Outsiders Book Report
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BOOK REPORT: “The Outsiders”
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Puffin Books, 1967
The title of this book relates to the story, because in the book, Ponyboy and Johnny are “outsiders.” They can be thought of as Outsiders because they are labeled Greasers although they do not act like hoodlums, like the rest of the Greasers. They are thought of as Greasers just because they live on the East Side of town, and because they slick back their hair. But Ponyboy and Johnny are different then all of the other Greasers because they show their emotions, and are sensitive.
This story is about a group of kids that are called Greasers, because they live on the East side of town, which is the lower income part of the city. They all slick back their hair with grease, and thats where the name Greasers came from. Ponyboy Curtis is the main character in this story, and he has 2 brothers, one named Darry, and the other named Sodapop. One night Johnny and Ponyboy are out at the park, and a group of Socs, the nickname for Rich Kids, came by and started beating them up. One of them stuffed Ponyboys face into the fountain and tried to drown him, so Johnny stabbed him before he killed Ponyboy. The boy that he stabbed died, and so they went to a friend who gave them money and a gun to run away with. They ran away to an abandoned church, and one day Dallas, the friend who gave them the supplies came by and took them out to lunch, and when they returned the church was one fire. Johnny and Pony saved the kids inside, and a piece of wood fell on Johnny and he broke his back. He died in the hospital a few days later, and Dallas couldnt take it so he robbed a grocery store and took out an unloaded gun when the police came, so they shot and killed him. Exposition: The gang is introduced and the rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs is shown. Complication: Johnny kills the Soc that almost drowned Ponyboy, and they must leave town Climax: Pony and Johnny go into the burning church to save the children that are inside; Dallas dies.
Resolution: Everything goes back to normal, and Pony decides to write about his journey for his English essay.
The main character in this story is Ponyboy Curtis. Three physical characteristics he has are: He has light-brown slicked back hair, and green eyes. This is shown when the story mentions “I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes.” His slicked back hair is shown when it says “My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear theirs, squared off in the back and long at the front sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut.” Some personality traits he shows are humor, sensitivity, and intelligence. He shows humor when it says “And if you had the sense of a billy goat youd try to help around your place instead of bumming around.” He shows sensitivity by almost crying when Johnny dies in the hospital. And Pony shows intelligence because it says in the book that he gets good grades in school.
This story takes place on the East side of town, in a place not mentioned in the book. When Johnny and Pony run off to escape the police, it takes place in the country in an abandoned church. It takes place in winter, because when Johnny and Pony are at the park, it says that it was very cold and it said things like Johnny would sleep in the lot when it was summer, so the story must have taken place some time in the winter. The neighborhood that the kids live in is the poorer side of the town, and not a very good neighborhood.
a. The main theme of this story in my opinion is about Stereotyping people based on what they look like. Ponyboy was labeled a “greaser” just because he was poor and he lived on the east side of town. Although he enjoyed being a greaser, Ponyboy was not like the rest of them, because he enjoyed school and did not shoplift. Also, Cherry was labeled as a “soc” because she lived on the West