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Randy Adderson is a Soc and Bob Sheldon's best friend. Randy is a bully who classifies Greasers as hoodlums and helps attack Ponyboy and Johnny on the night of Bob's death. However, Randy, though not a major character, is nonetheless a dynamic one, meaning he undergoes significant change over the course of the novel. Bob's death acts as a turning point. In its aftermath, Randy loses all interest in fighting. He realizes how pointless the Greaser-Soc feud is and claims that he is "sick and tired" of fighting because it “doesn't do any good,” nor does it "prove a thing." He begins to understand that in an endless cycle of violence, both sides are hurt and no side ever truly wins. He keenly observes that no matter the result of the rumble, "Greasers will still be greasers and Soes will still be Socs." As a result, Randy sits out the rumble and refuses to fight. He even takes responsibility for the night of the attack and testifies that Johnny was only acting in self-defense.
Through Randy, Ponyboy realizes how misguided it is to rely on stereotypes to make judgement calls. He previously assumed that Randy was a typical Soc, "too cool to feel anything." But as Randy seeks Ponyboy out toward the end of the novel, Ponyboy learns to see him in a new light. The boys are each other's Greaser and Soc counterpart. Although they exist on opposite sides of a social war, they parallel each other. They are each forever changed by the death of their best friend, grow weary of violence, and cease reinforcing an us-versus-them mentality. Ponyboy and Randy unlearn their prejudiced views of Socs and Greasers, respectively. In the wake of the fire in Windrixville, Randy admits that he never would have thought that a Greaser could be so heroic. He does not think that he would have saved the children if he had been in Ponyboy's place. Ponyboy disagrees and reassures Randy that he would have made the same choice. Randy is touched and says, “Thanks, grease,” and then corrects himself and says "I didn't mean that. I meant, thanks, kid." There is an unmistakable kinship that grows between the two boys, enabling them to humanize each other's communities. Though they come from two wholly different worlds riddled with different kinds of struggles, they nonetheless grow to understand and respect each other.
