"The Outsiders" by SE Hinton

When members of Generation Y think of “The Outsiders”, it will either mean one of two things. It’ll either refer to the tag team in WCW that consisted of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, or it’ll refer to the SE Hinton novel that described the class warfare between two cliques of teenagers known as the Greasers and the Socs. As entertaining as a match with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash sounds, it can’t compare with the battle royal that took place near the end of the book between the two warring cliques. But how exactly did the two groups get to that particular moment? Exclusion. Like any clique you’ll find in high school, the Greasers and Socs were highly exclusive toward each other and therefore didn’t like one another. It’s comparable to the classic nerds vs. jocks war that constantly goes on in high school. In the case of “The Outsiders”, the Greasers were working class heroes and the Socs were spoiled rich kids. You read this book and wonder why anybody would want to bully another human being for not having the same amount of money as the one doing the bullying. It makes no real sense. For Johnny Cade and Pony-Boy Curtis, it didn’t make much sense to them either. In fact, Johnny specifically said that there shouldn’t be groups of people, just people. It may have sounded hypocritical coming from someone who was a lifer within the Greasers, but it wasn’t since those two main characters were the most sane people in the group. It’s almost like what we see in today’s political climate where some members are dubbed the “sanest people in their party.” It sounds unrealistic to someone with strong beliefs, but to an open mind, it’s always possible. But as it was, the Greasers and Socs were so close-minded toward each other that Johnny Cade slew one of the Socs with a switchblade. The only reason why it didn’t tarnish Johnny’s personal character as a voice of reason was because the murder was out of defense for his friend Pony-Boy Curtis, who was being suffocated in a park fountain. “The Outsiders” has a lot of strange dichotomies similar to this one, but the message remains crystal clear: get along or die. John Lennon tried to say this a long time ago and he got assassinated for it. It makes me wonder if mankind is ever going to change.

　

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“Don’t give me love, don’t give me faith, wisdom nor pride, give innocence instead. Don’t give me love, I’ve had my share. Beauty nor rest, give me truth instead.”

-Nightwish singing “The Crow, the Owl, and the Dove”-