. I couldn’t think of anything to say while waiting to get mugged, so I kept my mouth shut” (5). This is important because Ponyboy is getting mugged by a couple of Socs who are said to be in a higher social class than the Greasers, which is the group that Ponyboy belongs to. Other greasers have been “jumped” many times by the Socs that it’s almost normal to the two groups by now. “Marcia suddenly gasped. ‘Cherry, look what’s coming.’ We all looked and saw a blue Mustang coming down the street” (41). This is also important because no matter if a few other Socs think some greasers are fine, most of them will still try to pick a fight. The Greasers have almost no way to make peace with the Socs. In conclusion, the novel also states the significance of the fight between the rich and