Alienation is a feeling of separation which can be felt in many different forms, whether it be socially, culturally, or by self estrangement. In the works of The Outsiders, “Richard Cory,” and “Miracle Boy,” alienation is the main theme. In each of the works, there was an outsider or a group of outsiders. An outsider is someone living in a way in which society believes is different.
In the movie, The Outsiders, there was a strong dislike of the group called the Greasers. They weren’t as rich as the other group of the town, the Socs. The Greasers were alienated against because society thought that they were mischievous and disruptive. One of the Socs, Randy, said something that brought out the theme in the story: “You can’t win. You know that, don’t you? It doesn’t matter if you whip us, you’ll still be where you were before, at the bottom. And we’ll still be the lucky ones at the top with all the breaks. It doesn’t matter.
Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs. It doesn’t matter.” Despite Johnny, Soda Pop, and Dallas’ heroic effort, society still looked down on them. They may have gained some respect from a Soc but that is about it. The Greasers risked their lives to save children in a burning church who were destined to die if it weren’t for the boys help. Some people did realize the bravery of the boys. For example, they received recognition in the local newspaper and such. All in all, the Greasers were alienated against because of their social status, whether they were well-behaved or badly behaved.
The poem of “Richard Cory” contained two types of alienation. The alienation displayed was that of self versus self and self versus society. The character of the story was a handsome, wealthy, humble man whom people in the town often looked up to. However, he wanted to be like the normal people of the town. He felt as if he was alienated against because he was different from the townspeople. The end result in the poem was Richard Cory committing suicide because he could not deal with the discrimination, which was self inflicted. There was a conflict between himself which was bothering him. It is often difficult for people to perceive or understand the outlooks on others. The people of the town saw him as a king; someone who had it all. Obviously, they were wrong with their pre- conceptions.
In the story of “Miracle Boy,” the alienation expressed was the of society versus Miracle Boy. Miracle boy was in a horrible accident and his feed were cut off, then fortunately sewn back on. Lizard, Geronimo, and Eskimo Pie terrorized Miracle boy just because he was different from the other children. Miracle Boy was discriminated against just because he was unlike his peers. The boys wants to see his scars that has been left over from the surgery; they wanted to see what a miracle looked like. They wanted so desperately to see the scars the one day they attacked the poor boy. In the process Lizard took Miracle Boy’s shoes.
The shoes played an important role in the story because it made Lizard eventually give the shoes back, which in turn made him realize that Miracle Boy was just an innocent kid. One good thing came out of the whole alienation deal throughout the story. Lizard realized that Miracle Boy was pretty much a normal person. I believe that Lizard became a new person because of what happened between him and Miracle Boy and that this type of alienation demonstrated was not necessarily a bad thing.
These works offered valuable insights into the issue of alienation. Each of the characters in the story was distinguished from the rest of society because of the fact that they were distinctive. Regardless of the different types of alienation, all of the works has the common theme of someone being put down because they were different. As shown in “Miracle Boy”, alienation can not be a bad thing all of the time.
