2011/2012 ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE AZAMBUJA INGLÊS 10º ANO PROFESSORA MARGARIDA PATO
FEMALE CHARACTERS ANALYSIS THE OUTSIDERS BY S.E. HINTON
INTRODUCTION
The Outsiders is characterized as a “boy’s book,” in spite of having a female author. All of the major characters are boys, and they are always involved in typically “boys” activities such as fighting, sports and horsing around.
There are few female characters in the novel. They are: Sherry Valance; Marcia; Sandy; Evie; Sylvia
LET’S FIND OUT WHO THEY ARE!
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CHERRY VALANCE
She is a girl from a wealthy family and friend of the Socs. She meets Pony, Johnny, and Two-Bit at a drive-in. She and Pony have a lot in common, but the friendship is not allowed to develop because of their different social status. She is in love with Bob even though she knows that he drinks too much and has beaten Johnny up. After Bob’s death, she acts as a spy for the Greasers and truthfully tells the judge and the reporters about the circumstances leading to his murder.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Cherry’s real name is Sherri, but people call her Cherry because of her red hair. Cherry has got green eyes and is characterized by her good look.
PERSONALITY Cherry is not just a sweet, simple girl. She feels an attraction to Dally, who is rude but also sexy and charismatic. Despite all her attraction to the greasers, she is not completely free of group stigma. She tells Ponyboy she probably will not say hello to him at school, showing that she respects social divisions. Cherry is a cheerleader and is very popular, and she values these roles. However, for a short while at least, she cares more about how each greaser boy behaves than about his West Side or East Side address. She is also an outsider who does not always fully understand other characters’ emotions and motivations.
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CHARACTER ANALYSIS
UNIFYING AGENT
DIVIDING FORCE
When she meets Pony, she has already
She's aware of the realities of the social
formed the idea that Greasers and Socs
differences and she accepts them, at
are connected through basic human
least at first. After hanging out with Pony,
struggle and through nature.
she tells him, "if I see you in the hall and don't say hi, well, it's not personal or
She also mediates between the Greasers
anything. […] We couldn't let our parents
and the Socials to make sure that the
see us with you all".
struggle is fair, and that neither side brings weapons. She's determined to defend
It is only when the female members of the
nonviolence and has a vision of social
Socs, in particular Cherry, start to act
equality. She's trying to do the right thing
friendly
and make things better for those around
animosities between them get worse.
toward
the
greasers
her. Her role as connector between Socials and Greasers becomes more pronounced over the course of the novel. After Johnny kills Bob, Cherry can't stand visiting Johnny in the hospital. But despite still loving Bob, she declares that Bob was drunk, violent, and was probably the aggressor in his fight with Johnny. 3
that
MARCIA
She is Cherry’s friend and Randy’s girlfriend. Her friendship with Cherry seems to go only as far as that their boyfriends are best friends.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Marcia was described as having "short dark hair", slightly smaller than Cherry, and cute, according to Ponyboy.
PERSONALITY Marcia and Two-Bit share a sense of humor and a taste for reflections without meaning. She seems to be as wise-cracking as Two-Bit, and a little bit flirty.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS Like Cherry, Marcia seems to enjoy hanging out with the gang, and even gives Two-Bit her number, though he thinks it's fake and tears it up. Since Pony doesn't interact with her after the movies that night, we don't see her go through any changes, and her actions don't influence the end of the story.
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SANDY
Sandy was Sodapop's girlfriend (later ex-girlfriend) who he was sure he was going to marry. It broke his heart, when she left to go live with her grandmother in Florida because she got pregnant. Soda later runs off, saying he hates being in the middle, and it makes him feel worse because she left him, and he loved her so much.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
PERSONALITY
She is described by Ponyboy to
Not much is known about Sandy, except
have blond hair, and big blue eyes
that she is a greasy girl.
that would look so happy every time
She is also not faithful, because she had
she was with Soda.
conceived the child with someone else, cheating on Soda.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS Like the other greaser girls, Sandy appears in the text only when the boys mention her and her pregnancy. The author introduces the theme of pregnancy as an important issue but remains a little bit vague about it because it is a controversial. Sandy's character represents a serious issue for women at the time.
[…] [Sandy's] parents sent her to live with an out of state relative due to her pregnancy, which was obviously 'out-of-wedlock' and was not socially acceptable at the time. Social attitudes have much changed over the last 40 years; thus making it easier on unwed mothers to not only have (publically) but keep their babies. It has not always been so, as is illustrated in this book (although between the lines). Up until the mid 70's or so, if an young woman came up pregnant and unmarried, they typically were sent 'away' to have the baby. […] Many times they were sent to Unwed Mother's Homes until they delivered;
leaving
their
baby
behind
and
up
for
adoption.
[…] 5
EVIE Evie is Steve Randle's girlfriend. She's a character who doesn't seem to influence the plot or impact the end of the story in any way.
SYLVIA
Sylvia was Dallas's girlfriend, but she apparently dated other guys when Dallas was in jail. When we meet Dallas, he's just broken up with her because of that. She's another character who doesn't drive any action or influence the plot.
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HOW DO THE GIRLS FIT INTO THIS “BOY’S WORLD”?
It seems that the greasers have much less respect for women even if they’re in the same class: Cherry and Marcia, as Socs, represent higher caliber females from the upper class; They hold girls like Cherry on a pedestal despite their grudge against the Socs; A greaser girl like Sylvia was a “sneaking little broad” who would get Johnny “into a lot of trouble”, Even Sandy, who initially seems to be the one respectable female within her class turns out to have cheated on Soda and became pregnant so she is sent away.
The only character who moves in this world of boys and interacts most directly with the two groups is Cherry. However, the author doesn’t give her enough space in the novel to bring stability or peace into the conflict. She plays a small role in the novel.
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CONCLUSION
One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the lack of female voice. Cherry has the most voice of any female character, but even she fails to take an active role in the situation going on around her. She acts as a bridge, passing information from the Socs to the greasers, but in the end she does not participate in the conflict nor does she do anything to stop it. Hinton wanted a book about a group of teenage boys, so she chose not to include any strong female characters in the novel. Hinton wants to give the idea that male-female interaction creates unpredictable results.
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Work done by: Joรฃo Serra Miguel Monteiro Tiago Silva
10ยบ A
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