Outsiders Message Essay

714 Words3 Pages
Nate Alexander The Outsiders Message Why would anyone wish to be in a gang? According to the F.B.I., “Some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today. Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include robbery, drug and gun trafficking, fraud, extortion, and prostitution rings.” (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs) In the book, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, the main character Ponyboy, has a decision to make about whether he wants to spend his life in a gang, or to be different than the kids in his neighborhood. Ponyboy is influenced by many external events, and the consequences of his actions in these events begin to change his life. At the beginning of the story, Ponyboy is hanging around the neighborhood boys that are in the Greaser gang, and these boys are beginning to affect him. In the Greaser neighborhood, most everyone dressed alike and carried knives. “I only mean that most greasers do things like that, just like we wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, or leave our shirttails out and wear leather jackets and tennis shoes or boots.” (p.3) Ponyboy began to feel pressured to dress just like everyone else. Unfortunately, people began to believe that he was a bad kid. For example, one day he took his knife out in biology class to dissect a worm. A girl saw the knife and said, “They are right. You are a hood. That didn’t make me feel so hot.” (p. 15) The consequence was that some people began to avoid him. Not only did the Greasers dress alike to show they belonged to a gang, but they also fought a lot. To blow off steam, many of the boys in the gang liked to rumble, or fight with knives and their fists. Some
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