Have You Been Stereotyped?

Author’s note- This essay shows that defying stereotypes was one of the main themes and it stayed throughout the whole story. My purpose in writing this is to show that everyone would just like to be seen as who they really are.

           “Have you ever considered you were being judged on your looks or your actions?”  In the story The Outsiders the Greasers (which are lower class) have been and will always be condemned by society.  Defying stereotypes is when someone envisions what you are like when they don’t know much about you.  Throughout the entire story of The Outsiders almost everyone was being stereotyped. Not only were the Greasers being stereotyped but also the Socs.  No matter how peculiar we may all seem we all just want to be accepted for who we really are.

Society thought that the Greasers would never even think to do anything pleasant in their life.  No matter what a Greaser did they would always be seen as the same and a quote that really showed this was spoken by Randy and it went like this.  “You can't win, even if you whip us. You'll still be where you were before - at the bottom. And we'll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn't do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn't prove a thing. We'll forget it if you win, or if you don't. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs."  This really shows that society will always be against the less fortunate ones and the higher class will always be stuck with the hero act.
Society has been very brutal to many people but, being afraid to get judged was always my downfall.  All my life I have been afraid that I will mess up.  But as I got older I realized no one should live like this, not even me.  I can relate to the theme defying stereotypes because everyone always expects me to be so great at sports.  But really no one can have a great game everytime, and this makes me feel like it was my fault if we lost.  Dally and I can relate because we both put on a mask to hide my fear from showing.  People don’t understand that when you have your image set for yourself you can rarely change it.  We also are imagined as the more experienced people in everything, which isn't always true. Society is one of those things where you either love it or hate it.  But don’t let it get the best of you, just try and be yourself and don't worry about what other people think. 

 Everyone has gotten flustered at least once because they thought they would be judged by their actions.  Even though I got stereotyped, I never let it get the best of me and neither should you. Dally in the book The Outsiders  had made plenty of mistakes in his life. This set an image in his life as a bad boy or criminal.  Dally quoted in the book “I did some crazy things in New York that I will never forget.”   Dally was stereotyped; but he really is a criminal because he made some bad choices, but even he has a heart.  Just because someone may have a bad side doesn't mean they don't have a heart too.

   People stereotyping people, that is just how life is and we can never change that.  Society will always try and stand in your way.  Never be afraid to try and reach your dreams .  If you mess up that is okay, because if the people you are worried about stereotyping you really are genuine people, then they would never judge you on your one mistake.  Always remember to be yourself and don’t change to be the stereotype people make you to be.  But most important of all,we just want to be known for who we are.