The Outsiders (Hinton)
Short summary
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1960s. A teenage greaser was jumped by Socs on his way home from the movies.
His brothers rescued him. Later, Ponyboy and his best friend went to a drive-in movie where they met two Soc girls. The girls' boyfriends found them together and attacked the greasers in a park. One Soc tried to drown Ponyboy in a fountain.
To save his friend, Johnny stabbed and killed the Soc. The boys fled to an abandoned church in the countryside with help from a tough greaser. They hid there for days, cutting and bleaching their hair as disguises. When the greaser visited, they decided to turn themselves in. At that moment, the church caught fire with children trapped inside. The boys rushed in and saved the children, but Johnny was critically injured by falling timber.
The greasers won a rumble against the Socs. Ponyboy and Dallas rushed to the hospital where Johnny lay dying. Johnny's last words were:
I barely heard him. I came closer and leaned over to hear what he was going to say. 'Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold . . .' The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died.
Unable to handle Johnny's death, Dallas robbed a store and was shot by police. Ponyboy struggled with grief and trauma but eventually found healing by writing down their story.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter titles are editorial.
Chapter 1. Ponyboys world: greasers, Socs, and getting jumped
Fourteen-year-old narrator walked out of a movie theater one afternoon, thinking about Paul Newman and needing a ride home.
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I was wishing I looked like Paul Newmanâhe looks tough and I donât...
He preferred walking alone to watch movies undisturbed, though he knew greasers shouldn't walk alone too much or they'd get jumped. His town was divided between greasersâpoor kids from the East Sideâand Socs, short for Socials, the wealthy West Side kids. The two groups were constantly at war, with Socs jumping greasers for fun and greasers fighting back.
As Ponyboy walked home, a red Corvair began following him. Five Socs got out and surrounded him. They threatened to cut his long greasy hair and held a blade to his throat. Terrified, Ponyboy screamed for his brothers. Suddenly, his gang arrived and chased the Socs away. His oldest brother pulled him to his feet, shaking him roughly.
Ponyboy's middle brother arrived next, more gentle and understanding than Darry.
The rest of the gang gathered around. There was the oldest member, famous for his wisecracking and black-handled switchblade. Another was Soda's best friend, an expert with cars. The toughest was a hardened hood from New York with a criminal record. The youngest and smallest was a nervous, sensitive boy who had been badly beaten by Socs months earlier.
That night at home, Ponyboy reflected on his family situation. Their parents had died in a car accident, leaving Darry to raise his two younger brothers. Darry worked two jobs to keep them together, but he and Ponyboy constantly clashed. Ponyboy felt Darry was too hard on him, never satisfied with his grades or behavior. Only Sodapop seemed to understand him.
Chapter 2. At the movies with Dally: meeting Cherry and Marcia
The next night, Ponyboy and Johnny met up with the toughest member of their gang at the drive-in movies.
They snuck in over the back fence to avoid paying. Dally immediately started harassing two Soc girls sitting in front of them, talking crude and trying to get their attention. One girl, a striking redhead, finally told him to leave them alone. When Dally persisted, Johnny surprised everyone by standing up to him and telling him to stop bothering the girls.
Dally left in a huff, and the girls invited Ponyboy and Johnny to sit with them. Cherry and her friend explained they had come with their boyfriends but walked out when the boys brought alcohol. Ponyboy and Cherry discovered they both loved watching sunsets, finding common ground despite being from different worlds. Cherry explained that Socs and greasers weren't so differentâboth groups had their problems, just different kinds.
Chapter 3. Walking the girls home and Darrys anger
After the movie, another gang member arrived and offered to drive the girls home in his car.
As they walked, Cherry opened up to Ponyboy about the differences between their worlds. She explained that Socs were too cool to feel anything real, always searching for something to satisfy them but never finding it. Ponyboy realized that the real difference wasn't moneyâit was that greasers felt things too violently while Socs didn't feel anything at all.
It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in werenât so different. We saw the same sunset.
Suddenly, a blue Mustang pulled upâCherry's boyfriend and his friends. The Soc boys were drunk and looking for trouble. Cherry decided to go with them to prevent a fight, but before leaving, she told Ponyboy she could fall in love with Dally, which was why she was afraid to see him again. She also said she wouldn't say hi to Ponyboy at school because her friends wouldn't understand.
Ponyboy got home very late, after two in the morning. Darry was furious, yelling at him for being so irresponsible and not thinking about how worried they'd been. When Sodapop tried to defend Ponyboy, Darry snapped at him too. Ponyboy exploded, telling Darry not to yell at Soda. In his anger, Darry slapped Ponyboy across the faceâsomething no one in their family had ever done before. Shocked and hurt, Ponyboy ran out of the house.
Chapter 4. The killing in the park and escape plan
Ponyboy found Johnny in their usual hangout spot and told him what happened. They walked to the park to cool off. There, the blue Mustang appeared again. Five Socs got out, drunk and looking for revenge for picking up their girls. They surrounded Ponyboy and Johnny. One of them was wearing heavy rings.
The Socs grabbed Ponyboy and shoved his head into the park fountain, drowning him. As Ponyboy lost consciousness, Johnny panicked. When Ponyboy came to, he was lying on the pavement, soaking wet. Johnny sat beside him, looking pale and strange. One of the Socs lay motionless on the ground, a dark pool spreading from his body. Johnny was clutching his switchblade, covered in blood to the hilt. He had killed the Soc to save Ponyboy's life.
Terrified, they ran to find Dally, the only person they knew who might help them. Dally gave them fifty dollars, a loaded gun, and directions to an abandoned church on Jay Mountain where they could hide. He told them to take the train to Windrixville and wait for him there. The boys jumped on a freight train and headed out of town, leaving everything behind.
Chapter 5. Hiding in the church and staying gold
The boys reached the abandoned church and hid there for several days. To disguise themselves, they cut their hairâa devastating loss for Ponyboy, who was proud of his long greasy hair. They bleached Ponyboy's hair blond. To pass time, they read Gone with the Wind, and Johnny became fascinated by the Southern gentlemen in the story, comparing them to Dally.
One morning, Ponyboy woke early and watched the sunrise. Johnny joined him, and Ponyboy recited a Robert Frost poem he had learned in school.
Natureâs first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafâs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Johnny said he never noticed colors and clouds until Ponyboy pointed them out. They talked about how different they were from the rest of the gang, how only they and Sodapop really understood things like sunsets and poetry.
After five days, Dally arrived with news. He took them to get food and told them about what was happening back home. Cherry was acting as a spy for the greasers, and there was going to be a big rumble between the greasers and Socs. Johnny shocked them both by announcing he wanted to turn himself in. He didn't want to hide for the rest of his life, and he believed he had a good chance of getting off on self-defense.
Chapter 6. The burning church and rescue of the children
As they drove back toward the church, they saw it was on fire. A group of schoolchildren on a picnic had been playing inside, and some were trapped. Without hesitation, Ponyboy and Johnny ran into the burning building. They found four or five terrified children huddled in a back room and began passing them out through a window to safety. Dally arrived and helped from outside.
Just as they got the last child out, the roof began to collapse. Johnny pushed Ponyboy toward the window. Ponyboy jumped out, and Dally hit him hard on the back to put out the flames on his jacket. Then they heard Johnny scream. A piece of timber had fallen on him, breaking his back and burning him severely. Ponyboy passed out from smoke inhalation and shock.
Ponyboy woke up in an ambulance. The man with him explained that Dally had saved his life by putting out the fire on his back. At the hospital, Ponyboy learned that Johnny was in critical condition with a broken back and severe burns. Dally had burned his arm badly but would recover. The boys were being called heroes for saving the children.
Chapter 7. Heroes in the news and Randys visit
Darry and Sodapop arrived at the hospital. When Ponyboy saw Darry crying, he finally understood that his oldest brother loved him deeply and had only been hard on him because he was terrified of losing another person he loved. The brothers reconciled emotionally.
In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me.
The next day, reporters and police came to question them. The story made the newspapers, with the boys portrayed as heroes. However, Ponyboy learned he would have to appear in juvenile court, and there was a possibility he and Sodapop might be taken from Darry and placed in a boys' home.
One of the Socs involved in the fight came to visit Ponyboy.
He told Ponyboy he was sick of fighting and wouldn't be at the rumble. He talked about his dead friend, explaining that the boy had been spoiled by his parents who never said no to him. Randy realized that no matter who won the rumble, nothing would really changeâSocs would still be Socs and greasers would still be greasers.
Chapter 8. Hospital visits and Cherrys role as spy
Ponyboy and Two-Bit went to visit Johnny in the hospital. The nurse initially refused to let them in, but the doctor allowed it, saying Johnny had been asking for them and that it couldn't hurt now. Johnny was dying. He could barely speak and couldn't feel anything below his waist. He told them he didn't want to dieâsixteen years wasn't long enough. The boys tried to cheer him up by talking about the upcoming rumble.
They visited Dally next, who was recovering from his burns. He was desperate to get out for the rumble and asked Two-Bit for his prized switchblade. Two-Bit handed it over without hesitation. Later, Ponyboy met Cherry in the parking lot. She told him Randy wouldn't be at the rumble and explained more about her dead boyfriend. She couldn't bring herself to visit Johnny because he had killed someone she loved, even though she understood why.
Chapter 9. The rumble and Johnnys death
Before the rumble, Ponyboy felt sick and feverish but insisted on participating. The greasers gathered at the vacant lot, joined by other gangs. Twenty greasers faced twenty-two Socs. The fight was brutal but followed the agreed rulesâno weapons, just fists. Darry faced off against a former friend from his football days, and when the first punch was thrown, the rumble exploded into action.
Dally arrived late, having escaped from the hospital. Despite his injured arm, he fought fiercely. The greasers won, driving the Socs away. But Dally immediately grabbed Ponyboy and rushed him to the hospital to see Johnny. They arrived just in time. Johnny was barely conscious. Dally told him they had won the rumble, but Johnny said fighting was useless and no good. His last words to Ponyboy were to stay gold. Then Johnny died.
Iâve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant youâre gold when youâre a kid, like green. When youâre a kid everythingâs new, dawn. Itâs just when you get used to everything that itâs day.
Dally couldn't handle Johnny's death. He ran out of the hospital in anguish.
Chapter 10. Dallys death and Ponyboys collapse
Ponyboy wandered home in shock, trying to convince himself Johnny wasn't really dead. When he reached home, the gang was there, battered from the rumble. He told them Johnny was dead. The phone rangâit was Dally. He had just robbed a grocery store and was running from the police. The gang rushed to meet him at their usual spot.
Dally arrived with police cars chasing him. Under the streetlight, he pulled out an unloaded gun. The police opened fire. Dally was hit and fell to the ground, dead. Ponyboy realized Dally had wanted to dieâhe couldn't live without Johnny. Ponyboy collapsed from exhaustion, fever, and shock.
Chapter 11. Recovery and denial of Johnnys death
Ponyboy woke up days later, having been delirious with fever. He had suffered from exhaustion, shock, and a minor concussion. As he recovered, he struggled to accept what had happened. He began insisting that he, not Johnny, had killed the Soc. He refused to acknowledge Johnny's death, trying to convince himself it hadn't happened. His behavior worried his brothers and friends.
Randy visited again and tried to talk to Ponyboy about the upcoming hearing, but Ponyboy kept insisting he had killed the Soc, not Johnny. Randy left, confused and worried about Ponyboy's mental state.
Chapter 12. The hearing, Johnnys letter, and writing the story
At the hearing, the judge questioned everyone involved. Cherry and Randy testified that the Socs had been drunk and looking for a fight, and that Johnny had acted in self-defense. The judge asked Ponyboy simple questions about his home life and school. In the end, Ponyboy was acquitted, and the case was closed. The judge ruled that he could stay with Darry.
However, Ponyboy struggled to return to normal life. He became absent-minded, stopped eating, and his grades dropped. His English teacher told him he was failing but offered to pass him if he wrote a good semester theme. Ponyboy couldn't think of what to write about.
One evening, Darry and Ponyboy got into another argument, and Sodapop ran out of the house in tears. He was tired of being caught in the middle of their fights. The brothers chased after him and found him in the park. Sodapop explained how much it hurt him when they fought, how he felt torn apart between them. Both Darry and Ponyboy realized how their conflict was affecting Soda and promised to stop fighting.
Later, Ponyboy picked up his copy of Gone with the Wind. A note from Johnny fell out. Johnny had written that saving the children had been worth it, that their lives were worth more than his. He explained what he thought the Robert Frost poem meantâthat being gold meant staying innocent and good, seeing things fresh like a child. He told Ponyboy to stay gold and to tell Dally to look at a sunset. Johnny wanted them to know there was still good in the world.
Reading Johnny's words, Ponyboy realized he had a story to tell. He thought about all the boys like them, living on the wrong side of town, who needed someone to tell their side of the story. He called his English teacher to ask how long his theme could be. Then he sat down and began to write, starting with the first sentence of his story.