S.E Hinton has several characters in her book ‘The Outsiders’. I will discuss the following characters: Ponyboy, Dally and Darry.
Ponyboy Curtis is a young innocent boy. He is still naïve. This is because Pony boy does not understand why his brother is so hard on him and why Darry has to work so hard.Ponyboy is a dreamer. This illustrated at the beginning of chapter 1 where he wishes he were tough and handsome like Paul Newman. Ponyboy is a shy boy. He likes to keep quiet and he talks to his friends Jonny and Cherry. They usually talk about sunsets and poetry.
Dallas Winston (Dally) is a mean person. He is meaner than the other gang members are. He is a criminal who does not take the law seriously. He thinks that the law is a joke. Dally is usually angry at the world.
Darrel Curtis (Darry) is Ponyboy’s eldest brother. He is tough and wants Ponyboy to be tough too. This is illustrated in chapter one where he yells at pony for not fighting back. Darry works hard. This is because the book says that he overworks himself. Darry is also caring. Being the eldest among his siblings, he protects and takes care of them.
Yesterday a rival gang killed the gang leader of Socs at the Fountain. This was after a fight ensued between the two groups. The rival gang call themselves the ‘Greasers.’ Bob is the deceased gang leader. A gang member from the rival group stabbed the deceased with a knife. Johnny (a member of the Greasers) killed Bob after he threatened to drown Ponyboy (also a member of the Greasers).
Bob was from a wealthy family. Bob wore rings on his fingers. He was the gang leader of the Socs (Socials). Cherry was Bob’s boyfriend. The police have speculated that Cherry could be the cause of the fight. However, the police are still investigating the matter.
Ponyboy and Jonny were walking in the park.This is when a blue Mustang pulled up. The Socs were in the car. They jumped out and went straight for Ponboy and Jonny. The boys tried acting tough. One of the Socs pushed Ponyboy to the fountain. Ponyboy tried fighting back but Bob was too strong for him. Ponyboy was drowning. Jonny had to do something. Jonny pulled out Knife and stabbed Bob. Bob fell down with a thud. He was dead.
When Ponyboy woke up, he found Jonny staring at Knife.The knife had blood. Jonny told Ponyboy that he had killed Bob. They decided to go and look for Dally. He would know what to do. They knew where to find Dally. He was at the Buck Merrill’s place. On their way they got stopped by the police. Jonny still had the Knife. The police arrested Phonyboy and Jonny. The police arraigned them in court. Johnny stated that it was self-defense.
Cherry testified for Jonny. She stated that Jonny and Ponyboy were good persons. The judge acquitted them of the murder charges. However, the judge stated, that the Greasers and the Socs were going to do community service together. The judge further stated that, the two gangs should stop Fighting. This whole experience changed Dally. He vowed to stop his criminal activities. Dally was employed at a good factory. Pony boy became friends with Randy.
There are several groups in this school similar to the Greasers and the Socs. These groups include the geeks; the cool people; racist group; the cheerleaders and the Bullies.
The geeks have the following strengths: they are smart; obedient; creative; polite and thoughtful. However, they have their weaknesses too. These are, they are timid, weak, shy, have low self-esteem and naïve.
The cool people have the following strengths: they are fun; easy going; popular; confident and smart. Their weakness includes the following: they usually get poor grades; they are egocentric; mean to the not so cool people; selfish and inconsiderate of other people’s feelings.
The Cheerleaders group consists of pretty girls. This group has the following strengths: the members are confident; popular; almost everyone in school likes them; they are fun to hang out with and they are confident. Their weakness includes the following: they are mean; egocentric; selfish; arrogant and timid.
Racist gangs consist of kids who do not associate with kids of a different race. They consider themselves more superior than the other kids in school. During Lunchtime, they do not allow kids of different race to share a table with them. They have the following strengths: solidarity amongst them: unity; they are tough; they look out for each other; and are protective of each other. Their weakness includes the following: they are discriminative; they are cowards when alone; have low self-esteem; they weak when alone and they are egocentric.
The bullies are the group of kids who harass other children in school with no good reason. Bullying should not be encouraged. For purpose of this assignment, this group has the following strengths: they are tough; they operate as a team; they are united; they always get what they want; and every one fears them. Bullies always target weak the weak children in school. This means that they have the following weakness: they are not tough; they have personality issues: they do not have many friends; they are cowards in the inside and they usually get poor grades.
Interviewer: Welcome to our breakfast show.
Cherry: Thank you.
Interviewer: Tell us why kids in schools form gangs.
Cherry: I think the problem emanates from the society.
Interviewer: Tell us more on this.
Cherry: There is something called social segregation. It starts with our parents and the adults. The rich people only socialize with the rich. Rich people leave out the poor. This passes to us children.
Interviewer: I understand you are from a wealthy family. So why did you help the Greasers?
Cherry: I believe the Greasers are good people.
Interviewer: Are you trying to say that the Socs are bad people?
Cherry: No, The Socs are equally good people.
Interviewer: so why did you then Help the Greasers? Does it look like you betrayed the Socs? Besides that, the Greasers killed your boyfriend!
Cherry: The two groups tore me. However, I felt that the Socs had been doing a great injustice to the Greasers. That is the reason I helped them. Further, the Socs are the ones who started these fights
Interviewer: It was a pleasure having you here.
Cherry: Thank you.