The Outsiders

665 Words2 Pages

The Outsiders

One day after school Ponyboy and his friend Johnny took two Soc girls out to the movies, they were walking home when five Socs jumped them. The Socs were mad at them for taking their girls on dates. Bob (one of the Socs) was about to drown Ponyboy in a fountain when Johnny lost it and stabbed him. The Socs ran and so did Johnny and Ponyboy. After this incident they ran to a church outside of town. One day the church catches on fire.

Johnny and Ponyboy save the kids that were playing in the abandoned church. Johnny pushed Ponyboy out of the church right as the roof caved in killing Johnny. Ponyboy and Johnny were heroes. They ruled that Ponyboy was just fighting back in self-defense. Ponyboy eventually writes a book about what has happened to him, the book that Ponyboy starts to write, starts the same way the novel starts. Ponyboy is a nice kid that's parents were killed in a car crash when he was young. Ponyboy has light brown almost red hair, and greenish-gray eyes. He has long hair that is squared off in the back. Ponyboy is a skittish kid; he was always worried about getting jumped by the Socs. But when you are a greaser walking on the streets alone, you have the right to worry about being jumped by the Socs. Ponyboy does a lot of growing up in the book that makes him a dynamic character. He has to cope with a lot of frustration with his two older brothers and with the Socs. He handles it pretty well until one day when he was being jumped by the Socs he spit on one of them that started a brawl that escalated into a murder.

Ponyboy has a good relationship with Johnny. Johnny saved Ponyboy's life by killing a Soc when the Soc was drowning Ponyboy. Ponyboy and Johnny have to hide out in an old abandoned church together. They were best friends. Johnny's last words to Ponyboy were "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold_" This says that Johnny thought that Ponyboy was a great person, and that he wanted him to stay a wonderful and great person. The conflict in this story is man vs. man. Ponyboy was born a greaser, he did not choose to be a greaser. He had no control of this but the Socs did not care.

Show More
Related

  • Dynamic Character In The Outsiders

    224 Words  | 1 Pages

    Ponyboy was a bad kid, he fought against Socs and he even smoked a weed, which is a cigarette. Later on he got into worse trouble and had to hide. He wanted to change and be a different person. While he hid he was scared and frightened and was beginning to think of how he was doing in life, and his thoughts were not very well. After the church incident, he began to change a little.

    Read More

  • The Outsiders Book Report Essay

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton Published 1967 Published by: Puffin Books Genre: fiction The book The Outsiders is the realistic story about this between two very different groups in a town in the United States: the poor Greasers from the east side, and the Socs, whitch is what the greasers call the socials, the richer boys from the other side of the town. Ponyboy Curtis is the narrator of the story, a 14-year-old boy who lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Soda. He is a pretty good athlete and student, but is not treated the same as the richer students at his school. Ponyboy uses to have long hair that he greases back, a symbol of being in the outsider gang. He is unhappy with his situation, because Darry is too protective of him

    Read More

  • The Outsiders

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    One night Ponyboy,Johnny,and Dallas want out to the movies. Dallas was drunk and he was messing with the two ladies in front of them Cherry and Marcia. Dallas left to go get some drinks for the ladies came back and gave it to them but Cherry threw it in his face Marcia kept hers. Dallas then left after Johnny cursed him out and Ponyboy and Johnny then moved down to sit with the ladies to protect them from Dallas then Two-Bit came. Ponyboy was surprised bec...

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In The Outsiders

    477 Words  | 1 Pages

    He is smart, and gets good grades in school. This is purposefully mentioned several times within the story, and people tend to be surprised to learn that he is a Greaser. In addition, some Greasers are nicer than people tend to think. When the church burned down, Ponyboy and Johnny run in to save the children without a second thought. They acted with selflessness, putting the safety of the children above their own. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Ponyboy is asked if he and Johnny are "professional heroes". He responds by telling the entire story of how they're Greasers and Johnny is wanted for murder, shocking the man in the ambulance. It is difficult for him to believe that a group of Greasers would do something so heroic. Johnny dies as a direct result of their actions, but neither Ponyboy nor Johnny regretted what they

    Read More

  • Loss Of Innocence In The Outsiders

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    Showing that Ponyboy was very inexperienced and thought Mickey Mouse Sodas horse was just like Soda and they were brothers.Thirdly, we see how some actions Ponyboy’s gang does help show the need for childhood innocence like when pony says,” Darrel, who we call Darry, works too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture,” (Hinton 3). Darry is only 20 and he has a job working on roofs he works so hard so he can care for his brothers Soda and Ponyboy he has no time to be a kid himself he is working like a man when he is only a child.While some believe the main theme is brotherly love I argue its preserving childhood innocence. While this is a good point, because Ponyboy’s group definitely sticks up for one another in a brotherly fashion, it lays a strong foundation for preserving childhood innocence. Jonny had never been a coward he was a good man in a rumble, (Hinton 34) this shows how has Johnny loses his innocence, he becomes fearful of the Soc’s and begins to carry a switchblade to keep his gang safe, you might think this shows brotherly love, but it also shows preserving childhood innocence because when Johnny got used to being targeted by the Soc’s he lost his innocence, that’s why he would carry stuff like switch blades to keep him and others safe from the Soc’s. While the Greasers grew up they lost more and more of their innocence to rumbles and hatred of the Soc’s.

    Read More

  • Johnny Cade: A True Hero

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many would say that the character Ponyboy should be the main hero of our story, but that’s just not the case. Ponyboy was easily pushed down, letting things get to him and letting his emotions take complete control. One push or slap from his brother and he runs away, like a cowardly lion scrambling into the tall grass of the savannah. Johnny on the other hand, is forced against abuse that no one should be able to be put through. Yet he stands his ground.

    Read More

  • Comparing Johnny and Dally in The Outsiders by SE Hinton

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

    1699 Words  | 4 Pages

    This story is about a young boy of 14 named Ponyboy. He is part of a hood group called Greasers on the east side of town, a group of lower-class teenagers who wear their hair long and greasy, wear jeans and ripped-up T-shirts, and are at odds with the rich-kid bullies known as the "Socs". This group of hoods are born into rich families from the west side of town, are of a high "social" class, drive around in Mustangs and Corvairs, and mostly wear checkered jackets with a madras on them. One day, as Ponyboy is walking home from a movie, he is jumped by a gang of Socs. At the last minute, his buddies from his group (made up of his brothers Darry and Sodapop, who raised Ponyboy now that their parents are dead, the hardened hood Dally Winston, quiet innocent Johnny, and wise-cracking Two-Bit) scare off the socs and rescue him. The next night, Ponyboy and Johnny join Dally to go looking around for a good fight and maybe catch a movie. There they sit behind two attractive young girls and Dally attempts to obnoxiously get their attention and pick one up. After Johnny tells him to stop, Johnny and Ponyboy sit with the girls, Cherry and Marcia, and Ponyboy and Cherry discover to their mutual surprise that they have a great deal in common. Two-bit appears, and the three greasers walk the Socs girls back to Two-Bit's house so that he can drive them home. On the way, they run into Bob and Randy, the girls' drunken boyfriends and the socs that beat up Johnny a couple years ago, and the girls agree to leave with them in order to prevent a fight between the two gangs. On his way home Ponyboy takes a stop by the vacant lot with Johnny and accidentally drifts off. When he wakes up and goes home his brother Darry angrily lectures him on what could have happened and slaps him. Then he runs out the door, finds Johnny, and goes to the park to get away from things. There, however, the two young greasers run into Randy and Bob, with a few of their Soc friends. One of them holds Ponyboy's head under an ice cold fountain, and Ponyboy blacks out. When he comes to, he is lying on the ground next to Johnny.

    Read More

  • Self-Concept In The Outsiders

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    He knows that Ponyboy has a chance because he is very smart. How they both reacted to not having parents shaped and effected who they are. “Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time(2).” This explains how Johnny was effected by his parents. His parents constantly fighting and beating him made him who he was. A part of him was effected by all the chaos and pain he had to go through every day. “We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. I don't mean I do things like that. Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police.” Social roles are a part of self-image that makes a person who they are. In the novel Ponyboy explains the groups that the Greasers and Sochs were split into. This

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Outsiders

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy, along with his brothers and friends, has to face the daily struggles of being a greaser among the Socs. This fiction book focused on Ponyboy’s life and the problems he ran into with the Socs. He and his gang of friends had fights with the Socs that happened often, and had to deal with a Soc being killed by one of the Greasers, though it was an act of self defense. The three topics addressed in this intriguing novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what it means to be a hero.

    Read More

  • The Outsiders

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘The Outsiders’ is written by S.E. Hinton. It is set in the 1960s in a

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Essay On The Outsiders

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Character Change In Hinton's The Outsiders

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    With his long greasy hair and baggy worn out clothes he looked likes a bad kid, but the way he talked and the way he thought it was a whole different person inside of him. The Outsiders is about two rival gangs that fight and go through so much stuff to just to call the territory their own. It is the Socs versus Greasers. They always have their back up because you can't trust anyone, but at the end of the day is all the rubbles and fighting worth it? Ponyboy one of the greasers has a big character change during the book. In the beginning of the book Ponyboy was getting jumped by the Socs and he was acting all tough and defending himself, in the middle of the book he starts to break while he is in the church, and when the kids were stuck in

    Read More

  • The Outsider

    1705 Words  | 4 Pages

    Albert Camus states that “In our society any man who doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral is liable to be condemned to death” (Camus, 18). In the book The Outsider, Meursault defies local convention by not showing the sadness that is expected of him at his mother’s funeral. Ultimately, his life is dependant on this very decision of whether or not to show emotion. In the society that Meursault lives in, one is expected to conform to their standards and social norms. Anyone who deviates from these norms is considered an outcast and destined to die at the hands of society. Meursault was expected to show outwards signs of grief whether it was real or not. Even if the grief is artificial, most people will play to the audience and show signs of grief to minimize the risk of losing their life. Meursault’s was conflicted between following society’s rules and being true to himself. The nurse at his mother's funeral warned him that “if yougo slowly, you risk getting sun-stroke. But if you go too fast, you perspire and then in the church you catch a chill. She was right. There was no way out” (Camus, 22). The nurse’s admonition is consistent with his internal struggle. To Meursault, walking too fast is similar to conforming to society and walking too slow means following his own path. There is no middle ground to the situation, no happy median and no suitable compromise. Meursault faces the challenge of whether or not to conform on three main levels; physical, emotional and spiritual. He has the constant battle between following his physical self; his id, and doing what is right. Meursault also has to decide whether or not to be true to his emotions and decide if lying during his trial is a suitable course of action. Finally h...

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Johnny's Poem 'Stay Gold'

    356 Words  | 1 Pages

    When Johnny tells Ponyboy to “Stay Gold” he refers back to Robert Frost's’ poem they read out in Windrixville at the church. Basically, the meaning of that poem was that the most beautiful and valuable things in life have the most shortest lives. Also, it means that life happens in fleeting moments. This is important because when Johnny says this to Ponyboy at the hospital he means for Ponyboy to stay young and innocent and to continue to be the unique one amongst the Greaser and always stay true to himself. Also, after saving the kids at the church, Johnny realizes the uselessness of fighting and he knows Ponyboy is way better than any average hoodlum so he urges him to keep and hold on to the golden qualities that set him apart from

    Read More

More about The Outsiders

Open Document