Protecting his friend from harm, Johnny kills Bob with a switchblade. Because of the situation the boys had put themselves into, they needed to protect themselves. In The Outsiders, after the boys are dead everyone realizes what a horrible mistake was made. It ends up being too late to fix it, so they had to run and hide from the police. They are
We couldn’t keep a fire like that going, not if we tried.”(William Golding p.52) And since he doesn’t have a good relationship with others, they are always mean to him. However Jack commented back “ A fat lot, you tried.. You just sat.” Clearly just cause of his weight , everyone doesn’t want to have any relationship with him. Hence, even though Simon gets bullied, his relationship with others it better then Piggy’s, cause the boys just consider him, as a fat, lazy potty mouth just there. Nevertheless, Piggy and Simon are nothing alike in appearance. Piggy is obviously chubby, fat, wears glasses.
What do you do just stand there and let them beat you up or do you fight back, so that’s what I did I fought back? I did not go to the police right away because they probly wouldn’t have listen to me and put me in jail. Ponyboy was never apart of the killing he was just powerless trying to find oxygen. I killed Bob because, he almost killed two people me and Ponyboy. But instead of two killings there was one Bob he probly killed people.
For example, when Bob and his gang attack Ponyboy, and attempt to drown him in the fountain, Johnny is there to stand up for him. He did not stand aside and let his friend get beat up, he took action. He took out a switchblade and stabbed Bob in the stomach: “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you” (Hinton 57).
Up until this moment in the story, the boys are doing well, but they make the foolish mistake of letting the signal fire out. They do this because they want to hunt the pigs and they leave the fire unattended. In the absence of adult law and rule, the boys disregard Chief Ralph’s instructions and instead participate in hunting, led by Jack. “I was chief; and you were going to do what I said. You talk.
When Two-bit asks what “The super Soc” had to say Ponyboy replies “Randy isn’t a Soc, he’s just a guy”. At the end of the novel three Socs confront Ponyboy over Bob’s death. “You’re the guy that killed Bob Sheldon and he was a friend of ours. We don’t like nobody killing our friends, especially Greasers”. Rather then running away like
Each character on the island represents an abstract idea of government (Telgen 188). Ralph, the good-hearted (Telgen 188), is the more practical and sensible leader but lacks authority and is not a good leader in the democratic state (Telgen 188). He focuses on the important things, such as the signal fire, and the boys’ well-being. Jack’s leadership is described as dictorial (Telgen 188). He is very arrogant and aggressive and has no compassion towards others.
Spill his blood! Do him in!” (168). By becoming so carried away and building up such desire to kill, the boys mistake Simon for the beast and murder him instantly. Finally, the boys’ savagery is also portrayed in the murder of Piggy. Nobody was allowing Piggy the opportunity to speak his mind, disregarding any of his opinions.
For all the mistreatment the Socs have done to the greasers causes a situation where unfair treatment leads to the death of one Soc. When the Socs were physically damaging Ponyboy, his friend Johnny attacks the Soc and stabs him with a knife which lead to his death. This shows that discrimination and harassment taken to a certain extent can create life taking events like this. Tragic events like this should have never occurred if the Socs didn’t take the abusing of the greasers to a far
THEMES Major Themes The major theme of the novel revolves around the purposelessness of any gang of teenagers. The book centers on the foolish gang rivalry existing between the Socs, the rich kids from the west side of town, and the Greasers, the poor kids from the east side. Pony, the protagonist of the story, is bitter about the fact that the wealthy Socs have nice cars, fancy clothes, and girlfriends; things are simply easier for them than for the Greasers. Because the Socs are convinced that they are better, they constantly pick on members of the Greasers, who fight back. During one squabble, Bob, one of the Socs, is murdered by Johnny in self-defense.