Ponyboy And Dally example essay topic

'The Outsiders' is a story that deals with a conflict between two gangs, the 'Greasers " from the East Side of town and the 'Socs' from the West-side of town. This is a story that is told in the first person. This book took place in the early 1960's. The mood of the story, in my point of view, was pretty mis fortunate and is a tragedy, because when you think that it couldn't get worse, it just did. Ponyboy Curtis is the one telling the story. The novel starts off, one day, as Ponyboy is walking home from a movie, he was about to get jumped and beaten by a gang of Socs, but at the last minute, his gang of greasers that includes his brothers Darry and Sodapop, who raise Ponyboy now that their parents have past away, the big tuff Dally Winston, innocent Johnny, and the loud and wise-cracking Two-Bit, show up to save him.

The night after Jonny and Ponyboywent to the movies with Dally. They sat behind a pair of attractive Soc girls, whom Dally hits on very obnoxiously. After Johnny tells him to stop, Johnny and Ponyboy sit with the girls, Cherry and Marcia, and Ponyboy and Cherry finds out that they both have a lot in common. Ponyboy and Jonny sees Two-Bit there so they all sat together. As they are walking back to Two-Bit's house so he could drive the girls home, they run into the girls " drunk boyfriends. Cherry and Marcia agree to leave and go home with their boyfriends to prevent a big fight.

Ponyboy got home very late, which made Darry very angry, but most of all worried. So sick and tired of having his brother criticizing and inspecting every little thing that he does, Ponyboy yells at Darry, which caused them to get in a bad argument. Being so furious Darry slaps Ponyboy across the face! In shock that his brother had slapped him, he ran out the door and meet up with Jonny, they left for the park.

At the park Ponyboy and Jonny sees Bob and Randy, Cherry and Marcia's boyfriends, with some of their Soc friends. One of the Socs held Ponyboy's head under the water of the fountain, and Ponyboy blacks out. When Ponyboy finally woke up he was lying next to Jonny. He looks to the side and sees a bloody corpse, it was Bob. To save Ponyboy, Johnny had to killed Bob. In the second third of the novel, so terrified, the only person that they thought that could help them was Dallas Winston.

They went out to find Dally at a party. He sends them with a gun and some money to an abandoned church near Windrixville, where they hide out for a week, cutting their hair to disguise their appearances, reading Gone with the Wind aloud, and discussing poetry. After a week, Dally comes to check on them, and says that since Bob's death, relations between the greasers and the Socs are at their worst ever. A giant rumble is to be held the next night to settle matters once and for all. He says that Cherry, who feels responsible for the whole catastrophe, has been acting as a spy for the greasers. Johnny shocks Dally by telling him his intention to go back to Tulsa and turn himself in.

Dally drives them back, but as they leave, they notice that the church has caught on fire. With a group of picnicking schoolchildren inside. Ponyboy and Johnny rush into the flaming church to save the children, just as they get the last child through the window, the roof caves in, and Ponyboy again blacks out. This time, he comes to in an ambulance. At the hospital, he is diagnosed with only minor burns and bruises.

Dally is also not badly hurt, but Johnny's back was broken when the roof fell and he is now in critical condition. Darry and Sodapop come to get Ponyboy, and when he sees Darry's tears, Ponyboy at last realizes that his brother loves him. The following morning, all the papers proclaim that Ponyboy and Johnny are heroes, but because of the incident, Ponyboy will have to attend a hearing where a judge will decide whether to let him stay with Darry or send him to a boys' home. Ponyboy and Two-Bit go to get a Coke, where they run into Randy.

Randy tells Ponyboy that he is sick of all the fighting, and that he does not plan to go to the rumble that night. At the hospital, Johnny seems weak, and asks for a new copy of Gone with the Wind. Dally is stronger, and asks for Two-Bit's black-handled switchblade. On the way home, Two-Bit and Ponyboy see Cherry.

She refuses to visit Johnny because he killed Bob, and Ponyboy calls her a traitor. He soften up, however, and tells her to remember that the sunset, which they both love to watch, is as beautiful on the East Side, home of the greasers, as it is on the West Side, home of the Socs. Last part of the novel, at the rumble, the greasers defeat the Socs. Dally shows up just in time for the fight, having used Two-Bit's switchblade to spring himself out of the hospital. Ponyboy and Dally hurry back to see Johnny, to tell him that they had won.

But they find that he is dying. As he dies, Dally loses control of himself and runs from the room in a frenzy. His last words were to Ponyboy and he told him to stay gold. Ponyboystumbles home late that night, feeling dazed and disoriented, and tells the others of Johnny's death.

The phone rings, Dally is calling to say that he has robbed a grocery story and is now being hunted by the cops. The greasers hurry to find him, but they are too late. Dally is shot to death as they arrive. Overwhelmed, Ponyboy passes out. When he comes to this time, he is in bed at home. He has had a concussion from a kick he sustained at the rumble, and been delirious in bed for several days.

When he is well, he attends the hearing, where he is acquitted from any involvement in Bob's death and allowed to remain at home with Darry. For a time, Ponyboy is listless and empty inside. His grades slip, and he resumes his hostility toward Darry. At last, however, Sodapop blows up at them, tearfully pleading with them not to fight, saying that he feels as though he is being torn in half by their conflict. Realizing for the first time the true value of his family, Ponyboy agrees not to fight with Darry anymore. For the first time, he is able to remember Dally and Johnny's deaths without pain or denial.

He decides to tell their story, and begins writing a theme for his English class, which turns out to be the novel itself. I think this was an alright novel. It really shows how hard the real world is, also that life isn't just always easy and laid out for you. Shows you that you have to be prepared for the future because you never know what is in stored for you. Never turn your back on life.