In The Outsiders by SE. Hinton, there is a gang of greasers, Greasers are a group of less fortunate adolescents who always stick together. Johnny is a timid member of the gang who is also considered the gang’s ”pet”, Johnny has the most tragic home life. His father beats him, his parents neglect him, and the socs, a rival group of greasers are out to get him. First of all, Johnny‘s home life is no walk in the park. He dreads returning home each day because his father beats him with a two-by-four, sometimes for no reason at all. Johnny comes home to physical abuse, which no child should have to go through. “[Johnny’s] father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house.” As you can see, his mother was no help either. Johnny feels he holds possession of an overall terrible existence, and his parents influence that feeling by neglecting him.
“A nurse appeared in the doorway. ‘Johnny,’ she said quietly, ‘your mother’s here to see you} Johnny opened his eyes At first they were wide with surprise, then they darkened. ‘I don‘t want to see her,‘ he said firmly.” At this point in the story, Johnny has had quite an earful of his parents’ bickering and his mother‘s disapproving looks, he doesn‘t even want to see them anymore, When his mother shows up at the hospital to check on him, Johnny refuses to let her in the room. He expects she is only there to reprimand him and announce how happy she will be once he has passed away. Johnny’s parents don’t even care if he comes home at night. He could come through the door at six o’clock the next morning and they wouldn’t even stop and think to ask where he spent the night. Therefore, Johnny’s home life is rather hostile, and no place for a teenage boy to grow up in or any boy at 11.
But his bad fortune doesn’t stop there It continues even after he has stepped foot outside his home. Johnny seems to be the socs main target. “But [his father’s] beatings had been nothing like this, Johnny’s face was cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone. He would carry that scar all his life.” This quote explains the worst beating Johnny has probably ever suffered As the story unravels more thoroughly, you begin to realize Johnny is not the only greaser being beat up and pummeled by the socs. The rest of the greasers get their share of soc cruelty, but Johnny takes it far worse.
