Mackenzie Paul

Mrs. Henry
ELA/Reading 3/6
8 December 2016
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The Outsiders Literary Criticism
When I discover who I am, Ill be free. -Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man. Once a person
discovers their identity, they will be their own independent person. There are two rival groups of
teenagers in the 1960s: the Socs and the greasers. The Socs are the rich, popular kids who come
from good families and the greasers are the wrong side of the tracks drop-outs. Socs beat up
the greasers as well. The 60s society plays a large part for teens because their actions fit well
with Eriksons Theory of the Stages of Development. Eriksons Theory details an individuals
journey through eight stages in their lifetime. Each stage is arranged by a crisis, a positive virtue,
and a negative outcome. If one successfully passes through each stage, they will move on with
the quality in the crisis they exhibit the most and move on in life. Ponyboy Curtis can be best
analyzed through Erik Eriksons Theory of the Stages of Development in S.E. Hintons The
Outsiders.
One part of Eriksons Theory is every stage has a crisis one must journey through. Every
time a person moves on to the next stage they will retain one of two crisis traits and carry the
trait on with them. Ponyboys crisis is identity vs. role confusion. The greaser stereotype is they
are violent and uneducated. Ponyboy, however, skips a grade in school because he of his high
intelligence. I got put up a year in grade school. Cherry looked at me. Whats a nice, smart
kid like you running around with trash like that for?Im a grease, same as Dally

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(23). Even though Ponyboy is a greaser, he does not retain the stereotypical qualities of his social
category. The differing qualities can cause role confusion because his greaser friends are trash,
meaning they behave the opposite of Ponyboy. Another aspect of role confusion is conflict of
interests. In addition to his intelligence, Ponyboy has great athletic abilities, and his school
achievements are mentioned in a newspaper. and that I made the honor roll at school all the
time and might be a future track star. (Oh, yeah, I forgot- Im on the A-squad track team, the
youngest one. Im a good runner (108). Ponyboys interest are different from those of his
friends. Ponyboys differences contradict societys views on what a greaser likes to do. The
supposed hobbies are crime and violence. The diverse hobbies can create role confusion in
Ponyboys life.
Another part to Eriksons Theory is every stage has a positive and negative outcome. The
negative outcome for Ponyboys stage is rebellion. Ponyboys older brother Darry would yell at
Ponyboy a good deal and he would not talk back until now. It used to be that Id just stand there
and let Darry yell at me, but lately Id been yelling right back (173). Ponyboy rebels against
Darry in a verbal way: yelling. Ponyboy did not only rebel against his family, but also society
and his gang. He establishes a relationship with a teenage Soc whose name is Cherry Valance.
We arent in the same class. Just dont forget that some of us watch sunsets too. (46).
Ponyboy exhibits the positive virtue of faithfulness and loyalty by sticking with his gang
throughout the story. However, establishing a relationship with Cherry does demonstrate some
disloyalty and rebellion because Socs are the enemy. Furthermore, since greasers are violent
and dropouts, their socializing would be unspeakable them two to have any sort of relationship.
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Moreover, Cherry and Ponyboy share common interests and the rebellious act can be part of his
role confusion crisis.
Ponyboy Curtis can be best analyzed through Erik Eriksons Theory of the Stages of
Development in S.E. Hintons The Outsiders. This theory is the most fitting because the theory
revolves around a crisis, and Ponyboys different hobbies are unlike those of his friends. The
differing hobbies lend to the identity vs. role confusion crisis in Ponyboys stage. Another piece
of the Theory is the negative outcome and positive virtues. The negative outcome for Ponyboy is
rebellion. He rebels by talking back to his older brother Darry, and towards the society he lives in
because he establishes a relationship with a Soc. The society Ponyboy lives in influences the role
confusion portion of the stage he is in. The society Ponyboy has lived in labels him as a greaser
but his behaviors depict otherwise. Those labels give way to the theme statement The labels of
society should not contribute to the identity of oneself. Once a person acquires their identity,
they may move on to the next stage in life and Eriksons Theory.

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Works Cited
Gillespie, Tim. Doing Literary Criticism: Helping Students Engage with Challenging Texts.
Portland, ME.: Stenhouse, 2010. Accessed 12 December 2016.
Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. Speak, New York 2006. Print.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2016. Accessed 12 December 2016.