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The Separate Society
In chapter 1, Ponyboy was jumped by the other group of youth in the society which was called Socs and got help from his friends and brothers from his group called Greasers. This accident helps readers know more about the circumstances of the society which Ponyboy lived in.
The conflicts between these two groups of youth resulted in the following consequences that happened next. It is important because this little fight was just like a good postcard from the book's society for the readers. -
The Greasers Friends
This chapter includes the introduction of the main character Ponyboy and his relatives and friends.
After Ponyboy went out of the cinema, he only had two things on his mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. He stated that he was different with other members in his gang because he was the only person who dug movies and books. In the same way, he did well in his school works.
There are also other details showing that Ponyboy was different in his group as the main idea of this book is individualism. -
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The Outsiders
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The Girls In Drive-In (First)
Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally went to the drive-in and met Cherry Valance and Marcia. Although both of these two girls are Socs, it seemed that Johnny and Ponyboy had an enjoyable chat with them. Ponyboy and Cherry talked about Johnny, the difference between Socs and Greasers, the Ponyboy's friends, and the sunset. Ponyboy remembered the scene of Johnny lying on the ground after being jumped by the Socs. They found that they looked at the same sunset at different places. -
Darry slapped Ponyboy (First)
Ponyboy and Johnny slept on the lot until late at night. When Ponyboy came home, He found both Soda and Darry were waiting for him although Soda was sleeping on sofa. Darry was awake and he was angry with Ponyboy. He worried about Ponyboy. Darry slapped Ponyboy strongly. Ponyboy was astonished and ran away. Ponyboy found Johnny and ran with him for a long time and finally they decided to relax in the park. -
Johnny Killed Bob (Event)
When Ponyboy and Johnny relaxed in the park, Five Socs came to them and the leader of that 5 Socs was Bob—Cherry’s boyfriend. Johnny was scared to death. When the Socs were drowning Ponyboy, Johnny killed Bob to save Ponyboy and also prevented himself from being jumped. He had said he would kill next person who jumped him. -
Dally's Help
When Johnny was asking Dally for help after he killed Bob, Dally was worried about Johnny and Ponyboy and he gave them as much help as he could. He gave them all the money he carried and gave them a gun secretly. He pointed out the way to an old church for them to hide. It is not as important or meaningful as other events in this story, but it is essential for the whole plot of the book. Help from Dally also can show that Dally liked Johnny very much. Johnny was important for Dally. -
Johnny killed Bob (Importance)
Importance:
Johnny changed after he killed Bob. He became cooler and tougher. It seems that Johnny has thought of killing a Socs and the following consequence. When it happened, Johnny felt a kind of relaxing because he had no reason to fear the occurrence of this terrible event any more.
It makes Ponyboy know better about Johnny.
Also, this event is a kind of "Turning Point" of the story. It is a big event that would change the lives of many Greasers even though it is just a beginning. -
Darry slapped Ponyboy (second)
This is a big event because it made Ponyboy think whether Darry love him or not. After that, he would find the emotional relationship between he and his brothers as the story goes.
Because Darry slapped Ponyboy, Ponyboy would relax in the park. After that, the Socs found them and the plot could keep going. -
The Girls In Drive-In (Second)
After a short talking, the girls were driven away by their Socs boyfriends on the way to Two-Bit's house.
Although Girls are Socs, Ponyboy can still chat with them happily, even happier than Cherry’s friends because Cherry talked about something that had not been told to everyone except Ponyboy. It shows that even Socs can be kind to make friends with a Greaser. Each person has different characters despite their social groups. That is “Individualism”. -
The Girls In Drive-In (third)
Cherry said Greasers are more emotional while Socs are sophisticated. That's why they won the rumble. Being jumped, Johnny was scared of Socs, but he would dare to kill another Socs who would jump him next time. Half of the reason of killing Bob was that he was afraid that Bob would jump him after he drowned Ponyboy. The boyfriends of girls thought Ponyboy hooked their girls, so they wanted to find the greasers for fight after drinking. The meeting with two girls drives the plot of this story. -
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Boring Life In the Church
They had a common life. They had been tired of baloney everyday in the church. -
First day in the Church (First)
Johnny left early to get supplies. Ponyboy was scared because of being alone. Johnny bought many things including a week’s supplies of baloney and the book Gone With The Wind. They had their hair cut and Ponyboy had bleached it so that they wouldn’t get caught. 1: It was important for Ponyboy to have the book Gone With The Wind to read. The sentence, "Nothing gold can stay", affected Ponyboy and Johnny very much. 2: The cut of hair is an emotional event for them. As they were Greasers, -
The First day in the church (Second)
2: The cut of hair is an emotional event for them. As they were Greasers, their hair is the symbol for them. It seems that if they cut their hair, they won't be tough and cool and they won't be in their group. The group is important for them, so cutting hair is an emotional event. -
Nothing Gold Can Stay (First)
One morning, Ponyboy and Johnny got up early. They viewed the sunrise and felt pity of the departure of good things in their lives.
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
This sentence is meaningful for Ponyboy and Johnny as they had left their home and gang far away. Just a terrible night, things were all changed. They had to escape from the police and hid in the church. -
Nothing Gold Can Stay (Second)
At that night, too many things had happened. After that, Ponyboy was no longer a good student at school but a criminal. Past happy lives for Ponyboy and Johnny were their “gold”, and it had gone.
Nothing gold can stay. It makes a strong impact on both Ponyboy and Johnny and Johnny could still remember it when he was dying. -
Fifth day, Dally's visiting (First)
On the fifth day, Dally came to visit them and told them the news about the rumble. He gave the letter from Soda to Ponyboy. He also told them that Cherry was willing to be their spy.
1: Ponyboy knew that Darry felt awful sorry for slapping him. Darry didn’t mean it. He was just too angry and worried about Ponyboy. In fact, both Darry and Soda loved Ponyboy very much. They wanted to take care of Ponyboy and protect him. -
They were heroes (First)
Johnny tells Dally that he wants to go back to the town and pay for his crimes. As he drives Ponyboy and Johnny back home, they see the church is on fire. They jump out of the car, and run up the hill to the church. They discover that there are children stuck in the church, so they go in to save them. Ponyboy had a few minor injuries, Dally was burned but will most likely be all right, but Johnny was hit by a piece of timber, and may have broken his back. They are rushed to the hospital. -
They were heroes（second）
（Saving children explains that they are very kind and honest even though they are greasers. They want to become positive and kind but the society does not permit them. The society thinks that Greasers can only degenerate, but every person can be good or bad despite their social groups. That’s individualism.） -
Fifth day, Dally's visiting (Second)
They wanted Ponyboy to go to college even though they should drop out. The letter showed the strong bond between those three brothers: Ponyboy, Soda, and Darry.
2: Cherry would like to be Greasers’ spy mainly because she wanted to help Ponyboy. She liked Ponyboy’s kindness. Even though they were in different social groups, they still had a strong relationship just after a short talk once time. They found they had something in common despite their gang. That shows an evident of individualism. -
Randy's visiting (First)
The news reporters interview the Curtis brothers. The next day, Ponyboy hangs out with Two-Bit while Sodapop and Darry are working. They go to get Ice Cream; they run onto Randy, who asks to talk with Ponyboy. He says that he is not going to fight and Greasers is doom to fail. -
Conversation with Johnny (First)
Johnny was in critical condition. He doesn't want to die now. Sixteen years is not long enough. He wouldn't mind it so much if there wasn't so much stuff he hasn’t done yet and so many things he hasn’t seen. Sixteen years on the streets and he can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things he wants to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and he sees a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights he wants to see. He warns Ponyboy to view more beautiful things but don’t waste time. -
The Rumble (First)
Socs lined up silently, facing us, and greasers lined up facing them. Ponyboy looked for Randy but didn't see him. Ponyboy hoped he wasn't there. A guy with a madras shirt stepped up. "Let's get the rules straight--nothing but our fists, and the first to run lose.” During the fighting, Ponyboy had fever and was beaten up by a Socs. Ponyboy fell down and Sodapop became crazy because he saw Ponyboy’s falling on the ground. In the end, greasers won this fighting. -
Johnny's Dying
Johnny was dead because he was burnt badly. He told Ponyboy to leave fighting and to be kind and innocent. He also told Ponyboy to value everything good in his life.(Johnny is a boy who is greasers protect. Johnny's hart gave greasers motive force to win Soc, but he dead. Broken down a faith for greasers. ) -
Conversation with Cherry
2-Bit asked Cherry the rules of the fighting. After that Cherry told with Ponyboy face to face.
"I wasn't trying to give you charity, Ponyboy. I only wanted to help. I liked you from the start... the way you talked. You're a nice kid, Ponyboy. Do you realize how scarce nice kids are nowadays? Wouldn't you try to help me if you could?"
She wants to make friend with Ponyboy.
"Can you see the sunset real good from the West Side?"
"Real good."
"You can see it good from the East Side, too," -
Dally's Death
Dally would not live in this world which is unfeeling, cruel and hopeless, Johnny's death gave him the least reason to die. He selected this different choose because he is a man who is violent. (Dally's death reflect the society which is unfair. His choice shows that he was different from Ponyboy even though they are all greasers.) -
Conversation with Cherry（second）
(Again, this event shows the main idea of this book--Individualism. Cherry is Soc but she like Ponyboy which is a kind and nice boy. Leave the reader involvements and give reader imagine.) -
Randy's visiting（second）
（Randy's visiting tell us there are some other views that oppose violence in Socs group, Randy don't like fighting because no matter which team will won, the end will still be sad.） -
Conversation with Johnny（second）
(Everyone has dreams, but Johnny's can't realize. So he wants Ponyboy to achieve his dream, for the reason which he told Ponyboy to face the differences in his life to be kind and innocent. Johnny's parents were not care about him and the society’s unfairness made Johnny's ending.) -
The Rumble (Second)
(The contradictions of Soc and greasers were erupted. This fighting solved this problem and greasers won, also indicated that a main event of this book was finished. This is an important turning point.) -
The Rumble (Third)
Greasers can win because they are more emotional. Just like when Sodapop saw Ponyboy falling down, he became crazy and he never acted like that before. This indicates that Sodapop loved Ponyboy and wanted to protect him, so when Soda saw the Ponyboy’s falling, he acted madly because he hated the Socs who beat up Ponyboy and found the reason to fight even though he didn't want to fight at first.) -
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Ponyboy's sleeping
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Ponyboy had to stay in bed a whole week
Ponyboy read most of the time and draw pictures. One day I found a picture of Bob from Soda's old yearbooks. I thought Bob was just a reckless, hot-tempered boy, cocky and scared stiff at the same time. He was a real person.
It shows the main idea of this book (individualism) once again. Shows that Bob also has his own character---it is hard to tell whether he is good or bad. -
Randy's second visiting and to go see the judge
Ponyboy said he killed Bob but not Johnny. He couldn't accept that Johnny was dead. (This chapter tells us about Ponyboy's thinking that Johnny killed Bob because of his fault, and he can't view the fact that Johnny was dead, he is young and not mature. Randy is a Socs but he wants to help Ponyboy.) -
The Letter From Johnny
Johnny said Ponyboy was young and he had the future, not to give up. He wanted to tell Dally to keep living. He still had a lot of time to make himself be what he wants. There were still many good things in this world, but it was too late for Dally. (This letter tells one of the main ideas of this book: to leave fighting and to live with kindness. We are young, so we still have enough time to view more beautiful things in our lives.)
