The pain is equal

In  The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton , the Greasers try to survive without getting beaten by the brutal Socs; the Socs (also known as the Socials) are a gang from the west side who are very wealthy and start fights and beat up Greasers for fun. The story is wrote in the Greasers point of view. From this point of view, a lot of events and people are described in a way that creates pain or hurt in the reader about the Greasers who are abused by the Socs.

One way that the Greasers point of view influences the reader's interpretation is how their view shows that the Greasers just mind their own business all the time and that the awful Socs come and try to beat them for no reason. When a reader reads this story they feel for the Greasers getting beat up, but what the reader may not understand is the Socs background story. As the reader I feel like if I knew the Socs story I would understand way they do the things that they do, but as a reader I don’t know that so I just have to go from what the book says.

However, the reader would see and feel changes of the Greasers if the novel was written in the view of the Socs. For example, the reader wouldn't think the Socs were so brutal if he or she knew the Socs have a rough time going through life, or if you knew that the Socs would get it from their parents.

As you can see, the point of view of this story forces the reader to only one side of the story. In The Outsiders, the narrator’s perspective makes the reader think negative about the Socs and makes the reader feel like the Socs are bad people and the Greasers are helpless and innocent even though that's not always true. Understanding the narrator’s point is so important because if you don’t go by where the view of the writer is coming from, then the ending of the book will not make any sense because you think differently about the characters in the book; even if you don’t know the point of view of the other people you’re just going to have to trust the reader and believe what they say.

There's always a light

Author's Note: I wrote this piece for text analysis, and it was to "A clean, Well-lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway. Overall, I decided to analyze it with symbolism and life situations.

As we grow older, we become wiser, we steadily get more patience, and also we learn to live life to the fullest. We know that our time is growing shorter and learn to appreciate life more. In the story “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, an old man is at the café drinking till around 3 in the morning. The youngest waiter has a problem with this, but the older waiter feels the old mans pain. This story shows that with age comes maturity and respect, and those are key aspects later in life.

 First of all what stood out in the story was how Hemingway used words. He didn’t just describe everything, he gave some metaphors and use symbolism. The older waiter says in the story, “Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the cafe." He also says, "I am of those who like to stay late at the café with all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night." In this case, the light symbolizes money, and all of the things that the homeless people and the people in need, need. He is looking out for the people that usually don’t have light, and when you’re young, you don’t realize how good you have it. That’s why as you mature, you learn to sacrifice your time or your sleep to make others happy, because they are not as fortunate as you.

The darkness in this story symbolizes all of the despair these people go through, and part of the reason the old man was out there so late, was because it was nice and quiet, even though he was deaf, he knew no one was around and he could get things off his mind. The old man felt alone not because of the present but of the past.

 Next the symbolism in this story displays real life thoughts, and I have actually been in this kind of situation, where the older, more wise person makes the best decision. If your walking down the street and someone drops 5 bucks you shouldn’t just wait until they leave then take it. they might need every dollar to live. You don’t know the persons situation, what if they really need that money, or what if they were just testing to see what you’d do?

With age comes maturity and respect, and you learn to help others. Help out the less fortunate. They need things more than we do, and we can give things up because we have it pretty good. We need to be respectful to everyone else around us, and give a little. As you grow older you understand this more, and hopefully will apply it. 

After you my dear Alphonse

I thought that this story really showed what reverse racism is like, and that even though Mrs. Wilson was trying to be nice and not sound/ be racist she really was. During the story you could notice that just about every question was assumed one way because he was black. I think that this could some what compare to Pewaukee,  because we live in a area where the population is not all that mixed. And compared to other cities/ areas in the world it differs because usually the big cities have very mixed culture but small more isolated places wouldn't. I think the author Shirley Jackson was trying to teach people that just because of their race or religion treat the the same.