Why Do We Hate Other (Economic) Classes When We Need Them To Survive? by Sahir

In this world different classes exist, and that tends to ultimately defines us. Many of the higher class people don’t want to feel related to the poor, as they believe that their status allows them to forget about the poor. On the other side of the spectrum, the poor are doing whatever they can to survive, and even if they do not want to beg the rich, they have no choice. What either class doesn’t know is how and why they are benefiting from the other class. This message is portrayed in the books “Trash” by Andy Mulligan, and in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton. In “Trash” the poor need the rich’s waste so they can sort and sell what can still be used for money. In “The Outsiders” there are two classes, the Greasers and the Socs, but at a specific scene we learn that because you are human you are connected to everyone, no matter what economic group you come from. In both “Trash” and “The Outsiders” we can see how classes are related, and how they unintentionally work together to keep society running.

In “Trash” by Andy Mulligan the Behala Boys sort through trash everyday. Without trash they would most likely be dead. They need to sort out the trash to keep the dumpsite from overflowing, and to make money. In the case of the overflowing, the rich need the poor too because if the dumpsite overflows then land will be needed for more trash, and that will result in less land for people to live in. If there is less land then there will be more people living in poverty as housing prices would rise. This is a chain reaction of atrocious events. After writing about this in my long write, I discovered a system that is looped forever. Later when re-reading critical scenes I see that Ponyboy says, “Everything turned, cleaned, and bagged up - cycled down to the weighers, weighed and sold. Onto the trucks that take it back to the city, round it goes” (Pg 6). This evidence clearly explains the system. The rich send their waste to dumpsites, the poor sort it out, and then their findings are sold to buyers and recycled. Each person gets what they want in this system, and that’s what makes it so efficient. The rich would hate to admit it, but without the poor things would really fall apart, and in a system when one part is faulty, it affects the other parts.

In “The Outsiders” the scenario is much more different but it still relates to the theme of a society system in “Trash” massively. Ponyboy claims to be a Greaser, the low economic class. Everything is normal until he meets Cherry Valance. Cherry is a Soc. In the book her class is of a higher economic status. They are not supposed to be talking together, however towards the end of their conversation, Ponyboy says, “It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset” (Pg 41 [1991 Paperback Edition]). This piece of text holds lots of valuable information, which points to several different things. Once broken down I see what Ponyboy was trying to say. This text is significant because it shows how we are often stereotypical about people. There are rich who care for the poor, and there are poor who care for the rich. Ponyboy doesn’t want to be a Greaser, and Cherry doesn’t want to be a Soc, they exist in their own, fight-free class. How does this connect to “Trash”? In this sunset scene we see how Ponyboy and Cherry care for each other, despite their classes. The sunset brings them together. Similarly in Trash, each class secretly cares for the other, because without each other they would not be able to function. If they did not care for each other, then the system would collapse on itself.

At this point some might argue that stereotypes, being human, or caring for each other is not important, and instead might believe that greed, power, money, and corruption have created the relationship between the books. This however is not reliable and completely true. It is a definitely a true claim in “Trash”, as it has been mentioned countless times that Senator Zapanta is corrupted, and the entire book is held in a third-world country, however, in “The Outsiders”, the economic differences do not create any of these things. Yes, the Socs are the rich kids in madras shirts, but throughout the book it was never mentioned that they used their money to their advantage. This is why this statement isn’t entirely reliable.

In the books “Trash” and “The Outsiders” many themes unfold themselves into the hands of the reader. A very strong, deep and significant theme is society & class. After writing and thinking about the relation of these two books, I found out how classes are intertwined, and how they work together to keep society in shape. They are connected to one and other, and they also work together. In both these books we can find and see how society & class has shaped our world. In both these books we see how your economic background determines your class. In both these books, we see a relation.