The Outsiders

Johnny’s last words to Pony are a reference to the Frost poem he heard Pony recite in the church. Do you agree with Johnny’s interpretation of the text? How does this poem help readers understand various characters?

Ponyboy likes watching movies and reading books to escape his reality, but they often mirror it instead. How does the various literature in the novel help him understand parts of his own life?

Ponyboy describes Dally and Darry as the most hardened and emotionally distant members of the gang. What has made them this way? How does Pony's understanding of them change over the course of the novel?

At separate times following Bob's death, Randy and Johnny both conclude that violence is useless. Would Pony have come to the same conclusion without Bob’s murder or the tragic fallout?

In an interview, S. E. Hinton explains that the reason the novel has remained popular is because “Even today, the concept of the in-group and the out-group remains the same [...] The uniforms change, and the names of the groups change, but kids really grasp how similar their situations are to Ponyboy’s” (186). How are the messages and themes of the novel relevant today?

Johnny and Pony agree that they are different from the rest of the gang (77-78). What sets them apart? How do these differences affect their friendship?

Cherry and Pony discuss the differences between greasers and Socs and conclude that what separates them is money, values, and emotion (38). Is it a necessary or inevitable separation? Is there something other than the same sunset that connects them? What are the costs or benefits to conforming to either group?

Compare Johnny and Pony’s family situations. What are their understandings of family? What role does the gang play for each of them?