What was the main idea of the book "the Outsiders"?

Question

10 well deserved points to the best answerer

Answer 1

I'm not certain there's one main idea in _The Outsiders_, but the one that sticks out most to me is issues of class and social strata. The main gangs, Socials and Greasers, represent the upper and lower economic classes, respectively. It's fascinating that S.E. Hinton seems to entirely ignore the middle class in her young adult masterpiece, and I think this leads to a misunderstanding of poor people and rich people.

The rich will always defend their wealth and horde it from those who need it the most. The poor in capitalist societies traditionally seek a level playing field, not the complete overthrow of the rich. The middle class buffers the two extreme classes, pitying the poor and respecting, often emulating, the rich.

Yet Hinton removes the middle class from her novel. The result is battle between two groups of people who would never face each other in reality, because the Greasers would perpetually lose nowadays. The Socials' fathers would sue the Greasers into the ground.

But _The Outsiders_ is a throwback to a different world when the lawyers hadn't yet taken over, and things could be settled like men dueling at dawn. There's no dignity in a school yard fight anymore. Not after Columbine. That world is gone now.

Answer 2

It is a coming of age story of how boys from the wrong side of the tracks, raised in poverty pull together with a stronger than typical bond to battle the adversity of the steretyping that society puts on people. It shows that your upbringing does not produce courage, it is an ingrained honor.