5 Paragraph Essay Example- Introduction and 1st paragraph of body

        We are currently in the process of reading The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and we have been introduced to all 7 of the main ''greaser' characters .  The narrator of the story is Ponyboy, the youngest of the gang. We also just watched the movie "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and that movie also has a young boy, named Greg, as the narrator.  Greg and Ponyboy live two very different lives with Ponyboy facing problems such as gang violence, the death of his parents and poverty while Greg lives with an ideal family with 2 parents that love him dearly.   Even though Ponyboy and Greg are 2 very different people, they do share some similarities.

      The first similarity I see between Ponyboy and Greg is that they are both trying to fit in with their peer groups.  Ponyboy is tyring to fit in with the older greasers while Greg is trying to make the difficult change from elementary school to middle school.  Ponyboy is the youngest of the greasers and isn't the average greaser since he got good grades in school and had a high I.Q.  Steve Randle also thinks that Ponyboy is a tag along and is just in the way.  Even with all those differences, Ponyboy desperately wants to be part of the gang and does his best by dressing, talking and acting like a greaser is supposed to. Ponyboy needs to be part of the gang since his two older brothers, Dally and Soda, are 2 of the main members of the gang.   Greg, on the other hand, will do anything to fit in. He seems to not even really care who he hurts along the way.  There are lots of examples in the movie of Greg treating his best friend horrible in order to get ahead.  Some specific examples are cutting down the way he looks, what he likes and lying to keep himself out of trouble.  Overall, I think both boys are pretty insecure and scared since they feel that they can't just be who they are as a person and be accepted by their peer groups.

3 rd paragraph (body)

4th paragraph (body)

Conclusion: What does it include?

• restate the thesis (use different wording)
• summarize the body
• leave the reader with something to think about

     As you can see, Ponyboy and Greg do share some similarities even though they have very different lives.  They both share a desire to fit in with their peer groups which I think stems from some insecurities they have.  They both also have experienced bullying from family members and from other people.  I think it's important to note that Ponyboy's experiences with bullying were much more dangerous than Greg's experiences.  Lastly, they both seem to not use their head sometimes and act without considering consequence.  Overall, I am not surprised that Ponyboy and Greg share some similarities since aren't all kids kind of the same not matter what their situation is?  I think even I share a lot of these same characteristics that Ponyboy and Greg share. Do you?