73 pages • 2 hours read
S. E. HintonThe Outsiders
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1967A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
The novel begins with the narrator, 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, lost in his thoughts as he walks home from the movie theater alone. He recognizes that this is a risky decision; as a member of the working-class “greaser” gang, walking alone puts him at risk of getting harassed by the “Socials” (abbreviated as “Socs”), the rival gang that rules the wealthy West side. In 1960s Tulsa, Oklahoma, “the warfare is between social classes” (10), and these groups clash frequently and violently. Ponyboy and his 16-year-old brother Sodapop try to avoid trouble as much as possible because they fear being separated from their older brother Darry, who became their guardian when their parents died in a car crash.
Ponyboy notices a red Corvair following him, and it catches up to him before he can outrun it. The five Socs in the car surround him and threaten to cut off his signature long Greaser hair and begin to beat him up. Terrified for his life, especially knowing how badly they beat up his best friend Johnny Cade, Pony yells out for his brothers. Before the Socs inflict too much damage, the rest of the Greaser gang chases them off. Pony's first mugging leaves him “spooked,” but he tries not to cry in front of Darry, for fear of looking “soft.” Darry ridicules him for walking home alone, but Soda (whom Ponyboy loves “more than [he's] ever loved anyone”), defends Ponyboy.
The gang discusses their plans for tomorrow night: Soda and his best friend Steve Randle are taking their girlfriends to a game, Darry has to work, and Two-Bit, the wise-cracker of the group, is “plannin' on getting boozed up” (14). Pony and Johnny, the quiet “gang's pet,” agree to go to the drive-in with Dally, the toughest and meanest gang member.
That night while reading Charles Dickens's Great Expectations for English class, Pony relates to the protagonist, Pip, because he is also “marked lousy” and looked down upon (15). Though Pony thinks the Greasers “deserve a lot of [their] trouble” (15), he wonders why the Socs “hate [them] so much” (16), and he resents that Soc girls look at greasers “like [they're] dirt” (14).
Before falling asleep next to each other, Soda assures Pony that Darry loves him, despite their frequent disagreements. Pony does not believe him, thinking to himself: “Darry thought I was just another mouth to feed and somebody to holler at” (18). He tries to tell himself that he “[doesn't] care about Darry,” but knows that this is a lie (18).
Chapter 2 Summary
The following evening, Johnny and Pony meet Dally, and they go to The Dingo, a “rough” drive-in, chatting with their neighborhood friends until a fight breaks out. When it is dark enough, they sneak into a different drive-in, the Nightly Double, where Dally sits behind two “tuff-looking” Soc girls and begins to harass them. Pony is embarrassed and does not engage, while Johnny leaves to get a soda. The redhead, whom Pony recognizes as a cheerleader from school, threatens to call the police on Dally. Unbothered, he leaves to buy the girls sodas. With Dally gone, the girls begin talking to Pony, and ask him why “a nice, smart kid like [him is] running around with trash like that” (23). Pony tells Cherry and Marcia that he is “a grease” too, and they chat about rodeos.
When Johnny and Dally return with their drinks, Cherry throws the Coke in Dally's face, spurning his advances. He nevertheless tries to put his arm around her, but Johnny stands up to Dally and stops him. Dally is taken aback by Johnny's uncharacteristic boldness and slinks off. The girls thank him and invite Johnny and Pony to sit with them for “protection.” The girls had come with their boyfriends, but the boys drove off after Cherry and Marcia had gotten mad at them for bringing alcohol. While watching the movie, Two-Bit sneaks up on the group and pretends to be a “snarling Soc” to scare the boys, genuinely terrifying Johnny.
Two-Bit banters with the girls but had originally come to warn Dally that Tim Shepard's gang is looking for him; someone spotted Dally slashing the tires of one of their cars. The casual talk of fighting and weapons startles the girls, but Two-Bit explains that “skin fighting isn't rough” (29), and that Dally deserves a fight for getting caught. Cherry invites Pony to get some popcorn with her, and Pony is aware of how many people are staring at them standing together.
Cherry infers that Johnny had been hurt badly before, and Pony feels comfortable enough to tell her what happened. Four months ago, Pony stopped by the gas station where Soda and Steve work to help them fix some cars. While heading home, they spotted Johnny nearly unconscious in their neighborhood field. His face was cut and bruised badly, and his shirt was covered in blood. This brutal attack by the Socs (especially the one wearing the rings that cut up Johnny's face) deeply traumatized Johnny and he became “jumpier than ever.” Ponyboy is certain that “[Johnny] would kill the next person who jumped him…” (33)
The story startles Cherry, and she tries to reassure Pony that not all Socs are that bad: “We have troubles you’ve never even heard of […] Things are rough all over.'” (34) They return to their group and silently enjoy the movie. Ponyboy thinks to himself: “I really couldn't see what Socs would have to sweat about—good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs—Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I'd consider myself lucky. I know better now” (35-6).
Chapter 3 Summary
After the movie, Two-Bit convinces the girls to let him drive them home. By talking with Cherry and Marcia during the walk to Two-Bit's car, Pony realizes that there is “a basic sameness” between greasers and Socs. Cherry clarifies that it is not just money that separates the groups, but that “greasers have a different set of values” (37). Pony concludes that: “'It's not money, it's feeling—you don't feel anything and we feel too violently'” (38). He feels comfortable sharing intimate details of his life with Cherry, and he even tells her the story of Soda's beloved horse Mickey Mouse, which he had never shared with anyone before. Cherry observes how introspective and sensitive Pony is and assumes that he reads a lot and enjoys watching sunsets. Pony imagines Cherry watching sunsets on the west side of town and thinks to himself: “Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset” (40).
A blue Mustang full of Socs (including the girls' boyfriends) drives by, which makes the group (especially Johnny) nervous. The Socs initially do not notice them and drive past, much to the group's relief. Cherry encourages Pony to tell her about Darry, and he cannot help but share what he really thinks—that Darry wishes he could send Ponyboy away because Darry's “hard as a rock and about as human” (41). Two-Bit and Johnny are shocked to hear Pony say this, which makes Pony feel defensive and embarrassed. Thinking about all the sacrifices he and his friends have had to make, Pony cries: “It ain't fair that we have all the rough breaks!” but Two-Bit reminds him that “that's the way things are” (43).
The Mustang returns, and the boyfriends, Bob and Randy, approach the group. Johnny is terrified, especially when he notices that Bob, Cherry's boyfriend, is the same Soc who beat him with his rings. Bob and Randy try to make up with the girls and threaten Two-Bit, Johnny, and Pony. Two-Bit hands Pony a broken bottle, and he takes out his own switchblade, prompting Cherry to end the argument and agree to ride home with the Socs. Cherry pulls Pony aside and preemptively apologizes for any time she might ignore him in public, explaining: “We couldn't let our parents see us with you all” (45). This deeply hurts Pony, but he does not let on and reminds her: “Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too” (45). Cherry suddenly admits that she could fall in love with Dally, which shocks Ponyboy, before leaving with the boys.
When the Mustang leaves, Two-Bit decides to go play cards, and Johnny and Pony go to the vacant lot to stargaze. They commiserate about wanting to leave town and finding a place “without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain ordinary people” (47). Pony falls asleep dreaming about a life in the country, thinking about how happy everyone could be. When Johnny wakes him up, Pony rushes home, knowing he could be in trouble for being late. Darry is livid, and despite Pony's attempts at explaining what happened, Darry slaps him in frustration. Darry is instantly regretful and tries to apologize, but Pony runs back to the lot to tell Johnny they are running away from home. They run for a few blocks before Pony breaks down and Johnny consoles him. Pony explains what happened, and Johnny's own history of abuse puts things in perspective for Pony. He decides against running away, thinking a walk in the park will cool him off before returning home.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Right away, Ponyboy establishes the bitter rivalry between the Socs and greasers. Despite being a greaser himself, he does not think one group is inherently superior, but he accepts this as the status quo, explaining “that’s just the way things are” (2). He also knows that the fighting between groups achieves nothing: the greasers “can't win against [the Socs] no matter how hard [they] try, because they've got all the breaks and even whipping them isn't going to change that fact” (11). Regardless of how many fights they win, the greasers will always remain the losers because of their lower social status. This renders their fights completely futile, and the senselessness of the violence appears within the opening scenes: the Socs attack Ponyboy for no reason and are so vicious that he genuinely fears for his life. The Socs' brutality is further illustrated in Ponyboy's account of Johnny's attack, and the lasting effects of his traumatic experience (“he would kill the next person who jumped him…” (33)) foreshadow the boys' future altercation with the Socs.
One of Ponyboy's key characteristics is how observant and reflective he is, which marks him different from the other greasers. He characterizes each gang member in-depth and has a keen sense of everyone's relationship to one another. The greasers are “almost as close as brothers” (3), and for members like Dally and Johnny, they are their adoptive family. The boys' loyalty to one another is unwavering, which emerges as a theme throughout the novel. Within his own family, Ponyboy emphasizes how different his relationships with his real brothers are. While he idolizes Sodapop and loves him unconditionally, his relationship with Darry is distant and strained. Even though he recognizes how much Darry has sacrificed for his brothers to provide for them and keep their family together, Ponyboy refuses to empathize with Darry's experience. Even when Sodapop assures Ponyboy that Darry is strict and protective of him out of love, Ponyboy remains resolute in his resentment towards Darry. As the first-person narrator, Ponyboy's emotions are candid and authentic, but his indignance emphasizes just how young he still is and that the ability to see the bigger picture comes with maturity and growth.
Ponyboy does have the capability to see another's perspective, as evidenced by his conversations with Cherry at the drive-in (another place typically segregated between Socs and greasers). It takes some convincing, but Ponyboy finally acknowledges that not all Socs are the same, just like not all greasers are the same. The members of each group conform to the general group identity out of a sense of loyalty and a desire to belong, but each boy, regardless of their side, has his own identity. The Socs, like the greasers, struggle with their own problems, (like the girls' imperfect relationships and the boys' drinking problems), which Pony had never considered. This moment of genuine emotional connection between Ponyboy and Cherry shows that relationships and understanding can exist across social classes, and their shared love of watching sunsets symbolizes the “sameness” that exists between both groups.
Ponyboy and Johnny both yearn for a world where this sameness is the norm, and where social classes and labels do not exist. Their stargazing and dreaming represent their youthful innocence and hope; neither of them are old nor “hardened” enough yet to repress such wishful thoughts. The boys share an intimate friendship and can share their real interests and emotions with each other; they console each other when they cry, instead of shaming each other for being “soft.” When Ponyboy considers running away from home, Johnny remains supportive, but his own painful family life helps put things into perspective for Pony.
Similar to his daydreams, Ponyboy also resorts to movies and books to escape his reality. Literature is a motif throughout the novel, which Ponyboy uses to better understand himself and his friends. He first likens himself to Pip's character in Dickens' Great Expectations: he relates to the rest of society looking down on him and aspires for a better future—something that drives him through the end of the novel.
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