Book Report by: Ishai Gazit

Book Name: The Outsiders

Author - Hinton, S.E.

Publisher – Viking Press
Published (year & place) USA 1967
Number of pages- 192

Book Genere- Fiction.

Characters-

Ponyboy Michael Curtis A 14-year-old boy who is the narrator and

main character in The Outsiders. His parents have been killed in
an car accident, and he lives with his two brothers.

Soda Patrick Curtis Ponyboy's 16-17 year old brother. He is a high

school dropout and works at the local gas station.

Darrel Shayne Curtis The 20 year old brother and legal guardian of

Ponyboy and Soda. He works too hard and too long.

Dallas Winston A fellow greaser, who is originally from New York

City. He is a bit tougher than the others in Ponyboy's gang, and at
17 he got into jail already.

Johnny Cade The "gang's pet." He is 16 years old, small, and

comes from a abusive home. Dallas is his hero.

Steve Randle Soda's best friend and fellow greaser. He is 17 and

works at the gas station with Soda.

Keith Mathews The oldest of the gang, except for Darrel, and still a
junior in high school at age 18. Comedian of the gang.

Sherri Valance A cheerleader and the girlfriend of Bob, the Soc

who is killed. Cherry and Ponyboy meet at the drive in and become
friends. Cherry is attracted to Dallas, and becomes a spy for the
greasers.

Marcia Cherry's girlfriend at the drive in.

Bob Sheldon The Soc who originally attacked Johnny, and then
attacks both Johnny and Pony in the park. Johnny Cade kills Bob
during an altercation when some Socs try to drown Ponyboy.

Randy Adderson The owner of the blue Mustang that haunts

Johnny. He is Bob's best friend and fellow Soc.

Tim Shepard A fellow greaser, but not a member of the main

characters' gang. His greaser gang is rougher, and the members
are termed "future convicts." He is both Dallas's main friend.

Jerry Wood The overweight man at the church fire. He rides along

with Pony in the ambulance and calls the boys heroes. Pony
confides everything to him, and he still calls them heroes.

Buck Merril Dallas's rodeo partner, a man in his mid 20s.

Book Setting- Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1965, realistic.

Plot summary-
Ponyboy Curtis, a teenaged member of a loose gang of
"greasers", is leaving a movie theater when he is jumped by
"Socs", the greasers' rival gang. Several greasers, including
Ponyboy's two older brothers the paternal Darry and the popular
Sodapop come to his rescue. The next night, Ponyboy and two
greaser friends, the hardened Dally and the quiet Johnny, meet
Cherry and Marcia, a pair of Soc girls, at a drive in movie theater.
Ponyboy ends up speaking civilly with Cherry, emotionally
connecting with a Soc for the first time in his life.
Afterward, Ponyboy, Johnny, and their wisecracking friend Two-Bit
begin to walk Cherry and Marcia home, when they are stopped by
Cherry's boyfriend Bob, who badly beat up Johnny a few months
back. Cherry prevents a fight by willingly leaving with Bob. Pony
runs out the door and meets up with Johnny, expressing his anger
at Darry's increasing coldness in the wake of his parents' recent
deaths in a car crash.
Running away from home, Ponyboy and Johnny wander into a
park, where Bob and four other Socs surround them. Ponyboy
spits at the Socs, prompting them to attempt to drown him in a
nearby fountain, but Johnny stabs Bob, killing him and dispersing
the rest. Terrified as to what to do next, Ponyboy and Johnny rush
to find Dally, who gives them money and a loaded gun, directing
them to hide in an abandoned church.
Days later, Dally comes to check on them, revealing that violence
between the greasers and Socs has escalated since Bob's death
into all out city wide warfare, with Cherry as a spy for the greasers.
Johnny decides to turn himself in and Dally agrees to take the
boys back home. The church has caught fire and several local
schoolchildren have become trapped inside. The greasers run
inside the burning church to save the children, but Ponyboy is
rendered unconscious by the fumes. At the hospital he discovers
that he and Dally are not badly injured, but Johnny broke his back.
The following morning Pony and Johnny are declared heroes, but
Johnny will be charged with manslaughter for Bob's death. Two-Bit
tells them that the greaser Soc rivalry is to be settled in a
final rumble. Ponyboy and Two-Bit are approached by a Soc
named Randy, Bob's best, and says he will not participate.
Ponyboy visits Johnny at the hospital, where he is in critical
condition. On their way home, Pony sees Cherry and they talk.
Cherry says she is don’t want to visit Johnny in the hospital
because he killed her boyfriend. After escaping the hospital, Dally
shows up just in time for the rumble. The greasers win the brutal
fight. Afterward, Pony and Dally hurry back to the hospital to see
Johnny, but he dies moments later. Dally calls the house to say
that he has robbed a store and is running from the police. The
greasers find Dally pointing an unloaded gun at the police, causing
them to shoot and kill him. Overwhelmed, Ponyboy faints and is
sick in bed for many days due to the resulting concussion from the
rumble. When the hearing finally comes, the judge frees Ponyboy
from responsibility for Bob's death and allows Pony to remain at
home with Darry and Soda.
Ponyboy returns to school, but his grades drop. Although he is
failing English, his teacher, Mr. Syme, says he will pass him if he
writes a decent theme. In the copy of Gone with the Wind that
Johnny gave him before dying, Ponyboy finds a letter from Johnny
describing how he will die proudly after saving the kids from the
fire. Johnny also tells Ponyboy to "stay gold". Ponyboy decides to
write his English assignment about the recent events, and begins
his essay with the opening line of the novel: "When I stepped out
into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had
only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.
The main characters-
Pony- Darry characterizes Ponyboy as lacking common sense.
Pony agrees. He readily admits that he is smart at school, but
sometimes he just doesn't think. These occasions get Pony into
trouble that he could avoid. 

Which issues does the book deals with?

Dealing with death of friends and parents at a young age.
Battle between two gangs that could kill almost everyone.

The writing style-

Challenging, I learned some new words in the story.
Pony is telling the story,

My Opinion-
Two things the author did really well- Keeping tension in some
scenes. Killing some characters in emotional ways.
Two things the author could have done better- Shortening some
dialogs. Going into less details some of the scenes.
   

The book's strongest point is the death scenes.

The book's weakest point is the ending.
I would recommend this book for people who like drama.

Quote-
When Ponyboy realizes that Darry cares about him and is only
hard on him because he loves him and cares about him. It
happens after he sees Ponyboy at the hospital and starts crying.