The Outsiders Essay, Research Paper

The main character, Ponyboy he is a greaser, part of the lowest-class kids who wear their hair long and greasy, wear blue jeans and ripped-up T-shirts. There is another group of kids called the ?Socs?. They were the preppy kids, the rich ones, the goody-two-shoes.The ?Greasers? and the ?Socs? do not get along and have their daily brawls in the street. One day, as Ponyboy is walking home from a movie, he is jumped and beaten by a gang of Socs. At the last minute, his gang of greasers–including his brothers Darry and Sodapop, who raise Ponyboy. The next night, Ponyboy and Johnny go to a movie with Dally; they sit behind a pair of attractive Soc girls, whom Dally hits in his rude self. After Johnny tells him to stop, Johnny and Ponyboy sit with the girls, Cherry and Marcia. Ponyboy and Cherry start to talk and realize they aren?t that different. On the way, however, they run into Bob and Randy, the girls’ drunken boyfriends, and the girls agree to leave with them in order to stop a fight between the Socs and the greasers. Ponyboy then gets home late because of what happened at the drive-in. Dally is mad and starts yelling. Sick of constantly being watched and criticized by his brother, Ponyboy yells at him. The two brothers fight and Darry slaps Ponyboy across the face.

Determined to run away, Ponyboy flees out the door, finds Johnny, and heads for the park. At the park the two young greasers again come acroos Bob and Randy, with a large group of their Soc friends. One of the Socs holds Ponyboy’s head under the water fountain that is in the center of the park. Ponyboy blacks out. When he comes to, he is lying on the ground next to Johnny. Bob is laying there next to him. To save Ponyboy, Johnny killed Bob.

Desperate and terrified, they greasers hurry to find Dally Winston, the one person they think might be able to help them. Dally sends them with a gun and some money to an abandoned church near Windrixville, where they hide out for a week. The boys decide to cut their hair to disguise them self. To make the time go by they read Gone with the Wind aloud. About a week later, Dally comes to check on them, and says that since Bob’s death, things between the greasers and the Socs are at their worst. He tells them there is going to be a giant fight between the two groups. He says that Cherry, who feels responsible for the whole situation is becoming a spy for the greasers. Johnny wants to go back and turn himself in. Dally drives them back, but as they leave, they notice that the church has caught fire. They hear screams and realize a group of school kids are in the church. Ponyboy and Johnny rush into the fire to save the children; just as they get the last child through the window, the roof caves in, and Ponyboy again blacks out.

They bring him in to an ambulance. At the hospital, he is told to have only minor burns and bruises; Dally is also not badly hurt, but Johnny’s back was broken when the roof fell, and he is now in critical condition. Darry and Sodapop come to get Ponyboy, and when he sees Darry’s tears, Ponyboy starts to realizes that his brother loves him. The following morning, all the papers say that Ponyboy and Johnny are heroes. But the bad news was that because of the incident, Ponyboy will have to attend a hearing where a judge will decide whether to let him stay with Darry or send him to a boys’ home.

At the hospital, Johnny seems weak, and asks for a new copy of Gone with the Wind. On the way home, Two-Bit and Ponyboy see Cherry. She refuses to visit Johnny because he killed Bob, and Ponyboy calls her a traitor. He tells her to remember one thing that the sunset, which they both love to watch, is as beautiful on the East Side, home of the greasers, as it is on the West Side, home of the Socs.

At the rumble, the greasers defeat the Socs; Dally shows up just in time for the fight, having used Two-Bit’s switchblade to spring himself out of the hospital. Ponyboy and Dally hurry back to see Johnny; they find that he is dying. As he dies, Dally loses control of himself. Feeling hurt he goes back to the house and tells the others of Johnny’s death. The phone rings and Dally is so upset about Johnny that he calls to say that he has robbed a grocery story and is now being hunted by the cops. The greasers hurry to find him, but they come to late. Dally is gunned down just as they arrive. Not able to take it Ponyboy passes out.

When he wakes up, he is in bed at home. He lies in bed for sereval days on end. As soon as he gets well, he attends the hearing, where he is found not guilty from any involvement in Bob’s death and allowed to remain at home with Darry. For a time, Ponyboy is sluggish and empty inside. His grades slip, and he goes back to being ?tough to deal with? with Darry. Sodapop not able to stand it blows up at them, pleading with them not to fight, saying that he feels as though he is being torn in half. Realizing for the first time the true family, Ponyboy agrees not to fight with Darry anymore. For the first time, he is able to remember Dally and Johnny’s deaths without pain. He decides that his story is worth telling people so he writes about it in English class and the book is his report.