That Dirt Like Guy and That Lady Like Girl

Author Note: The purpose of writing this piece is to compare and contrast main characters from two books. Jane from “Just Jane” by William Lavender and Ponyboy Curtis from the “Outsiders” by SE Hinton.


In every book there's a main character, some are different than others but, some are alike in many ways .In the book “Just Jane” by William Lavender the main character Jane,is a strong young adult that’s very smart. Along with another main character from another novel Ponyboy from “The Outsiders” by SE Hinton.The material that will be presented is a compare and contrast about the two main characters Jane and Ponyboy.


First of all Jane from "Just Jane" is very brave and strong being able to stick up for what’s right “You may get yourself killed there is one of you !and lots of them” found on page 95 said by Jane to her uncle Robert. Jane is still strong even though she just moved from England to America it shows she has a lot of potential. Also Jane shows potential by wanting to go to school and get a good education, “You have a mind of your own my student” found on page 33 said by a schoolmaster in America. Just like Jane Ponyboy from The Outsiders by SE Hinton is also really strong,brave Even though Ponyboy said Dally was so real he scared me”. found in chapter 5 he still had the courage to explain how he felt.Another thing that happened in the story that made me believe that Ponyboy was strong was how he was there by Johnnys side until the end.


Furthermore as a child both of their parents were out of the picture. Another family member became their guardian. It made it harder for both Jane and Ponyboy to have independence from their guardians. Both of their guardians where extremely protective. Another thing that both of the main characters have in common is that everyone treats them differently about what they believe in or what they are. For example the socs don’t give Ponyboy respect because he’s a young greaser “dirt”. Jane get treated differently from people that don’t believe in the king or, what they said in the book” the rebels do not give respect to people like you” on page 13 said by a former rebel to Jane.


However,Both of the main charters where brave and strong and there family's where out of the picture, Jane was the one that had great potential. Ponyboy did go to school his grades weren’t so remarkable he did try but it seems as if he would always get side tracked. Since Ponyboy was the youngest out of all the greasers the “greasers” would say he is sensitive but Ponyboy's personality really is sensitive. “we saw the same sunset “found on page 41 said by Ponyboy.Wouldn’t you be sensitive too if you had to hide from your own family from the cops? Ponyboy had to move from his home town to a church to protect himself and his friend Johnny even though Ponyboy was extremely afraid, that shows that he is very mature.!



Finally you can see how Jane is a strong, brave smart young adult whose parents aren’t around to see her grow up and see how much potential she has in her life. Also how Ponyboy is a sensitive scared but strong young adult who has matured a lot since his parents left his family and him Inclosing that statement you can see how different and alike main characters can be in different novels.