Socs Vs Greasers Essay Sample

Could you imagine being in a gang smoking, robbing stores, getting jumped, and jumping people just at the age of 12? Well that's exactly how some young boys lived in the 60's. There would be gang rumbles to see which gang would win and to see which one was better, and young kids from ages 12 and up would get hurt, maybe break an arm, or maybe even get killed all for just one group of people to assert their dominance. Two gangs in Oklahoma called the Socials and the Greasers did exactly this. The Socials were a group of privileged rich kids who lived in the suburbs that would drink and drive, jump kids from the Greaser gang, and rob convenience stores for fun. The Greasers however were the exact opposite, they were called the Greasers as an insult from the Socials because of how they wore their hair and because of how they dressed. You could always tell the difference between a Social and a Greaser just by looking at them, the Greasers never had enough money to dress nice so they would usually wear a tank top in jeans and maybe a leather jacket if they could afford one. The Socials however wore a new outfit everyday which would probably consist of a madras shirt with a pair of jeans and an expensive bomber jacket. The Greasers were very poor compared to the Socials, they either wouldn't have any parents because they left them or died, or their parents would be alcoholics and beat them. These kids had a rough life and the only reason they lived through it was because of each other, three people that were in the Greaser gang that tried their best to have a normal life were Pony, Darrel, and Johnny.

Pony is a teenage younger brother two his two older brothers, Darrel and Soda. He lives in a poor household with only his two brothers since his parents were killed. Compared to everyone else in the gang he is definitely not as tough or as confident. Pony is more of a reader and is abnormally smart for a Greaser, he loves to go to school and does well in it. Although most of the kids in his gang love fighting Pony hates it, he doesn't understand why people fight over stuff instead of just resolving it by talking it out. Instead of fighting for fun he does other things like watching movies or reading books. Since Pony was in a gang his life was far from a normal life, even though he was very smart and wants to go to college and succeed in life he couldn't just because he and his brothers did not have enough money. Even though Pony is not a tough guy who fights people and commits crimes he is always around people that do,

As the leader of the gang and the big brother to Soda and Pony Darry was a busy worker. Ever Since Darry's parents died he took the role of caring for the family and a full time job which took up most of his time. When Darry was younger he was more of a learner and more smart than a fighter, He was a brilliant student with all A's and was the captain of his football team. Darry was good at football, he was big, broad, and was really strong. Instead of going to college Darry had to stay home to take care of Pony, Soda, and the house. to pay for the bills he took a full time job doing roofing. Roofing was a very hard job and you had to be very patient and strong to be able to do it, he usually worked all day long so when he came home he was stressed or he would want to rest.  Because of this Darry never really had time to stay home with Soda and Pony except for the weekends but since Soda was old enough to take care of himself he was very strict with Pony, he would never let him go out late on school nights, he never let him walk alone, and always pushed him to get better grades. The way that Pony took this was that Darry hated him just because he was pushing him so much but he was really just trying to protect him from the world and didn't want to lose another loved one. Being in a gang definitely made taking care of two brothers and a house harder because of where they lived, their house was in the poor side of Tulsa, Oklahoma and even though most of the Greaser gang lived in that area there was still a big chance of getting jumped by Socials. If you were ever spotted walking alone from school or somewhere by the socials they would jump you, beat you up and threaten you until you screamed. But being in a gang gave Darry something fun like Rumbles, which was a huge fight between the two gangs, the Greasers and the Socials, and whoever won would be the better gang. No matter how hard life was for Darry and his brothers they always pulled through and made the best out of it.

The best friend of Pony and the "pet" of the Greaser gang, Johnny was loved by the gang and everybody he knew except for his parents. Johnny's parents were both alcoholics and took their anger out on him, they would beat him so bad they some days he could barely open his eyes or talk about it. The rest of the gang hated it when Johnny would get beat and yelled at because they could hear it from all the way across the street. Since all of the gang knew that his parents cared nothing for him and were completely despicable they treated him like he was their son or "pet" and gave Johnny a completely new and better home than what he had at his own house. Johnny was much like Pony, he was more shy and a learner than a fighter and instead of doing things for fun like robbing stores or drinking he would watch movies or read with Pony. Most of the gang would describe Johnny as being a lost puppy and terrified and anxious all the time, but he wasn't always like that. Johnny used to be a normal boy who loved playing around and even though he sometimes didn't fit in he would still do something to make the gang laugh, all up until he was badly jumped by the Socials. The gang found Johnny in a parking lot, bruised, cut up, and had huge gashes across his face. Ever since then he was scared of his own shadow, the only thing that he could remember was the rings that the Social had on that beat him up. After that Johnny never recovered from how he felt and how helpless he was on the floor of the parking lot and he started carrying around a 6-inch switchblade everywhere he went. This wasn't the only time he encountered the Social with the rings, when him and Pony were in the park some the same group of Socials jumped them but Johnny fought back and killed the boy with the switchblade that he carried around. They then went to an abandoned church to hideout for over two weeks, however the church starts on fire with children in it and Pony and Johnny go in to save them. After they save the children Johnny and Soda were both in the news and they were cleared for manslaughter. But sadly Johnny dies after getting hit in the back with a burning piece of wood from the church.

All in all being in any type of gang whether you are really rich and spoiled like the Socials or poor like the Greasers everyone is still human. Even though Bob, the person that was killed by Johnny, was a horrible person that was addicted to drinking and driving and tried to pick on any Greaser he could find, he was still a human being and has loved ones as well as anyone else.