The outsider is not only a book about jealousy and envy, but also it highlights the importance of friendship and family. It shows us what the human nature is capable of even for as a simple and unimportant thing as gaining a place on a class C hockey team. This is kind of dispiriting when you come to think of what humans would do for far more important thing. On a lighter note, the friendship between Danny and his old friends comes to prove that you don't have to have money and come from a decent family to have morals and values and be a better person. Even amidst all the gangs and gun shootings these boys managed to uphold some self respect. The book is a marvel in that it balances the desirable and undesirable traits of not only teenagers, but also adults.