The Outsiders

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorJunior High, 9th grade June 2001

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The Outsiders By: S. E. Hinton This book starts out when a young man named Pony Boy (yes that's his real name) walks out of a movie theater in New York. You soon find out that Pony Boy, along with his brothers Soda and Darrel (who's called Darry) are orphans. Their parents were killed in a car accident a few years back. You also find out that they are not the richest people in New York, so they are considered "greasers". Greasers are a social class given to hoods. Juvenile Delinquents. The snooty rich boys are known as the socs. They don't really think much of each other, and often get into fights, called rumbles. Pony Boy is the youngest in his family, and his friends and him are in a gang. It consists of Dallas, who looks death in the face and laughs, Tubit, a wisecrack comedian, Darry and Soda, who are his brothers, and Jonny, who is considered the gang's "pet" because he is real small and quiet.

They live not-so-normal lives. Darry is 20 and has a job and couldn't go to college on his football scholarship because he needed to support his family. Soda had dropped out of high school, and Pony is still in the 9th grade. One night, Pony was feeling a little too stressed, because Darry often pressured him to do better at everything, and took a walk. He found Jonny, and they started walking to the park. When they got there, they were standing by a fountain, and a blue mustang pulled up. Four socs, big and mean, got out of the car, with devilish grins on their faces. One grabbed Pony by the hair and started drowning him in the water, and another grabbed Jonny and held him to the ground. After a minute or two under water, Pony began to pass out, and then something happened. In a flash, he was out of the water, the socs running into the car, save one. Jonny stood there, looking white as a ghost, as a switchblade stood in his hand. The body of the soc that had been drowning Pony stood there, lifeless. They were scared, and couldn't think straight. Then Pony remembered that Dallas had been over at his best friend Steve's house. He knew Dallas could help, seeing that he had a record with the "fuz" (the police) a mile long. Dallas knew what to do. He bought them a train ticket to the nearest town, gave them some money, and said he would check on them when everything cooled down. When they went to the next town over, they stayed in an abandoned old church. They went o the grocery store, and stocked up on food. After about a month of being cold and lonely, Dallas came. He had told the others, and they were all worried sick about them. Right when they where about to leave, Jonny smelt smoke. He made sure they had put all their cigarette buds out, didn't he? Then someone screamed. The church was on fire, and 3 kids were trapped inside the inferno. Jonny and Pony immediately dived into the church, coughing and gasping for air. They found the kids in the back corner, all crying. They were all about 5 years old, so they could get them all in one pass. Pony threw the kids out the window and jumped out. Jonny did the same, but as he jumped a board from the ceiling fell right on his back. They rushed him to the hospital in an ambulance. The doctors said they didn't know if he was going to make it or not. For a long time, they waited in the hospital, then the doctor came out. Jonny's back was broken, and if he survived, he would never be able to walk again. When Pony went in to see Jonny, he looked very frail. Then Jonny said, "Stay gold Pony", and died. Dallas couldn't help being hysterical. He ran out of the hospital as the gang was trying to catch him. Pony didn't understand at first what Jonny had meant by "stay gold", but was sure he would find out.