The Dynamic Randy

Author’s Note: This is about how Randy Anderson of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a dynamic character because he changed over a period of time.


Just imagine, being at the top of your school, and best friends with the most popular teenager in the whole grade. Now, I want you to think about watching that friend get stabbed and killed by the opposite group, the greasers. Finally, vision the chance to get to know the greasers and actually find out that the groups are not that different. This is what Randy goes through in the short time in which the story takes place. Like I said before, he was at the top of the popularity chart, his friend got stabbed, and that was what finally changed him. When Randy is talking to Ponyboy in his car, he basically says exactly what Cherry said all along, “It’s rough all over”. Randy Anderson is definitely a dynamic character because his beliefs and actions change over time.

I strongly believe this primarily because he changed his views about the greasers entirely. He started to feel sympathy for the poor, bad, street boys. At the beginning of the story, he was rude to the greasers, picked on them, and beat them up. In the end he apologizes to them because he realizes that the greasers are just like him and his friends. Some other reasons that Randy id dynamic is the fact that he chose himself to not fight against the greasers in the rumble. He thought that it was wrong to fight. Unlike the beginning, where he beat up the greasers willingly. These are the most noticeable reasons on why Randy is very dynamic.

I wouldn’t really say that the changes in Randy Anderson’s bias opinions against the greasers affected the events of the book. Although, what it did do though, was change Ponyboy’s beliefs of the Socs. Also he helped change other people's opinions about the people they stereotype. He helped the socs by telling them that greasers were not that much unlike them. "You can't win, even if you whip us. You'll still be where you were before- at the bottom. And we'll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn't do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing. We'll forget it if you win, or if you don't. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs"(Randy page 103) He learned that being a Soc was not all that great either.

In past novels in which I’ve read, I can compare Randy to Kino of The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Kino and his family were poor pearl divers who barely had money to eat. Then all of it changed when Kino found this humongous pearl. They thought they were rich until they found that the pearl was bad luck. His opinion and mood toward the “lucky” pearl changed and their baby Coyotito ended up dying in the end. That is why Kino of the novel, The Pearl is like Randy of The Outsiders.

Undoubtedly, Randy Anderson is a dynamic character. He changed his opinions throughout the story. All it took was seeing his best friend die, which is pretty extreme. Randy is definitely the most dynamic character in the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.