The Outsiders 5 Paragraph Essay

Ponyboy awakens in the abandoned church building. For a moment, he imagines he's at domicile spending a typical Sabbatum morn with his brothers. When he becomes fully alert, he sees a annotation from Johnny, who's gone out for supplies.

Ponyboy'south waking dreams of being at abode indicate that the three brothers do honey and care for each other, despite the ongoing tensions between Ponyboy and Darry.

Johnny returns shortly with some nutrient and a paperback copy of Gone with the Air current. Johnny also has bought some peroxide, and insists that they disguise themselves by cut and dyeing their hair. Ponyboy is reluctant to change his hairstyle, which he says makes him look "tuff" and helps identify him as a greaser. He finally relents, but when he sees himself in a mirror, he feels miserable.

Past cutting off the hair that identifies them as greasers, the boys are symbolically leaving the grouping. This is frightening because the grouping keeps them safe and gives them their identity. Yet, in time, leaving the group will provide the boys space to find themselves as individuals.

Afterward, Ponyboy and Johnny talk nigh killing Bob, and both of them cry out of fright and stupor equally they discuss the experience. They comfort each other and become dorsum to sleep. When they wake upward, both boys feel more relaxed and level-headed. Ponyboy says to Johnny, "Nosotros own't gonna cry no more, are we?"

Afterwards getting over the initial shock of the killing, the boys are able to numb themselves to the state of affairs, as the older greasers do. Equally they become less sensitive to violence, they lose some of their babyhood innocence.

Active Themes

Several days laissez passer. The boys entertain themselves past playing poker and reading aloud from Gone with the Wind. Johnny admires the Southern gentlemen in the novel and says that they remind him of Coquet. When Ponyboy doesn't understand, Johnny tells about a time when Coquet took the blame for a trivial law-breaking committed by Two-Bit. Ponyboy now understands Johnny's deep adoration for Dally, merely nonetheless feels intimidated by Coquet's intensity.

Though a law-breaker with a volatile atmosphere, Coquet is too a loyal and devoted greaser. Johnny's story is a reminder that noble behavior does non reside merely with those deemed heroes by social club. Yet the comparison of Dally to the Southern gentleman doomed to dice at war foreshadows Dally's fate.

Active Themes

1 morning, Ponyboy and Johnny watch the sunrise. Every bit they lament that the sunrise'due south beauty doesn't final, Ponyboy recites the verse form "Zip Golden Can Stay," by Robert Frost. They concord that the poem captures but what they feel, though Ponyboy can't explain the poem's meaning in words. Johnny comments that Ponyboy has fabricated him see the beauty of nature more than he e'er had before, and he notes how different Ponyboy is from the other members of his family. Ponyboy responds that Johnny, too, is unlike from the other gang members.

Ponyboy's appreciation for beauty sets him apart from the other members of his family and gang. Being a Curtis brother is merely part of Ponyboy's identity, as is being a greaser. The poem expresses the boys' desire to hold on to the cute things in life and the innocence of their youth, all the same the fact that "nothing gold can stay" hints at how difficult it volition exist to stay hopeful and optimistic.

Active Themes

Related Quotes with Explanations

On the fifth day later Bob's death, Dally pays the boys a visit. He brings Ponyboy a alphabetic character from Sodapop, in which Sodapop writes that Darry is worried for Ponyboy and very pitiful for hitting him. Coquet then drives them to a Dairy Queen for a meal. On the way, he tells them that he was questioned by the law and lied, saying that the perpetrators had headed for Texas. He adds that the Socs are furious most Bob's expiry, that in that location's been an increase in violence between the Socs and greasers, and that the two gangs are planning to have a "rumble" on the following nighttime. Finally, he reveals that Ruby-red has been acting as a "spy" for the greasers.

Both Coquet and the letter from Sodapop indicate Darry'south deep concern for Ponyboy's welfare, just Ponyboy does non seem to take note of it. Dally's care for the boys underscores his capacity for loyalty and self-cede. Still at the same time he accepts the disharmonize betwixt the Socs and greasers without ever questioning its purpose or value. Dally, hardened equally he is, is unable and unwilling to see past the differences that produce divided communities.