Misunderstood Tenagers from Different Era's

Authors note: This is an essay comparing the characters from Jump Ship to Freedom and The Outsiders.

            Are Daniel Arabus who is a runaway slave, and Ponyboy who is in a gang, misunderstood in the same way? Daniel Arabus from the book Jump Ship to Freedom is a runaway slave that tries to buy his freedom. Daniel was always mistreated by whites and assumed that he was dumb. Both Ponyboy from the book, The Outsiders and Daniel Arabus from Jump Ship to Freedom are misjudged in the same way on some things, and different on the others.

            First off, Daniel is different because everybody is against him. Since he is black, he does not get the same respect a 14 year old white person would. He has to go by himself to hopefully get his freedom. Like when he was in New York, the only person he could go to was another black person. But, Sam could not help him entirely, Only the senator of Connecticut can help him.

            On the other hand, Ponyboy has the greasers to help him through his difficulties. Like when he got beat up in the beginning of the book by the soc’s. The gang came to help him when it was hard for him. So without the greasers, Ponyboy could be dead.

            Another way they are misunderstood is that they are both assumed to be bad without learning about their background. The soc’s always hated each and every greaser. But when Bob the soc came and found out more about Ponyboy, he felt sorry and never knew a Greaser lived like that.

            In addition with Ponyboy thought of the bad guy, Daniel was wanted all over the country for running away from his owner. So he had to run but when he got to Philadelphia, George Washington spotted him and Daniel filled him in on his life so George and Mr. Johnson helped him earn his freedom.

            In conclusion, Daniel and Ponyboy are misunderstood in the same and in different ways. So if people got to know them and just learned more about them, they would have less real world enemies.