Main idea piece

Inspiring Themes

Author’s note: This is about stating main ideas and relating to my life. The main ideas are from “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton.

            “Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold” (p. 148) which was one of the three main ideas, and it was representing loss of innocence. The three themes really give you a lesson of how people can’t control their things like money or their clothes. The three main ideas are loss of innocence, family, and defying stereotyping. I had that problem of getting bullied when I was little because I had speech problems and I couldn’t control my talking, and the greasers got bullied too. My life and the greaser’s life have some similarities and differences.

            Even though the greasers and I had the problem of defying stereotyping, I did not have friends for family or getting loss of innocence. I can definitely relate to defying stereotyping because when I was little just because I had speech problems, people thought I wasn’t able to read at a high level, which is not true because I was able to read fifth grade level books when I was in third grade. The greasers were misjudged because everyone thought that they were bad, and the thought they always fought, and things like that. When the main character said that he was a greaser, the man thought he was joking just because the main character changed his looks. That’s exactly how people treat the greasers.

            Maybe the greasers and I have similarities, but we have differences too. The greasers have friends for family. They know each other like brothers. That’s how some of the greasers live because their parents beat them and ignore them. A perfect example is Johnny. He knows his friends by heart but hates his parents. He even said on page 51, “I think I like it better when the old man’s hittin’ me,” Johnny sighed, “At least then I know he knows who I am.” Family doesn’t always have to be mom and dad. In this case, Johnny’s family is his friends.    

            The final main idea is loss of innocence. Ponyboy is the main character for this one. Johnny’s quote was to tell Ponyboy not to do anything stupid but to remain easy and nice. Also Sodapop also lost his innocence because he’s a greaser. If you were a greaser people would just look at you and think you are a hood. I’m definitely haven’t loss my innocence but Ponyboy might because he’s a greaser. He hasn’t yet because he saved little children from a burning church. Ponyboy needs to follow Johnny’s advice and stay gold.

            I’ve made it clear that the main ideas are thorough and I have similarities and differences with the main characters. In the end of the book the greasers and some of the socs become friends and the socs realize that the greasers can’t control about their life. I like the ending because everything seems to end peaceful. The main ideas really make the story clear.