In The Outsiders, S.E. Hilton dramatizes the differences between a group of social lower-class youth group who call themselves greasers and an upper-class youth group who are called Socs. Ponyboy, the main character and a member of the greasers, narrates the struggles of living in such a polarized society and the necessity to fit and belong to a group.
There are certain moments in the story where a reconciliation of the groups seems to be very clear; moments when both groups can share an event in unison and forget their differences. An exemplary passage that conciliates the groups happens after Cherry, a Soc girl, meets Ponyboy for the first time at the movies. She asks Ponyboy if he likes watching sunsets as much she used to do – to which Ponyboy answered “yes”.
Ponyboy then says:
It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.
This small passage seem to unite both groups. The first part mentions the location where the observers watch the sun fading in the horizon: while Cherry observes it from a luxurious and privileged patio, Ponyboy watches it from the rustic and simple back steps of his poor house. While the locations might seem irrelevant, they serve to first accentuate the social class difference and the different area zones that they live in the city, Cherry lives in the wealthy district while Ponyboy in the poor one.
After making clear the differences between them, the passage mentions the event that not only unites Ponyboy and Cherry, but unites cities, countries, and the world: the sunset. The sunset does not differentiate or judge its observers nor accommodates to fit the lifestyles of different people. Instead, the supernatural event delivers the same majestic show to everyone on earth disregarding sex, race, income, and geography.
The “two worlds” that Ponyboy mentions, the world living as a Soc and the world living as a greaser, is in fact one world under the same sky under the same sun. Ponyboy begins to understand that the polarized society in which he lives is nothing but a pure bluff; he now thinks that there is something bigger out there that proves that everyone is equal or that something much better awaits to those who are willing to make a change in their lives.
For now, the sunset represents aspirations that are shared equally between the two groups and a link that unites them as humanity. So even when their locations differ, there is a link of something greater, yet to understand, that makes them equal.