Importance of Good Parents

Authors Note: This is a response to the theme, definition of family and describing what family means to Jonny and Ponyboy

There are many ways to define the definition of family. Most people think of family as their blood parents, but in the book, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, that is not necessarily the case. Ponyboy Curtis had two delightful parents that loved him a lot, but when they died in a tragic car accident, Ponyboy was never the same. Jonny has parents that fought day and night and beat him silly. How can you consider that your family? They don't. To them, their family is their friends and gang, the greasers.

Ponyboy Curtis was raised in a rough neighborhood, full of druggies and murderers. Fortunately, Ponyboy had what his fellow greasers did not. Ponyboy had parents who cared about him and would do anything for him. After they died, he looked at his two older for advice and to help put food on his table. Ponyboy would constantly fight with his older brothers and he wanted everything to be about him. He liked his family, but he had more of a relationship with his other greasers than with his brothers. So Ponyboy considered his gang to be more of his family than his two older brothers.

Just as Ponyboy was raised in a charming family, the same can’t be said for Jonny Cade. Jonny was born in a household with parents that fought a lot and beat him up. He was a sensitive kid and did not like them fighting and thought that it was tearing him apart. He would spend most of his days sleeping at friends houses and rarely ever went “home”. His parents didn’t care about him and what really made me feel that way was when Jonny was in the hospital with a broken back, he refused to let his parents see him because he absolutely hated them. Jonny had no one to turn to for advice, accept his gang, the greasers. He had no parents that cared about him and the only people who wanted him were his gang. His family was considered the greasers.

I think about Jonny’s situation and I feel so lucky to have parents that actually care and love me. It saddens me to think about parents who bring kids into the world that don’t care what happens to that person. I believe that the definition of family to me are fortunately my blood parents and I don’t feel closer to anyone else. I’m also glad that I can live in a house where I can see my parents and I feel safe. This book gave me a new aspect of how a person who has corrupted parents feel and I have shown me how lucky I am to have parents that really care about me.

As you can see Jonny and Ponyboy were raised in completely different types of families, but they turned out being the best of friends. To them their family is the greasers and nobody else. That is not the type of family that I would like to have, but those are the only people Ponyboy and Jonny have to go to. That’s another reason that I’m very thankful for the loving, affectionate parents that I have now. After all of this said, I believe that the true definition of family to me is my parents, but that can change depending on who you are and who your parents are. But even with that said if I was in Jonny or Ponyboy’s shoes, my family would be the people who care for me the most, the greasers.