That Ironic Twist

Molly Walsh

Post 2 (for the Outsiders)

January 9, 2012

            It was made clear in The Outsiders that the cycle of violence had continued and it brought more than a bloody nose and a Band-Aid to the boys involved.  The fight between Ponyboy, Johnny, and the Socs was so tragic because it ended really horribly and it caused many lives to be ruined for no good reason. 

            The Socs leaped on the chance to attack greasers and when Johnny realized the Soc who was standing in front of him was the same one who beat him up in the past, he had no mercy towards the guy.  Sadly, the animosity and the fighting went too far and Johnny ended up killing his former assailant with a switch blade.  Johnny made it clear that he wasn’t going to be attacked anymore.  Talk about irony.  Johnny taking down the person who did pretty much the same to him some time before.  That was a real turning point where the hatred between the Greasers and the Socs went way too far.  Johnny pushed the cycle of violence to the extreme and it ended up blowing his life into pieces.

            That fight scene showed how much hatred, violence, and retaliation can do so much damage to people’s lives and how it can even end them.  Johnny and Ponyboy’s lives would never be the same after the fight, but not in a good way.  Johnny has so much guilt for what he did, and it was unclear about how he was going to deal with what he done and how his life would go.  After the disastrous fight, Johnny would never have a normal life.  Assuming he didn’t go to jail, he would be stuck in the poverty cycle and would never really have a chance to get above his unfortunate childhood and abusive home.  And as for the person who was killed, he would have no future at all. 

           

Here’s a theme that I found:

Innocence:  Johnny and Ponyboy lost something that night that they would never be able to get back:  their innocence.  Their soul got a bit heavier, and they were no longer had a carefree minds.  They got opened up to the harshness to the world and they crossed a point in their life from which they would never return.  They had more knowledge about the dark side of the world and hopefully they will be able to move on and that Johnny can somehow redeem himself for what he did.

To come next:  That old abandoned barn stuff