A Community Without Violence Essay Example

Imagine a Society without violence. The book The Outsiders is the opposite of that. The book the Outsiders has a conflict between 2 groups of people, the Socs and the Greasers. The Socs and the Greasers are very different. The Greasers are like family to each other because they don’t have much family members. Ponyboy and his brothers lost their parents in a car wreck. Johnny another member of the gang, has abusive parents that don’t care where he is or what he is doing.

The Socs on the other hand, are spoiled and their parents get them whatever they want. The Socs are very wealthy and popular. Later on, in the book, Johnny and Ponyboy get jumped by a couple of Socs and they try to drown Ponyboy in a fountain but Johnny kills the Soc that is trying to drown Ponyboy. The two boys are on a run from the “fuzz” then they hide out at a church. Violence affects the characters in many ways including It can make them scared and it can make them tough, and feel no emotions and no pain.  

Violence can make people tough because of what they have been through. “I had never been jumped, but I had seen Johnny after four Socs got hold of him, and it wasn't pretty. Johnny was scared of his own shadow after that”. (Page 5).  “His face all cut up and bruised, and I remembered how he had cried when we found him, half-conscious, in the comer lot. Johnny had it awful rough at home--- it took a lot to make him cry”. (Page 5). Johnny was alone when he got jumped and he was beat up pretty bad by the Socs. Johnny had a rough life at home because his parents did not care about him and he was neglected. Johnny was not his normal self from after that moment. After the incident, he was always very cautious and very carefully. He never walked alone and he never did anything by himself. 

Since the gang has been through so much they became very tough. “I can understand why Sodapop and Steve get into drag races and fights so much, though--- both of them have too much energy, too much feeling, with no way to blow it off.” (14). Blades are rough. So are chains and heaters and pool sticks and rumbles. “Skin fighting isn't rough. It blows off steam better than anything.” (Page 27) “Socs are rough. They gang up on one or two, or they rumble each other with their social clubs. Us greasers usually stick together, but when we do fight among ourselves, it's a fair fight between two.” (Page 27) The gang gets in many fights with the Socs and they have always been afraid because they Socs use weapons but the Greasers don’t. That makes Greasers tougher because they can handle getting hit with weapons and getting punched when the Socs fight unfairly.  

What the gang has been through has made them feel no pain and no emotions. When the church burned down Johnny and Ponyboy ran into the church to save the children that were trapped in the church. They did not care if they were burned all they wanted was for the kids to be safe. Johnny was seriously injured when the roof of the building collapsed on him. His mother wanted to see him in the hospital but he did not want to see her because she had never cared about him. "I'll get them, don't worry!" I started at a dead run for the church, and the man caught my arm. "I'll get them. You kids stay out! I jerked loose and ran on. (78) All I could think was: We started it. We started it. We started it!” “I slammed a big rock through a window and pulled myself in.” (78) This shows how Ponyboy and Johnny did not feel any pain when running into the church to save the kids. All they were thinking was to save the children because the children had more to live about than they did.  

Violence affects characters because it can make them scared, it can make them tough, and it can make them feel no pain and no emotions. A society without violence is pretty much impossible. In the Outsiders, a lot of violence happens where they live. Mostly between the Socs and the Greasers, two different types of people that don’t get along well. The Socs are spoiled and get everything they want and the Greasers are poor and don’t have a lot. Some of the greasers lost their parents so the gang members are family to each other.