The Outsiders Lesson 5

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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It should be everyone's goal to not criticize or judge another human being unless they know what it is to be in that person's situation.

To truly know and feel for another person, you must have empathy.

Empathy is a type of emotional intelligence that comes when you can completely understand and feel things from another person's perspective.

Look back at the past month or so. You may have encountered a person with whom you are close, who seemed distant, rude, or even angry toward you, and you were unsure why. Take a moment to analyze the situation.

• Did you do or maybe say something that could have been taken as insensitive, even if you didn't mean it?

Now, put yourself in that person's shoes.

• How would you have felt if they had done the same to you?

To function as part of a whole, you need to understand the general personalities, backgrounds, experiences, emotional triggers, and weaknesses of those around you. In some cases, people will start an argument with a loved one just to let off steam or because they are still lost in thoughts about an exasperating situation.

Therefore, you should seek the reason behind a person's action and try to understand how it feels emotionally to be the other person. From that moment, when you understand just a slight fraction of the problems and feelings that person is facing, it will become easier for you to empathize with them.

Empathy also comes when one realizes the similarities in all individuals — the need to be loved, accepted, and happy and to avoid sadness and pain — rather than focus on external differences.

In Chapter Seven, Ponyboy begins to feel empathy, not only for his group members but also for the socs.

Pony realizes that Johnny and Dally are truly alone. Although he thinks to himself in Chapter Six that Darry and Soda are no replacement for his parents, he still knows some comfort of a family.

It's not until Johnny and Dally are injured and Darry forces the doctor to tell him their respective conditions that Ponyboy realizes how lost his two friends are.

• With this in mind, do you think Pony misjudged Dally by thinking he doesn't care about anyone but himself?
• Do you think Dally truly wanted to help Johnny not end up the way he did: shuffled around, in prison, abused, and in emotional pain?

At the end of Chapter Seven, Pony also talks to Randy about the situation, including the planned rumble between the Greasers and the Socs.

• Do you think the two boys empathize with each other, if only for a brief moment? Explain your answer.

Continue to the Got It? section to explore this chapter further.