British vs Americans or Socs vs Greasers

Authors Note: This essay is going to compare how two books (April Morning and The Outsiders) show similarities in the theme defining stereo types.

A universal theme is an idea that applies to anyone regardless of cultural differences, or location It could apply to anyone at anywhere during anytime. Some examples of themes are survival, loss of innocence, and defining stereotypes. In the historical fiction novel April Morning a boy named Adam has a decision to go into the Revolutionary War or not to go into the war. He decides to go into war with his father. When tragedy strikes, Adam doesn’t know what to do. There is a lot of stereotyping in this story. There is also stereotyping in the drama fiction The Outsiders there are two different groups, the greasers are a gang, they are the tough kids and the socs are the rich and proper kids. They stereotype each other a lot as well. April Morning has two different groups as well as The Outsiders, April Morning has two different countries and in The Outsiders they are two different types of gangs. The books April Morning and The Outsiders both have the theme of defining stereotypes, though they show very different plot lines and settings.

Everybody gets stereotyped if it's at the mall, by another basketball team, or maybe even for what clique you are in. In The Outsiders the greasers get stereotyped by the socs for being greasers and in April Morning the Americans get stereotyped by the British for being Americans. Other than the greasers and the Americans being stereotyped, the greasers and Americans stereotype the socs and the British as well. As I said before everybody gets stereotyped. The British stereotype the Americans on page 111, a British solder said "The Americans are tricky devils; the Americans are not to be trusted." What did we do to be tricky? We are defending ourselves from the British. Also in The Outsiders the greasers are normal people but the socs think that they are mean and not rich enough for them. We are all people! We all have the same right to be here as everybody else.

The books April Morning and The Outsiders are alike in more than just stereotyping, in both novels a main character dies from the rival. In the novel The Outsiders Bob dies from a greaser, the opposite group or rival. This is the same thing as what happens in April Morning, the main characters dad dies from a British solder or the opposite team. This is the same thing that happened in the historical fiction The Outsiders. These books are a lot alike in many ways.

As you can see these books are a lot alike, but these books are different too. In the historical fiction April Morning the time period is in the 1700’s and in The Outsiders the time period is in the 1900’s. Not just is the time period different but because the years are way different that means that the way people talk is different and the technology is way different! A second way that these books are different is they explain two different wars. The war between the socs and the greasers in The Outsiders isn’t really a real war, it's a rivalry. But the Revolutionary War that is in April Morning is a real war. It is not just two groups not liking each other, it is a big ordeal that actual happened and went down in history. These books can be alike but they are also very different.

In conclusion the two books are similar and different in many ways. The novel The Outsiders is about a war between two ”gang” groups that was small and didn’t really go down in history. But the Revolutionary War really did happen. It was a war against two countries. The books April Morning and The Outsiders are similar in a couple ways, one way is they both have a main theme of defining stereotypes, but they are also very different. Which book would you rather be in, a real war or a war between two gangs?