2.   “Things are rough all over.” - Meaning: When Cherry and Ponyboy first meet, she naively observes that life is hard for everyone in an attempt to find common ground between herself, a Soc, and Ponyboy, a greaser.

3.   “Ponyboy… I mean… if I see you in the hall at school or something and don’t say hi, well it’s not personal or anything, but…” - Meaning: Cherry explains to Ponyboy the terms of their friendship. Although she makes attempts to bond with Ponyboy, she can’t or won’t entirely embrace him into her life.

4.  “I could fall in love with Dallas Winston,” she said. “I hope I never see him again or I will.” - Meaning: Cherry’s self-awareness shows her character’s complexity. Even though she regards drinking alcohol is disgusting, and obeys the rules of being a Soc, she finds herself drawn to crude, violent guys like Dallas Winston.

5. “I could just tell. I bet you watch sunsets, too.” She was quiet for a minute while I nodded. “I used to watch them, too, before I got so busy…” - Meaning: Cherry picks up on Ponyboy’s thoughtful nature. She correctly deduces he reads books, and she guesses he also watches sunsets, meaning he sees beyond the stress of daily life.

-William Jack

- independent 

- bitter

- reckless

Quotes:

1. “Get tough like me and you dont get hurt. Look out for yourself and nothin’ can touch you.”

- In this quote Dally was saying that he makes himself seem so tough and doesn’t let anyone in to avoid getting hurt.

2. “You know a rumble ain’t a rumble without me.”

- In this quote Dally means that without him the gang is incomplete and he cant not be at a rumble.

3. “You just didn’t tell Dally Winston what to do.”

- This was said by Ponyboy. This quote shows that Dally is someone who is not often disrespected and people did what he told them to do.

4. “I had a sick feeling that Dally was up to his usual tricks, and I was right.”

5. “Money. Maybe a gun? A plan. Where in the world would we get theses things. 

Dally.”

- this quote shows that when people are desperate for random things like guns and money Dally would be the one that they went to because he was the irresponsible one.”

- Grace

Quotes:
1) “Speakin’ of movies” — Dally yawned, flipping away his cigarrete butt — “I’m walkin’ over to the Nughty Doubke tomorrow night. Anybody want to come and hunt some action?”

Dallas is almost like a kind of bully; he goes off to places in search of trouble or fights so that he can ‘blow off steam’, as Ponyboy says. He probably does this because he has problems of his own, especially with his parents as they don’t care about him or what he does, so to take his mind off it he creates more trouble. So, in this quote, we see how he gets other people on board with his plan to find action and maybe get into a fight.

2)“You’d better leave us alone,” the redhead said in a biting voice, “or I’ll call the cops.” “Oh, my, my” —Dally looked bored— “you’ve got to see my record sometime, baby.” 

Dallas Winston is quite well known in the gang for his crimes and reckless behaviour, as he is always showing it off to his friends with a sense of pride when he says “you’ve got to see my record sometime,”. In this scene after Cherry (redhead) threatened to call the cops on him, it states that ‘Dally looked bored’. This gives us a clear image of Dally, who doesn’t even flinch at the thought of the police, and that he is not scared of them because of the amount times he has broken the law and been put in jail. 

3)‘Money. Maybe a gun? A plan. Where in the world would we get these things? “Dally,” Johnny said with finality. “Dally’ll get us outa here.” […] Dallas Winston could do anything.’

In this quote from the book, Johnny and Ponyboy are trying to think of a plan to escape after Johnny killed the Soc, Bob. They start listing items, ‘Money. Maybe a gun?’ and Ponyboy wonders, ‘Where in the world would we get these things?’. Pretty much instantly, Johnny suggests Dally. This shows us how everyone in the gang thinks of Dally when they need dangerous items or advice on what to do if you get caught in a ‘murder rap’, as Dally calls it.

4)"you get tough like me and you don’t get hurt. Look out for yourself and nothin’ can touch you. . ."

In this scene, Dallas is giving Ponyboy his personal advice after the rumble with the Socs. This piece of information shows us Dallas’ mindset on the world, and why he is the way he is. He says that “you get tough like me and you din’t get hurt.” This shows us that even though Dallas is hard and cold on the outside, he is shutting himself off from the world so not to feel any emotion, which he thinks would stop him from getting hurt, but in reality it is hurting him even more inside. Dallas also says that if you “Look out for yourself […] nothing can touch you.” This sentence shows us that if you are always making sure to keep yourself safe from others, no one can hurt you or get inside your head.

5)’You just didn’t tell Dally Winston what to do. One time, in a dime store, a guy told him to move over at the candy counter. Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose.’

In this quote, Ponyboy is telling the readers how Dallas is very tenacious and stubborn when is comes to people telling him what to do. Dally always makes sure to assert himself as dominant to everyone he meets, scaring people out of even thinking about telling him to do something or not to do something. We can also see this clearly in all of his law breaking, as Ponyboy says that ‘Dally hated to do things the legal way. He liked to show that he didn’t care wether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws.’

Quote: “He’s got eyes exactly like frozen ice.”

Meaning: Ponyboy is showing us how mean Darry is just from his appearance.

-Tough

Quote: “He’s hard as a rock and about as human.”

Meaning: Ponyboy shows how Darry is tough. The meaning of ‘Hard as a rock’ is to mean how tough he is and how he can take a lot.

-Smart

Quote: “He doesn’t understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But uses his head.”

Meaning: Darry is smart and has intelligence but doesn’t want to except the truth.

-Athletic 

Quote: “Darry is six-feet two, and broad-shouldered and muscular.

Meaning: The meaning of this quote shows how big, strong and athletic Darry is.

-Hard working

Quote: “Darry, works too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture.”

Meaning: Darry is shown as hard working in this quote as Pony boy tells us he works too long and hard to even try creative fun things.

- Kate

Descriptive words:

1.Understating  

2.Handsome 

3. Unmotivated about school

4. Reckless

5. Loving 

Quotes:

Understating:

“Nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do. For a while there, I thought I was the only person in the world that did. So I loned it. Soda tries to understand”

This quote shows us that Soda is understanding because ponyboy says he tries to understand implying he is understanding.

Handsome:

“Soda is handsomer than anyone else I know”, Soda’s movie-star kind of handsome”

This small quote shows us that soda is simply Handsome because ponyboy has clearly said that he is “movie star handsome”

Unmotivated about school: 

“It's fair to say that Sodapop Curtis is not really cut out for school”, “Sodapop Curtis dropped out of high school at sixteen”

When it says Sodapop is not cut out for school, or has dropped out it obviously shows us how he is unmotivated about school as he has avoided it.

Reckless:

“Soda's movie-star kind of handsome, the kind that people stop on the street to watch go by. He's not as tall as Darry, and he's a little slimmer, but he has a finely drawn, sensitive face that somehow manages to be reckless”

Loving: 

“I love Soda more than I've ever loved anyone, even Mom and Dad. He's always happy-go-lucky and grinning”.

The fact that ponyboy says he loves soda, more than anyone else just shows that he is loving because he has people that love him

2.    Hardened

3.    Cool

4.    Smart

5.    Devoted

Darry has been described many times by Ponyboy as only having one emotion which is being tough but in actuality he has much more depth than Ponyboy believes. 

 

 

Just like Sodapop mentioned to Ponyboy Darry has been through way more than a guy his age should’ve been through, he has been hardened by the world and it’s been getting worse ever since his parents died.

 

“Listen, kiddo, when Darry hollers at you… he don’t mean nothin’. He’s just got more worries than somebody his age ought to.”

 

During the story Ponyboy calls Darry cool and smart many times and it’s implied multiple times that he is both to his brothers, the gang and everyone else around him.

 

“He looks older than twenty – tough, cool and smart”

 

Despite Ponyboy’s opinion Darry is a very caring brother who is extremely devoted to his family, always trying to fill in the father figure role that his parents left behind when they died, shown on page 8 when Darry asked if the socs hurt him.

 

“They didn’t hurt you too bad, did they”

 
-Jack Alford

5.   Caring

“You’re living in a vacuum, Pony, and you’re going to have to cut it out. Johnny and Dallas were our buddies, too, but you don’t just stop living because you lose someone.”

This quote shows us how strong Darry is that even though two of his best friends die his ethic keeps him persisting on and encouraging His brother to do the same. In times of despair like this is why the gang refers to him as superman because he stays strong no matter what

“ Darry was too smart to be a greaser” is what Ponyboy says. Because of his intelligence and the fact that he was athletic he could’ve easily gotten a scholarship and become a soc. the only thing that holds him down was his care for his two brothers and not wanting to send them away

“But then, Darry’s gone through a lot in his twenty years, grown up too fast.” This quote shows as that Darry has hard to turn hard and serious in order to provide and care for his brothers

“Darry’s hard and firm and rarely grins at all.” Ponyboy is comparing his two brothers and describing how serious and responsible Darry is.

Handsome

Loyal

Compassionate 

Understanding 

Quotes:

“Listen kiddo, when Darry hollers at you he don’t mean nothin’. He’s just got more worries than somebody his age ought to. Don’t take him serious you dig, Pony?

Sodapop explains to pony boy why darry is so hard in them both. Sodapop is easygoing, wise, compassionate and often is the mediator between pony boy and darry.

“Nobody in our gang digs and books the way I do, for a while I thought I was the only person that did it” 

Sodapop is understanding because he is trying to make ponyboy feel less alone and different.

“Sodapop is handsomer that anyone I know….sofa is movie star kind of handsome”

This quote proves that sodapop is handsome because pony boy says so

“I think I’m going to marry sandy, after she gets out of school and when I get a job”

This quote proves that sodapop is very dedicated and loyal to not only sandy but all his loved ones

“This might cool you off.” She gave him an incredulous look, and then she threw her Coke in his face. “That might cool you off, greaser. After you wash your mouth and learn to talk and act decent, i might cool off, too.” This shows that Cherry is assertive and will stand up to anyone if she thinks they are not acting right. 

“That’s funny,” Marcia said, “I thought your were both…” “sixteen”, Cherry finished for her. This quote shows that Cherry is kind and considerate as she knew Johnny was older than he he and didn’t want to upset him. 

“Things are rough all over.” This shows that Cherry understands that greasers have been through a lot but so have the Socs and they are both equally as bad. 

“It’s not my idea of a good time to sit in a drive in and watch people get drunk” this quote shows that Cherry isn’t like the others Socs who just want to get drunk, but she also doesn’t do things just to be liked. 

1. Small

2. Weak 

3. Paranoid

4/5. Afraid but yet, caring

“There was a whole bunch of them” … “A blue mustang full of them, I got so scared…” This tells us that Johnny is afraid and especially afraid of socs that want to hurt him. He is also very week and has poor self esteem to the point that he has no chance to defeat himself because he thinks he is small and weak

Johnny never walked by himself after that. And Johnny...now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He'd use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. This shows that Johnny is now paranoid that he will get jumped and that he has to be prepared. 

“Johnny was scared of his own shadow” After he was jumped by the Socs when he was sixteeen he has been paranoid ever since. This implies that he is a weak and small person. 

“You take up for your buddies no matter what they do. When you’re in a gang, you stick up for the members.” This shows that Johnny cares about his friends and gang members and that he will do anything even take a bullet for them.

“Well I won’t. But I gotta do something. It seems like there’s gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain, ordinary people.” This quote tells us that Johnny wants a world without violence, where everyone can get along peacefully, no greasers or socs. This reveals that Johnny is afraid of being jumped by the socs all the time but still cares that they won’t get hurt anymore