The Outsiders

1
The Outsiders

To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing
its best to make you somebody else, is to fight
the hardest battle you are ever going to fight.
--ee cummings
2
Setting

• Oklahoma
• 1960s
• West Side vs. East Side of Town
• the drive-in theatre
• the lot
• the church at Windrixville
• the Curtis house
• the hospital

3
Characters

• PONYBOY CURTIS
• JOHNNY CADE
• DALLAS DALLY WINSTON

4
Ponyboy Curtis

• narrator
• good student
• fourteen years old
• likes watching sunsets and reading (Gone with the
  Wind, Great Expectations, Nothing Gold Can
  Stay)
• Greaser
• sensitive
• Darry says Pony lacks common sense--doesnt
  always use his head

5
Johnny Cade

• the pet of the gang
• sixteen years old
• physically small
• lives in an abusive household
• has been jumped by the Socs before and now
  carries a blade with him
• Dally is his hero
• stabs and kills Bob

6
Dally Winston

• tough
• lived in New York City
• has been in jail
• helps Pony and Johnny hide out after the murder
  of Bob
• robs liquor store at the end and commits
  suicide at the hands of the police

7
Minor Characters

• Sodapop Curtis
• Darrel Darry Curtis
• Sherry Cherry Valance
• Bob
• Randy

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Sodapop

• older brother
• works at gas station
• handsome
• carefree

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Darrel Darry Curtis

• oldest brother
• athletic
• guardian of Ponyboy when their parents die in a
  car crash
• makes chocolate cake for breakfast
• stern
• could have gone to college but had to take care
  of the kids when his parents died

10
Cherry Valance

• Bobs girlfriend
• cheerleader
• has red hair
• says she could fall in love with Dally
• acts as a spy for the Greasers
• says she will probably not talk to Pony if she
  sees him at school--he says he understands
• likes to look at sunsets too

11
Bob Sheldon

• a Soc
• Cherrys boyfriend
• has beaten up Johnny Cade before the novel starts
• wears rings on his fingers this is how Johnny
  knows Bob is the Soc who beat him up
• is stabbed by Johnny

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Randy

• Bobs best friend
• After Bobs death, he has a change of heart about
  fighting
• visits Pony and tries to make peace with him

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Themes (Be able to explain and support these)

• FAMILY
• FRIENDSHIP
• SOCIAL DIFFERENCES
• VIOLENCE/GANG RIVALRY/SENSELESSNESS OF VIOLENCE
• BEING AN OUTSIDER / TRYING TO FIT IN

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Conflicts

• Man vs. Man (Ponyboy vs. Darry Greasers vs.
  Socs Johnny vs. Bob)
• Man vs. Society (Socs vs. Greasers)
• Man vs. Himself (Dally vs. himself Ponyboy vs.
  himself)
• Man vs. Nature (the boys vs. the fire)

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Ponyboys Literary World

• Great Expecations Pony compares himself to Pip
  from this novel Pip, like Ponyboy, is an orphan
  trying to find his way in the world.

• Gone with the Wind is the book the boys read
  while at the church. Johnny compares Dally to a
  Southern gentleman which is how Johnny views
  Dally, as a hero. At the end, the note from
  Johnny to Pony telling him to stay gold falls
  out of this book.

16
Ponyboys Literary World

• Nothing Gold Can Stay is the poem that Pony and
  Johnny talk about at the church. The poem means
  that nothing good can last forever. Just as the
  golden times in the poem come to an end, so too
  must their time at the church.

• To Johnny, it means to appreciate the things one
  finds amazing when one is young. He wants Pony
  (and, sadly, Dally) to look for sunsets and the
  good things in life.

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The Ending of the Novel

• What makes it unique?
• What does it show us about the way Ponyboy has
  dealt with all the events that have happened to
  him?

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Slang Within the Novel

• cancer stickcigarette
• JDjuvenile delinquent
• boozealcohol or beer
• heaterhand gun
• fuzzpolice
• jumpedto be attacked
• rumblegang fight
• hoodsthugs (not Greasers)
• liftto steal

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Allusions (Be able to define allusion)

• Paul Newman
• Dairy Queen
• Corvette/Corvair
• Hank Williams
• madras plaid
• drive-in theatre
• Gone with the Wind
• Nothing Gold Can Stay