The Outsiders is a story that follows the life of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy is a greaser that lives on the poor side of town. The plot of the novel is constantly driven by the conflict between two different groups: the greasers and the socials, who have a long history of hatred for each other. The tension between the two groups is what causes the plot to arise. This story begins in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960s. Ponyboy along with his friend Johnny explore the beauty of life and go through a drastic period of coming of age.
Every story has an initiating incident; an event that begins a story’s problem and introduces the main conflict. In the novel, the initiating incident begins when Darry, Ponyboys old brother, hits Ponyboy
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The falling action in the novel is when Ponyboy arrives at home from the hospital to visit Johnny. Next, the gang receives a phone call from Dally explaining to them that he has just robbed a grocery store and is now being chased by the fuzz. Immediately, the gang leaves the house to go save their loyal friend. When they reach the park, it’s too late. Dally had already been shot dead by the cops(Hinton 153-154). A few days later at court Ponyboy is acquitted of the murder of Bob. At school, Ponyboy's English teacher informs him that he is failing and if Ponyboy can write him a composition, he will pass the class with a C (Hinton 169-170). These events are resolving the main conflict, all through the story, Ponyboy and Johnny are on a journey because of the murder of Bob. Since Pony is not guilty, these events are being resolved. The conflict is also being sorted out when the greasers win the rumble, meaning the socs will now leave the greasers alone. Moving forward, Ponyboy and the greasers will not have to worry about getting jumped by socs.
The whole central conflict of The Outsiders is between the Eastside greasers and the Westside socs. Their beef between each other is what makes the plot more intriguing. When Ponyboy’s brother, Darry hit him, Pony ran away. If Darry wouldn’t have hit him in the first place, none of the situations in the plot would have occurred. In other words, the events of the novel are like a chain. If one thing hadn’t taken place, the rest of the events that followed would not have developed. In the end, the conflict has been resolved and Ponyboy discovers that greasers and socs aren’t so different at
First, the beginnings are quite different. In the book, the story begins with Ponyboy leaving the theater, thinking to himself while walking home. He chose to walk alone, which in this story, is beyond being a bad idea! This results in Ponyboy getting jumped by the wealthier kids, known as the “Soc's”.
In chapter twelve Ponyboy’s english teacher told him that since he is failing english, he has to do an extra credit essay to bring up his grade. Ponyboy and darry also get into a fight causing Soda to leave. Then the trial confirmed that Ponyboy and Soda can stay with Darry. Then Ponyboy wrote his paper on his experience, basically the whole story. The best literary element for this chapter is the plot. The plot is when Ponyboy and Soda find out they get to stay with Darry. “ Then he said I was acquitted and he whole case was closed.” (Hinton 168)
the beginning of the book chapter 1 Ponyboy went to the movies alone on the way home some greasers jump him and in the right moment his group members save him from getting beat.
Conflicts are present in everyday life, whether they are at work, school, or at home. Some people may have worse conflicts than others depending on their environment and surroundings. In “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton, Ponyboy and his friends face many different types of conflicts because of who other people think they are and their position in society. They are from the East Side of New York and are called “greasers”, or poor, by the wealthier people. The characters in “The Outsiders” overcome conflicts that are out of their control, like “Man vs. Society”, “Man vs. Self” and “Man vs. Man”.
They go to a park and get jumped by a gang of Socs they had conflict with earlier that day. Ponyboy is held under the water of a fountain and to save his friend, uncharacteristically, Johnny stabs the leader, Bob, with a knife. Bob ultimately ends up dying right there next to the fountain. To escape the police, they run away to an old abandoned church with the help from Dally, another in their gang. They spend days there with only baloney, cards, and a copy of Gone with the Wind. Ponyboy says, “The next four days were the longest days of my life” (75). They both had to sleep on the hard, stone floor (67) with no blankets. When they ran away, it insists that they believed they had no choice and soon realized what a ghastly experience it would be. Spending their days on repeat, doing the same thing, eating the same thing, can become redundant. For them it was hard to stay inside the church even though fear kept them
Johnny and Dally are both very contrasting characters and each play a vital role in both the novel and Ponyboy’s life. Johnny is a soft character who is regarded as the stereotypical Greaser. Dally is a rugged and rough character that is regarded as a hoodlum. Therefore, I believe that this paper has been able to answer the topic question and also support my thesis.
The Outsiders, an enthralling novel by S.E Hinton, is an excellent story about the hardships and triumphs experienced by the Greasers and the Socs two rival gangs. S.E Hinton tells a thrilling tale about the Socs and the Greasers that are two gangs and she characterize how they live. Ponyboy, his brother and his friends have to deal with the challenges relating to their environment. The three most important topics of The Outsiders are survival, social class and family support.
Ponyboy has a dispute with his brother Darry and ends up running away to the park with Johnnycake. There, Ponyboy and Johnnycake get into a fight with Randy, Bob, and three other members of the Socs. The Socs try to down Ponyboy, so Johnnycake stabs Bob with a knife and ends up killing him. Ponyboy and Johnnycake run to a party where they meet up with Dallas, one of their close friends. He gives them a gun, money, and tells them to get a train out of town to an abandoned church. They are told to stay there until Dallas comes to get them.
The Outsiders is a novel by S.E Hinton, that follows a young boy named Ponyboy who grows up in a gang. Johnny, Sodapop and Darry help him find how he fits into the world and without them he would have a hard time finding his own identity. Without having a close group of friends he would have a tough way of life, especially with the Socs. Being in a group that you associate with, that have different values to yourself can lead you to disregard your own ethics and do things you wouldn’t normally do, but at the same time this can assist and reinforce your own values…
Johnny affects Ponyboy’s life by giving him a friend that understands him more than anyone else. Dally affects Ponyboy’s life by teaching him that lifes hard. Dally shows him that life is not an easy walk. That Pony will have to make some very hard decisions that will affect him for the rest of his life.
The most interesting event was when Johnny and Ponyboy were trying to save the little children from the fire. There was a lot of action and showed the courage in the boys. This event marks what a true hero Johnny and Ponyboy are.
After the church fire Ponyboy comes to the realization of many things. Two-Bit and Ponyboy are eating at a restaurant known as Tasty Freeze when Randy asks to speak with him. Ponyboy tells Randy, ¨Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn’t have. It’s the individual¨(115). He finds out that you cannot define someone based on of they are part of the Socs or the greasers. Furthermore, he finds out that every one is a individual and that means that just because he is a part of a certain group it does not mean that they are all going to react or perceive a situation in the same exact way. In addition, he say this to Randy because when there was a fire in the church Dally was not willing to risk his life to save someone else's when Johnny and Ponyboy were more than willing to help the kids. This shows event shows how all Greasers and Socs are not the same. In the beginning of the novel Ponyboy believed Darry disliked him and thought he was a nuisance. However, later on at the hospital Ponyboy tells Darry, “I’m sorry” (98). Ponyboy’s words expose how he feels bad for thinking Darry disliked him all along when in truth he loved him more than words could describe. He realizes that Darry fears losing another family member that is why he is so overprotective of Ponyboy. Hence, proving Ponyboy is clearly a dynamic character.
The Outsiders is about the life of a 14-year-old boy. The book tells the story of Ponyboy “Curtis” and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. Ponyboy and his two brothers, Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16, have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."
This started to happen when he was in the church trying to hide away from the police because of the murder of one of the Soc’s. “I was trembling, and it wasn’t all from cold” (Hilton p.57). This shows that Ponyboy was scared, starting to break, and noticed that maybe this “hard bad boy” life isn't for him. Ponyboy put more and more thought about what it takes to be a greaser, which made him realize that maybe the gang life wasn’t good for him. “We were good fighters and could play cool, but we were sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser” (Hinton, p.88). Ponyboy is expressing that it is hard to be as strong as the other boys and sometimes he just couldn't or he couldn't be ok with what they were doing. “It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, ‘cause I’m supposed to be smart’ I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head” (Hinton, p.4). Ponyboy knows he has the potential to be something else and while being in hiding in the church it helps him realize that if he really wanted to he could be whatever he puts his mind
Ponyboy was walking home from the theaters and he got jumped. The socs surrounded him and it was an unfair fight for Ponyboy. The Greasers carry around knives to protect themselves. “ I had seen Johnny after four socs got hold of him, and it wasn't pretty.” (4). This shows that the Greasers have to be careful and always be on the lookout for socs so they don't get jumped.