The Outsiders Expository Essay Sample

According to psychology, when you are a teenager, it is natural to feel like an outsider. That feeling arises from a need to feel like you belong somewhere. In a split society such as the ones I will discuss later, the people who feel the most alike build their own societies. As a result, individuals can hold a sense of belonging in a community that they consider themselves a part of. This essay will begin by discussing a teenager's difficulties with feeling like an outsider along with how it may affect them. Afterward, I will link it to the short story “Empty Seat,” the novel The Outsiders and the series Outer Banks. It then describes how lacking role models can result in teenagers experiencing various challenges. Subsequently, it explores how identity and personality affect a teenager's need to feel association and the challenges they may experience. Many young people either have felt or will feel like an outsider or will encounter challenges.  

To begin with, young people frequently tend to feel like an outsider because of their inability to fit in. Society's requirements play a significant role within this subject, as well as a teenager's upbringing and choosing what they need to do/ determine for themselves, play a crucial influence in this issue. Teenagers sometimes don't feel like they belong since the standards are just too high for a teenager to satisfy. Insecurities, anxiety, loneliness, and poor mental health are all consequences of this. In this context, a teenager's insecurity and anxiety can be linked to the short story “Empty Seat” in which a man is uncertain whether to stand up for a sobbing woman on the bus. The short story focuses on the different roles in society as well as loneliness, leading us believe that the man knows his role in society and does not want to be the one responsible for her tears. Similarly, to “Empty Seat” The Outsiders is a novel mainly about the rivalry that exist between the greasers and the Socs. Because they need to fit in somewhere, the various characters build their own society/gang. The different gangs have their own stereotypes which strips them of their individuality. They emphasize on their contrasts over their similarities since their preconceptions are so dissimilar.  

In addition to my point about people forming gangs/societies with people they feel associated with, I would like to mention both the series Outer Banks and the novel The Outsiders. Both stories portray characters with absent parents as well as a lack of role models from whom to learn, both of which can result in bad behaviour such as the inability to handle the challenges that come with being rich versus being poor. In both stories, the Pogues in Outer Banks and the Greasers in The Outsiders continuously attempt to impress the opposite gang. The Kooks in Outer Banks and the Socs in The Outsiders are characterized as rich people and own the fanciest cars, wear fancy clothing, and date the most attractive women. Unlike the greasers and the Pogues who are actively portrayed as the poor and the vicious part, that is characterized as the poor people and often encounter in fights and wear leather jackets. Both the Pogues and the Greaser smoke and drink alcohol excessively. It may be to impress the other gang, or it could be peer pressure from within their community, this is because they are often portrayed as tougher than the alternative part.  

Furthermore, identity and personality are a further major aspect of when it comes to a teenager's challenges and them feeling like an outsider. Seeing that during a person's teenage years they are steadily attempting to determine out who they are, moreover, how to identify themselves, which may be challenging. Especially when there is a lot of strain coming from school, work, sports activities, or at home. As I barely stated earlier peer pressure is one of the numerous aspects of a teenager's challenges and them feeling like an outsider, since if you stand out from the crowd and no longer do what everyone else does, you are not “cool” enough or it forces you to do things you did not even want to do in the first place  

In conclusion, the sensation of not fitting in and facing difficulties around it is typical amongst teens. Feeling like an outcast according to a teenager's perspective in the middle of everything regarding identity, personality and mental health are intense. Feeling like you do not belong somewhere together with facing challenges is actively illustrated in both “empty seat,” The Outsiders and Outer Banks. Where in two of the examples the teenagers form their own community and local area due to them not feeling like they belong somewhere or with someone, which may be because they do not have their own circle of relatives apart from their friends. Or “empty seat” in which the man is unsure about if he dares to stand up for the sobbing woman being that he`s afraid that people will react considering that nobody else stood up for her. In this sense, the people feeling like they do not fit in somewhere is a problem society has as an entire and in addition to those concerned.