Battle Lines & Back Streets
This Soc becomes friends with Ponyboy after talking with him at the drive-in.
Who is Cherry Valance?
Why does Johnny feel safer spending time with the Greasers than at home?
What is because his parents abuse and ignore him?
Hinton's decision to use this point of view limits readers from knowledge of how other character's think or feel unless other characters talk about those things.
What is First Person POV?
This natural image symbolizes the shared humanity between Socs and Greasers.
What are sunsets?
Hinton most likely includes Cherry’s statement that “things are rough all over” to challenge this assumption held by the Greasers.
What is that Socs have perfect/easy lives?
This event causes Ponyboy and Johnny to run away.
What is Bob Sheldon’s death?
Johnny’s decision to turn himself in before the church fire reflects his growing desire to achieve this.
What is redemption/do the right thing/take responsibility?
Hinton includes the church fire mainly to highlight this quality in Johnny and Ponyboy.
What is heroism/courage?
Johnny’s advice to “Stay Gold” refers to keeping this quality.
What is innocence/purity?
The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” connects most closely to this major theme in the novel.
What is the loss of innocence?
The Socs attack the Greasers mainly because of this difference between the groups.
What is social class/wealth?
This character changes the most by learning to understand people beyond stereotypes.
Who is Ponyboy Curtis?
S.E. Hinton contrasts Ponyboy watching movies alone with the drive-in scenes shared with others to emphasize the difference between these two emotional experiences.
What are isolation and human connection/community?
"Hi, Randy," I said. "Have a seat if you can find one." The reason Randy has trouble finding a seat in Pony's room is because of this symbol of knowledge and intelligence, strewn about.
What are books? Books were lying all over everything.
In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton uses Ponyboy’s experiences in school to suggest that public education can serve this important role in a teenager’s life.
What is providing opportunity, understanding, and a path to a better future?
Ponyboy realizes the Greasers and Socs share this common human experience by the end of the novel.
What is that everyone struggles with problems/pain regardless of social class?
Although Two-Bit Mathews often provides comic relief in The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton uses his humor primarily to mask this deeper reality about his character.
What is emotional insecurity/pain/fear about the future?
S.E. Hinton includes Dallas Winston’s death primarily to emphasize the devastating effects of this theme throughout The Outsiders.
What is the loss of hope and the destructive cycle of violence?
The burning church symbolizes both danger and this opportunity for the boys.
What is redemption/heroism?
By portraying adults as largely absent or ineffective, Hinton emphasizes teenagers’ need for this.
What is guidance/support/understanding?
Bob Sheldon’s behavior toward the Greasers suggests that wealth and privilege do not necessarily prevent this personal struggle.
What is insecurity/emotional pain/lack of parental attention?
This southern gentleman is willing to marry a girl who is having somebody else's baby.
Who is Sodapop? "When Sandy went to Florida... it wasn't Soda, Ponyboy. He told me he loved her, but i guess she didn't love him like he thought she did, because it wasn't him."
By ending the novel with Ponyboy beginning his English assignment, Hinton emphasizes this idea about storytelling.
What is that sharing experiences can create understanding/change people?
J.C. returns to life at the end of The Outsiders when THIS symbol opens and out from it falls a slip of paper containing J.C.'s voice!
What is Gone with the Wind?
Hinton contrasts Ponyboy’s love of literature with the Greaser stereotype primarily to emphasize this message.
What is that people cannot be defined by stereotypes/social groups?