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Literary Devices
Character Identification
Memorable Passages
More Literary Devices
Dialect
100
"Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body."
foreshadowing
100
Cherry's best friend
Marcia
100
"He was especially stuck on Southern gentlemen--impressed with their manners and charm...'They remind me of Dally.'"
Ponyboy and Johnny are hiding out in an abandoned church because Johnny killed Bob. To pass the time, Ponyboy is reading Gone with the Wind to Johnny. Johnny is impressed with the gallantry of the Southern men in this piece of historical fiction and compares them to Dally. Johnny's view of Dally as gallant surprises Ponyboy because he isn't exactly a gentleman when it comes to his treatment of girls. Johnny goes on to explain that when Dally took the blame with police for something that Two-Bit had done, this was gallant.
100
"I was sweating something fierce, although I was cold."
paradox
100
What is a "heater"?
a gun
200
"...but what can I do? I'm marked a chicken if I punk out at the rumble, and I'd hate myself if I didn't."
internal conflict
200
Jokester of the Greaser gang
Two-Bit Matthews
200
"I had taken the long way around, but I was finally home. To stay."
Ponyboy makes this realization when he first sees Darry in his hospital room doorway. Darry is crying, and Ponyboy realizes that Darry had always loved him. He understands that Darry's actions towards him came from a place of love. He had misunderstood Darry's motivation for yelling at him and even for hitting him. Ponyboy had indeed taken a round about way to find that home is where Darry and Soda Pop are. This is a resolution to Ponyboy's internal conflict.
200
"Dally handed me a shirt about sixty-million sizes too big."
hyperbole
200
What does "dig" mean?
to understand
300
"Socs were just guys after all. Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell that the other guy was human too. Despite our differences, we are all human."
theme
300
The Greaser gang's pet; beaten by his father; kills Bob
Johnny
300
"And you can't win against them no matter how hard you try because they've got all the breaks and even whipping them isn't going to change that fact."
Ponyboy makes this obesrvation early on in the novel. His analysis reveals the futility of going up against the Socs who are of a higher social class. In the end, no matter how many times they beat them in a rumble, they will still end up on top because they have all the breaks in this world--money and social class.
300
"Taking into consideration the circumstances"--brother, was that ever a way to tell me he knew I was goofing up because I'd been in a lot of trouble."
euphemism
300
What does "fuzz" mean?
police
400
"...a reckless, hot-tempered boy, cocky and scared stiff at the same time."
paradox
400
Leader of a rival gang that assists the Greasers in defeating the Socs in a rumble
Tim Shepard
400
"It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one..."
Ponyboy and Cherry have struck up a conversation at the movie theater when Cherry observes that he probably is the kind of guy who appreciates sunsets. It hits Ponyboy that, despite their differences, they do have things in common. The fact that they look at the same sunset illustrates their human connection--the connection of all humans.
400
"He was jerked half around by the impact of the bullets, then slowly crumpled with a look of grim truimph on his face."
oxymoron (half around)
400
What does "cooler" mean?
jail
500
"It was almost four months ago. I had walked down to the DX station to get a bottle of pop..."
flashback
500
Died in a car accident leaving behind three boys
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis (parents of Ponyboy, Soda Pop, and Darry)
500
"Golly, you two, it's bad enough having to listen to it, but when you start trying to get me to take sides...We're all we've got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything."
Towards the end of the novel, after all they've been through, Darry and Ponyboy revert back to their squabbling. Soda Pop is visibly shaken by their inability to get along and has a breaking point. It is evident that he feels like he is in the middle of a tug-o-war between his eldest and youngest brothers. He calls them out on their behaviors, and they resolve to stop the fighting. On a smaller, more individulized scale, Darry and Ponyboy's fighting represents the fighting that takes place between the Greasers and the Socs. If individuals would resolve to end their personal differences and, instead, focus on what unites them (i.e. in the brothers' case, the fact that they have lost their parents), then we could solve problems between groups on a larger scale.
500
"With puppy dog looks and needy personlity, Johnny is the gang's pet."
extended metaphor
500
What does "rumble" mean?
fight