Outsiders

Preston Crow

Experiences or memories

I thought the saddest scene in the book was when Bob was knifed by Johnny. In this scene, a few Socs jump Johnny and Ponyboy. Two of the Socs hold Ponyboy's head under the water in the fountain until he blacks out. He wakes up later with Bob's corpse sitting right next to him. Johnny tells Ponyboy what happened "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony They might have killed you"(57). They then decide to flee town. This scene shows how much Johnny cares about his friends and gang members because when someone messes with the youngest of the gang, he killed them. The significance of this scene is that the greasers are all close and will do what ever it takes to survive and over come the Socs.

Outsiders

Preston Crow

Setting

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is set in a large, unnamed town in the United States. It is about a gang of teenage boys who are called the Greasers. They live on the east side of the town, also known as the wrong side of town. The story is set in the 1960's and relates the incidents that take place over a few days. After killing Bob, Pony and Johnny take shelter in an abandoned church in Windrixville. After it catches fire and burns down, they return to their hometown, where Johnny dies in a hospital. These place was described as a bad place to be, it was as if everyone was against you just because you lived here on the east side of town. Setting is crucial to this story, for it is through their environment, the inner city, that Ponyboy and the other characters are defined. I would not want to live here because it is where the poor people are from, and these are the people that the rich people jump just for fun.

Outsiders

Preston Crow

Character sketch

My favorite Character in the book was Ponyboy by far. I liked him because he was a really sensitive 14-year-old boy living with his brother, Darry. His parents died in a car accident, so his brother had to drop out of school to support the family. His brother pushed him very hard to be a great student, which he was, but always yelled at him for being hard-headed. He was the only person that was part of the gang that enjoyed reading and going to movies by himself. I liked him because he shows that no matter what kind of a background you come from, you can be a good student, and be down to earth and not hood like all the other members of the gang. Pony boy, comparing himself to others in the gang, "I'm different in that way...nobody in the 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"(7). Ponyboy was an incredible kid, because it seemed like everything was going wrong for him, but he still was able to stay a good person inside.