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The Outsiders Book Report

Decent Essays

The Outsiders The Outsiders is a fictional story explaining the way life was in the 60s. Published in 1967, the story tells about Ponyboy Curtis and how life was being a Greaser. Fourteen-year-old Ponyboy’s parents had recently passed away and now his older brothers, Darry and Sodapop, are his guardians. Him and his oldest brother, Darry, have never understood each other and after his parents death, Darry changes for the worse. When he’s not at school he’s with his gang, a group of 7 boys who have sticked together and are basically brothers. The Greasers are hoods, stealing and always getting in trouble by the cops. The Socs, Socials, are the rich kids, ganging up on the Greasers. No one suspects the Socs, however, they could never do wrong, …show more content…

As an introduction, it goes “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” (Hinton 1). It goes on to explain how Ponyboy was walking home when he gets jumped by several Socs, his gang finds him and defends him. Although Pony was the one to get jumped, his brother Darry always manages to put the blame on him. After a fight results in Darry hitting Pony, he decides to run away. Upset and desolate he runs with Johnny, several blocks away, to a park where, yet again, the Socs find them. After the Socs nearly drown Ponyboy, Johnny panics and stabs one of the older boys, resulting in his cold, lifeless body dropping to the ground. They both panic, not knowing what to do. After all, they just killed …show more content…

Since the book is told in the point of view of Ponyboy and the movie is from a third person point of view, the movie doesn’t go as in depth on Darry and Pony’s relationship or Johnny's encounter with the Socs. In the book, Pony thinks Darry hates him, he’s always on top of him and yelling. As the book progresses, he slowly starts to realize that Darry doesn’t hate him, he just wants what’s best for him and wants him to do good. The book also goes in depth to explain Johnny and the Socs. Johnny is terrified of the Socs, they left him for dead. Whenever they encounter the Socs, he freezes of fear, traumatized from the memory of his beating. This becomes a big part in the scene where Johnny kills the Bob, it shows he was willing to risk his life and cast aside his fear to save a friend. The book also explains more about Sodapop, Pony’s older brother. Soda is this perfect person, a role model, he’s everything you’d want in a guy. “He can get drunk in a drag race or dancing without ever getting near alcohol. In our neighborhood it’s rare to find a kid who doesn’t drink once in a while” (Hinton 8). The book also talks about his girlfriend. She becomes pregnant and he wants to do the proper thing and marry her. He later discovers the baby she’s pregnant with, isn’t his. While she plays a moderate role in the book, they never even mention her in the movie. These little changes

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