Mrs. Fongemie

Period 7

January 7, 2019

“The Outsiders” is a very moving and inspirational book written by S.E. Hinton. Hinton did a wonderful job displaying the conflict between two social groups she had gone to school with, the greasers and Socs. The book is based on the struggles Ponyboy Curtis, his friends and family had to endure during a very local dispute between the two social groups.

The two rival groups had never seen eye to eye before. Due to the Socs arrogance and ego, they often looked down on the greaser’s and thought of them as low life, hoods who are destined for failure. Due to the greaser’s hatred and jealousy towards the Socs, they often viewed the Socs as stuck up, snobs who live off of their parent’s money and have no conflict or obstacles in their life.

One way or another, at least one Soc and greaser realized their assumptions were wrong. “The Outsiders” is a good representation of overcoming stereotypes and social barriers and knowing people for who they truly are; not by how much money they have.

The story is told from the point of view of a fourteen-year-old greaser, Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy is the youngest of three boys and lives solely with his two older brothers: Darry and Sodapop. The whole story begins when Ponyboy is walking home alone from the movie theater. During Ponyboy’s walk home, he is abruptly stopped and attacked by a group of Socs.

Luckily, Ponyboy is quickly saved by his group of friends, who are also greasers. We later learn in the story how close the boys really are. To most, they are the only family they have. To others, they are the only people they truly care about.

Ponyboy was especially close with their friend, Johnny, and his brother, Sodapop. Throughout the book, Ponyboy’s thoughts continuously go back to the two. Ponyboy and Johnny embark on a long, spontaneous journey together, which ultimately makes them closer. They face many hardships and challenges together and both equally grow to better people. Though some of the decisions they made were dire and treacherous, they both grew as people and learned some valuable life lessons that they may not have known before.

In the book, Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally, one of their friends, go to the movies. At the movies, they begin to converse with two female Socs, Cherry and Marcia. While Ponyboy and Cherry are talking, Ponyboy begins to realize Socs and greasers aren’t too different. The two had begun to talk about their love for watching sunsets and Ponyboy had trouble picturing a Soc enjoying simple things, like a sunset. Page 40 and 41 of “The Outsiders” states, “It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.”

Ponyboy’s encounter with Cherry was one of many instances where his eyes were open to the possibility that wealth didn’t mean emotionless. He lived most of his life believing no one knew the true struggles him and his friend group had to endure.

On the night Ponyboy went to the movies with his friends, him and Johnny were attacked by a group of Socs. The Socs were drunk, angry and wanted unspoken revenge. They followed Ponyboy and Johnny to an empty park and attempted to drown Ponyboy. In the heat of the moment, Johnny was almost blinded from fear. Abruptly, he pulled out his pocket knife and stabbed one of the Socs to death. At the sight of blood, all the Socs ran and Ponyboy was relieved from being held under water. In shock, Ponyboy and Johnny found Dally seeking help.

Dally is the “toughest” person in their friend group. He had been to prison and in trouble with the law more times than anyone could count. The two boys felt like he was their only hope at running away. Per Dally’s advice, they hopped on a train and spent a week alone in the country. Luckily, there was an old abandoned Church that they customized into their home. 

Over the week, Johnny and Ponyboy were faced with many difficult decisions that involved the lives of themselves and others. Breaking stereotypes and assumptions, Ponyboy and Johnny risked their lives to save children they’ve never met before. This was a shock to most, due to their dirty appearance and low social class. 

The two boys proved to themselves and others that a hood, delinquent, criminal or thug could do good in this world. They helped open the eyes of many to the realization that where you live and who you hang out with, doesn’t determine who you are as a person.

Period 7 

 

“The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton was excellently written to show conflict between two social groups. Ponyboy Curtis belongs to a lower-class group of Oklahoma youths who call themselves greasers. Walking home from a movie, Ponyboy is attacked by a group of Socs, the greasers’ rivals, who are upper-class youths from the West Side of town. The Socs, short for Socials, gang up on Ponyboy. A group of greasers come to save Ponyboy. 

The next night, Ponyboy and Johnny go to a movie with Dally. They sit behind a pair of attractive Soc girls. Johnny and Ponyboy sit with the girls, who are named Cherry and Marcia, and Ponyboy and Cherry discover that they have a lot in common. Ponyboy is late getting home, and his brother Darry is furious with him. Sick of Darry’s constant scrutiny and criticism, Ponyboy yells at Darry. The brothers begin to fight, and Darry slaps Ponyboy across the face. Ponyboy runs away to find Johnny, and the two boys heads for the park. There they encounter Bob and Randy with a group of Soc boys. The Socs attack Johnny and Ponyboy, and one of them holds Ponyboy’s head under the water of a fountain until Ponyboy blacks out. Ponyboy regains consciousness to find himself lying on the ground. He then finds out that Johnny killed Bob in self-defense. 

Desperate and terrified, Ponyboy and Johnny flee to an abandoned church near the neighboring town of Windrixville. They hide out in the church for a week, cutting and dying their hair to disguise themselves and  reading Gone with the Wind. Later, the boys  notice that the abandoned church where Ponyboy and Johnny have been staying has caught fire. They discover that a group of schoolchildren has found their way inside. Ponyboy and Johnny rush  to save the children. Just as they get the last child through the window, the roof caves in, and Ponyboy blacks out. 

At the hospital, he is diagnosed with minor burns and bruises. Dally is not badly hurt either, but Johnny’s back was broken by the falling roof, and he is in critical condition. Darry and Sodapop come to get Ponyboy, and Darry and Ponyboy make up. 

Later, at a rumble, the greasers defeat the Socs. After the fight, Ponyboy and Dally hurry back to see Johnny and find that he is dying. When Johnny dies, Dally loses control and runs from the room in a frenzy. Ponyboy returns home to tell the others of Johnny’s death. Dally calls to say that he has robbed a grocery store and the cops are looking for him. The greasers hurry to find him, but they are too late. Dally raises a gun to the police and they gun him down. 

Because of so much loss,  Ponyboy’s grades slip. To make it up, his English teacher tells him to write a theme. Ponyboy then decides to tell his story and begins writing a term paper for his English class, which turns out to be the book instead. 

Per. 7

S. E. Hinton did a wonderful job on the book she wrote, “The Outsiders”. This story is about two different social groups called the “greasers” and the “socs”. Ponyboy is a greaser who have went through many obstacles in the story. He is a 14 year old boy who lives with his two older brothers Darry and Sodapop due to the death of his parents. One of the obstacles he faced was running away with his best friend Johnny. They ran away when Johnny killed a soc named Bob when they attempted to drown ponyboy.  After this happened, Johnny and Ponyboy run to Dally for advice and he tells them to go to Windrixville. While there they hide out in an abandoned church on Jay Mountain. When they finally decide to leave, on their way home they see that the church they were staying in caught on fire. Ponyboy thinks he and Johnny must have started the fire with a cigarette butt so they jumped out of the car and ran to the church. They break through a window and climb through in order to find and rescue any of the children inside the church. The two boys quickly locate the children and begin hustling them out of the church. Just as Johnny gets the last child through the window, the roof caves in and Ponyboy starts to go back in for Johnny, but Dally clubs him across the back and knocks him out. At the hospital Ponyboy is diagnosed with minor burns and bruises, and Dally burned his arm. Johnny ends up breaking his back by the falling roof and gets burned severely. Johnny dies the night of the rumble with the Socs. After Johnny dies, Dally goes crazy and robs a store. Dally wants to die because Johnny, the only person he truly loves, has died. He really has no family who cares for him so once Johnny dies, Dally thinks that he has nothing left to live for. He pulled an unloaded gun in order to force the police to shoot him.