Introduction: S.E Hinton’s novel "The Outsiders," is set in a small town in Oklahoma during 1960’s America. Hinton incorporates the term ‘staying gold’; meaning to keep your innocence and purity through the struggles and hardships of life. The characters of the novel are a part of a gang named the ‘Greasers’ who throughout the novel face the pain of constant beatings, the death of fellow gang members and the constant judgment and stigma associated dished out by everyday people. With this wide variety of negativity, Hinton clearly shows that it is without a doubt impossible to ‘stay gold’ whilst growing up in a gang. First Paragraph The ‘Greasers’ have a wide variety of members ranging from the tall, strong and tough. To the small and weak. One of these members is a young kid named Ponyboy, who is a young innocent kid who doesn't really have a family and all he really has is the gang. ‘one of the four boys Darry and Soda and I have grown up with and consider a family. We’re almost as close a brothers’. This is fine when [he] is with his gang but when [he] isn't with them he is left to be treated like an outcast. At that age it can damage somebody’s self-confidence and usually lead him to depression. Being a ‘Greaser’ gives people a different image and also a different perspective of who the person is as a person. People in the novel believe that the “Greasers are poor low class people, who like to cause mayhem everywhere they go. They are believed to carry weapons such as switchblades, bits of pipe and even heaters (guns). ‘Greasers can't walk alone too much or they’ll get jumped, or somebody will scream “Greaser!” at them, which doesn't make you feel too hot’. For somebody like Ponyboy who had no choice about how he was raised, being labelled and stereotyped makes him feel worthless and therefore bitter about the world around him. Second Paragraph The ‘Greasers’ are not the only gang in