The Futility of Biased Conflict by Shawronna

In this society, we often judge people based on how they look, dress, behave, or where they come from. The Outsiders by SE Hinton and The Ballad of East and West (TBEW) by Rudyard Kipling both show how this bias can lead to misunderstanding and conflict between groups of people. The two main characters in TBEW, Kamal and the Colonel’s son, and the some of the members in the Greaser and Soc gangs in The Outsiders, show how if people take the time and risk to understand each other, they find that they have much in common as human beings. This is not a new message. The Outsiders was written in 1967, but TBEW was written by Kipling in 1889; more than a century ago.

TBEW starts off with 2 groups of people, a group of dacoits (bandits), and a company of troops of the British Indian Army. The head dacoit, Kamal steals the mare of the Colonel of the Army, and is chased into his own territory by the Colonel's son. The troops and the dacoits can be compared to the Greasers and the Socs. The Socs and the troops are in the elite class of society, while the Greasers and the dacoits are on the margins. In both the book and the poem, each group on one side of the social divide thinks that the other is inferior in some way. The Greasers think that the Soc girls act like “they’d like to spit on us if given a chance”. Similarly, in the poem, among the troops, “ there was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer” ( referring to the dacoits). And when Kamal tells the Colonel’s son that he could feed him to the jackals and kites if he wanted, the Colonel's son literally screams “ Howl dog, and call them up,” referring to the fact that the dacoits in his eyes had the same value as a dog. Therefore we can establish that Kamal’s men are the outliers in society, or rather the outsiders.

However, later in the ballad, as Kamal and the Colonel’s son come face to face at the end of the chase, they discover that they had wrong opinions of each other, and start to develop respect for the bravery they share. The Colonel’s son knew that he was entering enemy territory where “the length and the breath of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal’s men”, but he continued the chase bravely. Kamal respects this, and faces the Colonel’s son alone, though he could have asked his men to shoot at any time. Also, when the Colonel’s son calls Kamal a dog, Kamal replies, “ No talk shall be of dogs, when wolf and grey wolf meet”. This suggests that though they had a different way of life, and were on the opposite sides of the law, they were both brave like wolves. Then, Kamal he sends back his own son back with the Colonel’s son to protect him, and the two youngsters take the “Oath of the Brother in Blood.”

The scene between Kamal and the Colonel’s son can be compared to the scene in The Outsiders between Randy and Ponyboy. Ponyboy is confronted by Randy, and Randy talks about how his best friend Bob was not the person the Greasers thought he was. “He was the best buddy a guy ever had. I mean he was a fighter and tuff and everything, but he was a real person too” He then continues to talk about the hard life Bob had with his parents and the freedom they gave him. We start to see that both the Greasers and the Socs have similar lives with friendships and problems of adolescence. The characters themselves starts recognizing this, just like Kamal and the Colonel’s son in the poem. At the end of the conversation Randy says “Thanks grease. I didn't mean that. I meant Thanks, kid.” And when Ponyboy says “He ain't a soc, he's just a guy.” They see that both of them are human, and all of conflict between their gangs is because they see differences easier than similarities.

Both the books also have a symbol in common, the Idea of the separation because of East and West. In the TBEW, the troops are from the west, and the dacoits are from the East. Similarly in The Outsiders, the Socs are from the West side and the Greasers are from the East. In TBEW, Kipling talks about how “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet,” but. later shows that the East and West actually can meet, and although they may be separate, they can still learn to respect each other. Similarly Ponyboy and Cherry realize how the beauty of the sunset is the same for both of them, though they are from opposite sides of the social divide.

However, there is an important difference between the book and the poem. In the book, the misunderstanding leads to violence and death before the characters can recognize their similarities, and the futility of the conflict. On the other hand, in the poem, Kamal and the Colonel’s son recognize their shared bond of bravery in time to avoid any unnecessary conflict, and actually develop a deep respect for each other.

This need to dig deeper and understand others better goes way beyond the book and the poem, and is as important today as it was fifty or a hundred years ago. Many, many people are wrongfully judged in today's society. The caste system in India is one example. Having a different surname, and being poor from birth does not make you an untouchable, or someone who is less of value in society. People from lower castes and higher castes can have the same skills, and maybe the same values, and we need to have the ability to take the risk and time to recognize each other's importance in society. Another example is the conflict in the Middle East where religious differences has been causing violence for a long time. In Myanmar, where the government does not recognize the validity of certain religions, many people are forced to flee their homes to survive. Looking back at history, we can see how Slavery and segregation in the U.S. was wrong. Eventually, American society changed its ways to treat all races equally. They saw that a colored person was equally smart, brave and strong as someone who was white. It did take time and risk, but has benefited their community and society.

Both the book and the poem convey this important message of the need to understand our shared humanity so that we can look beyond our differences, and avoid misunderstanding and conflict. The book serves as a caution of what can happen if we only look at our differences, and the poem inspires with a vision of what can happen if we look beyond those differences to see the person we really are:

“There is neither East nor West, Border nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.”


The Ballad of East and West