I think we should do more with the societal impacts of war during the 60s in regards to The Outsiders. The USA was in absolute shambles during the 60s and 70s — I mean, with JFKs assasination, drafts, and all of the stuff pulled by the US Government, I think there’s a lot more the fandom could explore and dive into.
This was an era where the general population was turning against its own government. There was barely a college you could go to where protests and outrage wasn’t happening.
Especially given the fact that those who typically fought / were drafted were poor kids. Kids like the greasers. If you were well off and were drafted, you could bribe a doctor into writing you an injury that disqualified you. There was nothing like that for the kids down on their luck. Alongside that, enlisting was also used as a way to bribe poorer kids with the promises of college, financial relief, etc. an incredibly manipulative practice that so many kids would fall for in hopes for a better future — only to be thrown into the front lines.
Kids in these anti-war protests would burn their draft cards in public, fight against the law enforcement, put themselves at risk just to combat the imposing threat of war. The draft lasted for nearly TEN YEARS. Assuming that the book happens in 1965 for simplicitys sake, that’s about eight years of neverending fear and anxiety.
On top of all of this— It’s the Cold War! The threat of nuclear downfall is crawling up everyones back. How many newspapers has Darry read about propaganda regarding how likely a nuke is to drop on them? How many surprise nuclear/bomb threat safety drills has Ponyboy done in school? How many propaganda posters do Soda or Steve have to stare at in the DX? How many east side friends have they lost? Did that Greaser go missing because he got shipped across sea or was he running from the draft?
How many of Ponyboys nightmares end with all his loved ones getting obligated by a bomb within the blink of an eye? It doesn’t help that his mind is overly imaginative and active, constantly racing with new thoughts worse than the last. Does he ever go to bed after an argument with Darry, only to wake up screaming after watching his older brothers burn alive from a war he can’t do anything about?
Does Sodapop clutch his fathers dog tags tightly and pray for the world to find peace? Does he sit quietly with his thoughts after turning the news off once it got too intense? Does he feel guilt for laughing and smiling when there are boys his age and younger off in some useless war?
Has Darry lost coworkers? Had Darrys coworkers lost people? Does he hear war stories from men twice his age? Does he see the trauma that no one wants to take seriously or address? The tremors, the fear, the shellshock? Does he lay awake at night imagining his own boys with that same trauma? Heaven forbid his mind wanders too far and his brain conjures up images of his baby brothers bloodied and broken in trenches.
I dont think every member of the gang is super outspoken or out participating in protests, but I believe that there’s an underlying tension regarding these wars that no one wants to accept as reality. Hence why they distract themselves with gang fights, useless territory, and violence.
