the outsider essay

The Outsiders

By s. e. hinton, the outsiders essay questions.

Compare the characters of Bob and Dally.

On the surface, Bob and Dally couldn't be more different. However, the two boys are linked together by the phrase, "Next time you want a broad, pick up your own kind." Right before the Socs attack Ponyboy and Johnny, in the fight that results in Johnny killing Bob, Bob states the reasoning for the attack. He wants the Greasers to know their place in society, and to stay away from Soc girls. Later, in Chapter 6, Dally echoes Bob's words when he explains that Cherry is acting as a spy for the Greasers, adding: "Man, next time I want a broad I'll pick up my own kind." Ponyboy remembers Bob saying this not even a week before. Both boys are victims of the violence between the Socs and the Greasers, and die before the story is over. They both have violent tendencies, look for fights, and end up losing their lives because of it; more important, both draw ideological lines in the sand.

Discuss the relationship between Johnny and Dally.

Johnny feels hero-worship toward Dally, and thinks of him as the most gallant of all the gang. Dally wants to protect Johnny and keep him from turning out the way he himself has. As they drive back to the church in Chapter 5, he explains, "You get hardened in jail. I don't want that to happen to you. Like it happened to me..." After Johnny dies, Dally reacts with uncharacteristic emotion. Ponyboy realizes that "Johnny was the only thing Dally loved. And now Johnny was gone."

Discuss the relationship between Ponyboy and Darry, and how it changes over the course of the novel.

At the beginning of the novel, Ponyboy resents Darry for being too strict and always bothering him for not using his head. He recognizes the sacrifices that Darry has made to raise his two little brothers, but still thinks Darry just doesn't care for him at all.

But in Chapter 5, when Soda and Darry come to the hospital, Ponyboy has a revelation. He sees his oldest brother cry for the first time in years - he didn't even cry at their parents' funeral - and realizes that "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." He understands that Darry is terrified of losing another person he loves, and wonders "how I could ever have thought him hard and unfeeling."

In Chapter 10, when Ponyboy wakes up momentarily, he asks Soda if Darry is sorry he's sick. He also worries throughout the chapter that maybe he didn't ask for Darry while he was delirious, but Soda finally confirms that he did. This concern for Darry's feelings is a huge change from the way Ponyboy regarded his oldest brother in the beginning of the novel. Now he is worried that, because deep down he feels he can relate better to Soda, he might have left Darry out in his unconscious babbling.

How do Ponyboy's feelings toward Randy reflect the conflict between the Socs and the Greasers?

At first, Ponyboy sees Randy as a violent Soc to be avoided; he is Marcia's boyfriend, and is involved in jumping the Greasers. But in Chapter 7, they have a conversation in Randy's car, and Randy explains why he is leaving town instead of attending the rumble. He says, "You can't win, even if you whip us. You'll still be where you were before - at the bottom. And we'll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn't do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn't prove a thing. We'll forget it if you win, or if you don't. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs." Ponyboy begins to see Randy as someone who can appreciate sunsets, and feels a connection to him regardless of their different social statuses.

However, in Chapter 11 when Randy comes to visit Ponyboy at home, Ponyboy's denial about Johnny's death and the events leading up to it cause a rift between the two boys again. Ponyboy decides, "He was just like all the rest of the Socs. Cold-blooded and mean."

What do Johnny's last words mean?

Johnny's last words echo in Chapter 12 when Ponyboy breaks a bottle to defend himself against the Socs. Two-Bit says, "Ponyboy, listen, don't get tough. You're not like the rest of us and don't try to be..." Ponyboy is confused by what Two-Bit means, since he felt nothing when the Socs approached him. But he proves that he is still "gold" by bending down to pick up the pieces of broken glass from the ground without even thinking about it.

How does Gone with the Wind represent an ideal for Johnny?

Johnny puts his last note to Ponyboy inside his copy of Gone with the Wind . The gallantry of the Southern gentlemen in the book, who rode to their certain deaths bravely, inspires Johnny and reminds him of Dally. This allows Ponyboy to see Dally in that light, too, and to consider that his death might have been gallant. Johnny dies as a result of rescuing children from the fire in the church, so in that way he lives up to the ideal in Gone with the Wind .

What is the difference between Ponyboy the narrator and Ponyboy the character?

It is always clear that Ponyboy is narrating The Outsiders from a point in the future, after the events of the story have taken place. However, this rift between narrator and character becomes definite in Chapter 11, when Ponyboy's pretending makes him an unreliable narrator for the first time in the story. When Randy comes to visit, Ponyboy says that he was the one who killed Bob, and that Johnny is not dead. He repeats it aloud to convince himself of it. But as narrator, he says, "Johnny didn't have anything to do with Bob's getting killed." The reader has depended upon Ponyboy's narration to dictate the events of the story, and now the frame of reference is thrown off, since we know he has moved into an alternate reality.

Discuss Ponyboy's "dreaming", particularly in regard to Johnny's death.

Ponyboy's reaction to Johnny's death has been foreshadowed by Ponyboy's tendency to create alternate realities for himself throughout the story, but the difference is that "this time my dreaming worked. I convinced myself that he wasn't dead." Throughout the story, Ponyboy creates these alternate realities in order to cope with situations he feels are unbearable. For instance, in Chapter 3 he dreams of a life in the country, with his parents still alive and Darry kind and caring again. What is important to note is that he concedes that his dreams are only dreams, and that he admits to use them as a mode of escape.

Describe how eyes are used as a characterization technique.

Ponyboy's view of other characters is often reflected by his interpretation of their eyes. For example, he says that "Darry's eyes are his own. He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice. They've got a determined set to them, like the rest of him... he would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold." Darry's eyes reflect Ponyboy's view of his oldest brother as "hardly human." In contrast, Sodapop's eyes are "dark brown - lively, dancing, recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next." Johnny is defined by his emotive eyes; the difference between his mother and him is clear to Ponyboy because of their eyes: "Johnnycake's eyes were fearful and sensitive; hers were cheap and hard."

In what way is The Outsiders a call to action?

The Outsiders ends with its own opening sentence, as Ponyboy begins to write his assignment for English class, and it becomes clear that the story the reader has just finished is the assignment itself. It is inspired by Johnny's letter to Ponyboy, in which he explains what he meant by his last words: "Stay gold." There is no reason for lives to be cut short because of senseless violence between the Greasers and the Socs. Ponyboy feels called to action by Johnny's note, and wants to save the lives of other hoods who might end up like Dally. In Chapter 12, this goal is underlined:

"There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn't be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore."

The Outsiders Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Outsiders is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

why do you think johhny wasn't scared, depsite the obvious danger?

Johnny is a sensitive boy. He cares for others, especially those that are helpless like the children. This is perhaps because he has felt so helpless in his own childhood. It is also probable their cigarettes started the fire.

How did the Greasers react to the beatings Johnny received from his father? What evidence is there in paragraphs 1-5 that the Greasers were more deeply affected by Johnny’s beating at the hands of the Socs? Why do you think this was the case? Cite specifi

From the text:

I remembered Johnny--- his face all cut up and bruised, and I remembered how he had cried when we found him, half-conscious, in the comer lot. Johnny had it awful rough at home--- it took a lot to make him cry.

the outsiders

The Greasers have an extended family. The Curtis family have taken characters like Johnny and Two-Bit under their wing. The Socks may have money but they do not have brotherhood. Dally is doing his best to be a good father figure but their family...

Study Guide for The Outsiders

The Outsiders study guide contains a biography of author S. E. Hinton, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Outsiders
• The Outsiders Summary
• The Outsiders Video
• Character List

Essays for The Outsiders

The Outsiders essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Outsiders written by S. E. Hinton.

• Analysis of the American Reality, Possibility, and Dream found in "Nickel and Dimed" and "The Outsiders"
• Stay Gold, Ponyboy: Historical Models of Childhood in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders
• The Socioeconomic Triggers of Juvenile Delinquency: Analysis of "The Outsiders"
• Greater Meanings in The Outsiders: A Theater, a Sunset, and a Novel

Lesson Plan for The Outsiders

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Outsiders
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Outsiders Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Outsiders

• Introduction
• Major characters
• Controversy
• Critical reception

The Outsiders

S. e. hinton, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Ponyboy Curtis , a member of the greasers, a gang of poor East Side kids in Tulsa, leaves a movie theater and begins to walk home alone. A car follows him, and he suspects that it is filled with a bunch of Socs (pronounced "sohsh-es"), members of a rich West Side gang who recently beat up his friend Johnny . The car stops, and several Socs emerge and begin roughing Ponyboy up and try to cut off his hair . Ponyboy's cries for help alert his brothers and fellow greasers, and the Socs flee. Afterward, Ponyboy's older brother Darry , who is also his guardian since their parents' death, scolds him for walking alone.

The next night, Johnny and Ponyboy go to the drive-in with fellow greaser Dally . Despite Dally's unpleasant behavior toward two Soc girls, Ponyboy strikes up a friendship with one of them, whose name is Cherry Valance . Ponyboy tells her about the Socs' attack on Johnny, and she insists that not all Socs are like that. Cherry tells him about some of the problems Socs have, and they find out they share a love of watching sunsets .

The girls and greasers walk out of the drive-in together, and are confronted by a Soc named Bob, who is Cherry's boyfriend, and his friends. Things almost come to blows, but Cherry puts a stop to the confrontation by leaving with Bob. Before going home, Ponyboy talks with Johnny in the vacant lot and falls asleep. He returns home late, and Darry gets so angry that he hits Ponyboy, who runs from the house and goes with Johnny to the park. There, they run into Bob and his Soc friends. The Socs attack, dunking Ponyboy's head into the fountain. Johnny stabs and kills Bob . Dally helps them escape town.

The boys take refuge in an abandoned church in the countryside. There, they cut their hair to disguise themselves and then spend five days talking, smoking cigarettes, and reading from Gone with the Wind . Dally comes to visit them and, on the way back from a restaurant, they find the church in flames. Johnny and Ponyboy run inside to save a group of schoolchildren who have come to the site for a picnic. They save the children but are all injured, including Dally, and are rushed to the hospital. At the hospital, Ponyboy recognizes for the first time how much Darry really cares for him. He also learns that Dally will recover, but Johnny's condition is extremely serious.

The next night is set for a rumble between the greasers and the Socs. Ponyboy talks with Randy , Bob's best friend, who says that he has decided not to fight because after Bob's death he has realized it won't accomplish anything. Ponyboy is not feeling well, and he, too, is skeptical about the purpose of fighting, but he does participate in the rumble, which the greasers win.

Afterwards, Dally and Ponyboy go to visit Johnny in the hospital, where they hear his last words: "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold." In despair over Johnny's death, Dally flees the hospital, robs a grocery store, threatens the police with his unloaded gun, and gets shot dead. Ponyboy, in worse health after the rumble, is unconscious and delirious for several days.

When Ponyboy recovers, the Socs and greasers attend a court hearing. Johnny is vindicated by all witnesses as having acted in self-defense. However, Ponyboy is depressed, his grades begin to suffer, and he almost turns to violence. His English teacher offers him a chance to pass by writing a final essay on the topic of his choice. Ponyboy can't think of a topic, though, and he and Darry fight about his lack of motivation. Sodapop becomes upset, and pleads with the brothers to stop fighting because it is tearing him apart. Ponyboy and Darry agree not to fight anymore.

Back at home that night, Ponyboy examines a copy of Gone with the Wind that Johnny left him. Out of it drops a note, written by Johnny, urging Ponyboy to keep his idealism and never give up hope for a better life. Ponyboy decides to write his essay about his experiences during the last several weeks. With it, he hopes to bring attention to the plight of boys like himself and to honor the memory of the ones who died. The first sentence of the essay is the first sentence of the novel.

The Outsiders

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A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

What is the significance of the novel’s title? Are there any true outsiders in this book?

Johnny’s last words to Pony are a reference to the Frost poem he heard Pony recite in the church. Do you agree with Johnny’s interpretation of the text? How does this poem help readers understand various characters?

Ponyboy likes watching movies and reading books to escape his reality, but they often mirror it instead. How does the various literature in the novel help him understand parts of his own life?

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• The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton

• Literature Notes
• Book Summary
• About The Outsiders
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Character Analysis
• Ponyboy Curtis
• Darry and Sodapop Curtis
• Johnny Cade
• Dallas (Dally) Winston
• Sherri (Cherry) Valance
• Bob Sheldon
• Randy Adderson
• Character Map
• S.E. Hinton Biography
• Critical Essays
• Themes in The Outsiders
• The Movie versus the Book
• Has Society Changed?
• Full Glossary for The Outsiders
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

The Outsiders is about two weeks in the life of a 14-year-old boy. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider.

Ponyboy and his two brothers — Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16 — have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."

The story opens with Pony walking home alone from a movie; he is stopped by a gang of Socs who proceed to beat him up. The Socs badly injure and threaten to kill Ponyboy; however, some of his gang happen upon the scene and run the Socs off. This incident sets the tone for the rest of the story, because the event tells the reader that a fight between these two groups needs no provocation.

The next night Pony and two other gang members, Dallas Winston (Dally) and Johnny Cade, go to a drive-in movie. There they meet Sherri (Cherry) Valance and her friend Marcia, who have left their Soc boyfriends at the drive-in because the boys were drinking. Dally leaves after giving the girls a hard time, but another greaser, Two-Bit Mathews, joins Pony and Johnny. The boys offer to walk the girls home after the movie, but along the way, the girls' boyfriends reappear and threaten to fight the greasers. Cherry stops the fight from happening, and the girls leave with their boyfriends.

Pony and Johnny go to a vacant lot to hang out before heading home. They fall asleep, and when Johnny wakes Pony up it's 2 a.m. Pony runs home, because the time is way past his curfew, and Darry is waiting up. Darry is furious with Pony and, in the heat of the moment, he hits him. Pony runs out of the house and returns to the lot to find Johnny. Pony wants to run away, but instead they go to the park to cool off before heading back home.

At the park, Cherry's and Marcia's boyfriends reappear. Pony and Johnny are outnumbered, and the Socs grab Ponyboy and shove him face first into the fountain, holding his head under the water. Realizing that Ponyboy is drowning, Johnny panics, pulls his switchblade, and kills the Soc, Bob.

Ponyboy and Johnny seek out Dally for help in running away to avoid being arrested for Bob's murder. He gives them $50 and directions to a hideout outside of town. The boys hop a freight train and find the hideout where they are to wait until Dally comes for them. Hiding in an abandoned, rural church, they feel like real outsiders, with their greased, long hair and general hoody appearance. They both cut their hair, and Pony colors his for a disguise. They pass the time in the church playing cards and reading aloud from Gone with the Wind .

Dally shows up after a week, and takes them to the Dairy Queen in Windrixville. Thanks to Dally, the police think that the boys are headed for Texas. Dally also brings them the news that Cherry Valance is now being a spy for the greasers, and helping them out against the Socs. She has also testified that Bob was drunk the night of his death and that she was sure that the killing had been in self-defense.

Johnny decides that he has a chance now, and announces that he wants to turn himself in. They head back to the church and discover that it is on fire. A school group is there, apparently on some kind of outing, and little kids are trapped inside. Without thinking, Pony and Johnny race inside and rescue the kids. As they are handing the kids outside to Dally, the burning roof collapses. Pony barely escapes, but a piece of timber falls on Johnny, burning him badly and breaking his back. The boys, now viewed as heroes, are taken via ambulance back to town, where Pony reunites with his brothers.

Johnny dies of his injuries. Dally is overcome with grief, and he robs a grocery store. He flees the police and calls the gang from a telephone booth, asking them to pick him up in the vacant lot and take him to a hiding place. The police chase Dally to the lot, and as the gang watches, Dally pulls a "black object" from his waistband and the officers shoot him.

The senselessness of all the violent events traumatizes Pony, but he deals with his grief and frustration by writing this book for all of the "Dallys" in the world.

Next About The Outsiders

77 The Outsiders Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best the outsiders topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting the outsiders topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about the outsiders, ❓ the outsiders essay questions.

• Analysis of The Outsiders From the Perspectives of Social Work Theories and Applications The rivalry between the two gangs the Greasers and the Socs turns into the struggle in the context of social problems.
• The Outsiders: Critical Review Thus, this analytical treatise attempts to explicitly and critically review the elements of storytelling, acting, cinematography, editing, sound and style, directing, themes, genre, and the impact of the film on the society, framing and scene […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Ponyboy’s Evolution in Hinton’s “The Outsiders” Two of Ponyboy’s friends die, and he sees a lot of violence in the streets. He is still a part of the gang, and he thinks that violence is a part of their life.
• “Avatar” by Cameron and “The Outsiders” by Coppola: Comparison It is one of the main messages of the film. The movie shows the antagonistic attitude of people to the inhabitants of the planet of Pandora.
• “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton He thinks that the law is a joke. He was the gang leader of the Socs.
• The Outsiders by Susan Eloise Hinton Therefore, it is crucial to get acquainted with the essence of the novel and analyze its main characters to genuinely comprehend Hinton’s view on the challenges of the teenage age within the framework of this […]
• Story Analysis of “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton Cherry’s attraction to Dallas is of essence in the story since it illustrates that the conflict between the two teenage groups is reconcilable.”I had to.
• The Influence of Bad Parenting or the Lack of Parents in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Conflict in “The Outsiders” and the Gap Between the Rich and the Poor
• “The Outsiders”: Ponyboy Compared to Dally
• The Three Life Lessons Learned by Ponyboy in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Wrong Thing for the Wrong Reasons in “Tom Sawyer” and “The Outsiders”
• The Idea of Social Class in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Common Issues of Dependence in “A Separate Peace” and “The Outsiders”
• The Characters of Jack and Ralph in “Lord of the Flies” and the Character of Pony in “The Outsiders”
• The Socioeconomic Triggers of Juvenile Delinquency: Analysis of “The Outsiders”
• The Use of Stereotypes in “The Outsiders”
• Overcoming Obstacles in “The Outsiders” and “The Time Traveler”
• Common Issues Highlighted in “The Outsiders” and “Saints and Roughnecks”
• The Act of Self Defense in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Banning of Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” and Hinton’s “The Outsiders” in U.S. Schools
• The Relationship Between Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• “The Outsiders”: Codependence Analysis of Business Cycles in Europe
• The Similarities Between Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” and Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• The True Meaning of a Hero in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Positive and Negative Impacts of “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Definition of a Social Class in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Ups and Downs of “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• Comparing the Differences Between Johnny and Dally in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Different Types of People in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Development of Two Social Outcasts Into Strong and Dependable Individuals in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “The Outsiders”
• The Five Stages of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• Death Presented in the Novels “Of Mice and Men” and “The Outsiders”
• An Analysis of the Story of Brotherhood in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Hero’s Journey in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• The Story of Conflict Between the Greasers and the Socs in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• The Idea of Social Acceptance in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Concepts of Conformity and Staying True to One’s Self Portrayed in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Character of Cherry Valance in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• The Theme of Alienation in “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Invisible Man,” “Not Like Other Boys,” and “The Outsiders”
• The Rivalry Between “The West Side Story” and “The Outsiders”
• The Significance of Stereotypes Illustrated in Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• The Courage, Selflessness, and Care of Johnny Cade in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Three Deaths in Hinton’s “The Outsiders”
• The Inspiration From the Authors’ Lives in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• The Difference Between the Greasers and Socs in “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
• Events in Life That Can Induce the Loss of Innocence in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders” and Richard Wright’s “Black Boy”
• What Are the Issues Explored and Techniques Used in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”?
• Who Are Your Close Ties in S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”?
• How Does Ponyboy Change Through “The Outsiders”?
• What Are Conflicts of the Main Character Ponyboy Curtis in “The Outsiders”?
• What Is the Moral Lesson of “The Outsiders”?
• How Does the Division Between the East Side and the West Side Represent the Conflict Within “The Outsiders”?
• Why Should “The Outsiders” Be Taught in School?
• Is the Violence Shocking, Predictable, Boring, or Melodramatic in “The Outsiders”?
• What Do Johnny’s Last Words Mean in “The Outsiders”?
• How Does the West Side Story Compare to “The Outsiders”?
• What Is the Difference Between Ponyboy the Narrator and Ponyboy the Character in “The Outsiders”?
• How Do Dally and Johnny Compare in “The Outsiders”?
• What Elements in “The Outsiders” Make the Story More Real?
• How Many Chapters Are in “The Outsiders”?
• What Does Johnny Mean When He Tells Ponyboy “Stay Gold” in “The Outsiders”?
• What Is the Most Important Message in “The Outsiders”?
• How Did the Ponyboy’s Loss of Innocence Begin Before “The Outsiders” Begun?
• What Major Themes Are Seen in “The Outsiders”?
• How Do Cars Fill the Gap of the Differences Between the Two Socioeconomic Groups in “The Outsiders”?
• What Message Is Implied at the End of “The Outsiders”?
• Which Things in the Story Would Have Remained the Same if Ponyboy’s Parents Had Still Been Alive in “The Outsiders”?
• What Draws Cherry to the Greasers in “The Outsiders”?
• What’s the Symbolism of the Switchblade Knife in “The Outsiders”?
• What Are the Reasons Cherry Gets Attracted to the Greasers in “The Outsiders”?
• How Do “The Outsiders” Relate to the Real World?
• What Are Similarities Between Johnny and Dally in “The Outsiders”?
• What Are the Conflicts Introduced by the Reader at the Start of “The Outsiders”?
• Why Did Dally Tell Johnny Not Turn Himself in “The Outsiders”?
• What Messages Was the Author Trying to Convey by Writing “The Outsiders”?
• How Do Ponyboy’s Feelings Toward Randy Reflect the Conflict Between the Socs and the Greasers in “The Outsiders”?
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• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Outsiders — Narrative On The Outsiders

Narrative on The Outsiders

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

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What Professors Owe Our Students Right Now

T uesday, April 23, was the last day of my class for the semester at Barnard College, Columbia University’s sister college, and I woke up to several emails from my students that morning. “I don’t want to come to campus,” they said. “I don’t feel safe.”

I didn’t blame them. Police in riot gear lined up along Broadway. Protesters from outside the university had gathered at the gates, drawn to campus by the hullabaloo. Media narratives swirled about a campus run amuck; no doubt worried parents were texting them to be careful.

Our campus no longer felt like ours.

Days earlier, on April 17, the campus had woken up to dozens of green tents that had sprung up like mushrooms on a campus lawn. Many in the media have blamed the crisis that ensued on the pro-Palestinian students who organized the encampment to protest the war in Gaza and pressure the university to divest from companies doing business in Israel. But as a faculty member watching the conflict unfold, I believe it is not the encampment itself, but the administration’s response to it, that has incited our current crisis.

Hours after the tents appeared, Columbia President Minouche Shafik sat down before a congressional hearing entitled “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism.” For nearly four hours, members of congress grilled Shafik , alleging Columbia had been overrun by “pro-terrorist” activists and accusing the University of being a “hotbed of antisemitism.” Her inquisitors made a variety of false and misleading allegations about the university, its students, and its faculty. In response, Shafik pledged order and discipline.

On Thursday, she made good on that promise. Less than 24 hours after the hearings, dozens of police in riot gear descended on campus , entered the encampment, and carted off over a hundred students in zip ties. The move has ignited a firestorm on our campus, which has now spread to more than a dozen schools across the country.

Faculty have different opinions about the substance of the student protestors’ demands. They have different positions on the crisis in the Middle East. But the administration’s decision to call in the NYPD has provoked widespread outrage. The rapid and overwhelming use of force seems disproportionate to a nonviolent student protest. The resort to force has further inflamed the already difficult dialogues that have animated our campus this year—about Israel and Palestine, academic freedom, and where one person’s right to expression ends and another one’s right to be free of harassment begins. Ultimately, too, it has called into question what we, as professors, owe our students.

In response to the arrests, many of my colleagues have jumped in to support our students, especially those from Barnard, who in addition to being arrested and suspended were summarily evicted from their dorms and now have nowhere to sleep. We organized a rally to protest the arrests and suspensions of peaceful student protesters and to affirm the value of free expression.

Read more: Scenes From Pro-Palestinian Encampments Across U.S. Universities

Students too have responded to the moment. The pro-Palestine encampment is gone—but another one materialized within an hour on an adjacent lawn. The organizers wrote a code of conduct governing the space and have organized interfaith services, a teach-in on antisemitism, and a Passover Seder. A member of Columbia’s Task Force on Antisemitism —a campus body formed in the fall and tasked with “understanding how antisemitism manifests on campus”—arrived with a shank bone for the Seder. Together with faculty, students have trained in de-escalation strategies to protect the campus from provocateurs who have arrived seeking conflict. Student journalists from The Columbia Spectator and KCRW Radio have kept campus—and the world—informed about what is happening, even as the administration has limited press access to campus.

Meanwhile, the administration’s decision to arrest and suspend has not made any of us safer. In fact, it has provoked disorder. A week after the mass arrests, the campus feels under siege—not from the students in the (second) encampment, but from outside forces hellbent on dividing us. These include hostile members of congress (on April 24, House Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference in the center of campus and lectured our students to “ go back to class ”) and inflammatory media narratives about violence and chaos. Proud Boys co-founder Gavin Mcinnes was spotted on campus yesterday, and there are reports of far-right media figures headed for campus as I write this.

These agents of chaos do not share the university’s values. Yet these are exactly the values we owe our students. We owe them serious discussion, not viral soundbites. We owe them interactions based on reason, not force. We owe them a commitment to free inquiry. We can acknowledge that others’ expressions may cause us deep discomfort but also help them to understand the difference between discomfort and real harm. We can help them listen respectfully to those with whom they disagree.

Unfortunately, a panicked university administration has genuflected to the outsiders, and in the process, has failed to stand for what we as an academic community must defend: not just issues concerning Israel or Palestine, but what students deserve above all—the conditions that make reasoned teaching, research, and discussion about this and many other issues possible in the first place. Instead of restoring order, the administration has sown chaos and exposed community members to actual danger. If we are to reclaim our university, faculty and students must do it together. We must work to quell tensions, to support one another, and, with helicopters buzzing overhead and worried texts filling our phones, to forge ahead with the important business of teaching and learning.  

I think we’ve done an admirable job.

On Tuesday before class, in response to the emails arriving in my inbox, I sent my students a message: “Whether you attend remotely or in person, please show up.” Not because I’ll be taking attendance, I told them. Not because it matters for your grade. But because we’ll be talking about today’s readings, the last readings of the semester, and because gathering in a classroom feels like a small act of resistance on a campus besieged.

A half hour later, I walked into the classroom. Dozens of students sat quietly waiting, laptops open. More than a dozen more appeared on zoom, some from their dorm rooms, some from the encampment. Almost every student in the class was there.

They had shown up.

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‘Massive and exciting impact’: show celebrates Spain’s first abstract art museum

Exhibition explores how a Spanish-Filipino artist in 1966 opened a trailblazing cultural outpost in Cuenca’s ‘hanging houses’

In July 1966, as the Beatles were preparing to release Revolver and Spain was approaching the 30th anniversary of the coup that birthed the Franco dictatorship, a Spanish-Filipino artist called Fernando Zóbel threw open the doors of an improbable but visionary cultural outpost.

Based in a clutch of 15th-century houses overhanging a precipitous gorge in the small city of Cuenca, the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español , or Museum of Spanish Abstract Art, had a simple if daunting mission. As Manuel Fontán del Junco, the director of museums and exhibitions at the Juan March Foundation in Madrid and one of the curators of a new exhibition about the institution, puts it, “it was a museum for artists in a country of artists without museums”.

When Zóbel, who was born to a wealthy and powerful family in Manila, arrived in Spain after studying philosophy and literature at Harvard, he was struck by two things. “When he got here, he realised that the Spanish abstract artists were very good but that they had nowhere to show their works when they came back from international exhibitions,” Fontán said. “He also realised that he could collect their works.”

While Spain was home to an entire generation of globally renowned abstract artists – including Eduardo Chillida , Jorge Oteiza , Manolo Millares and Antoni Tàpies – it had done little to honour them.

Zóbel decided to change that by collecting their works and looking for somewhere to show them to the public. A conversation with the painter Gustavo Torner, a native of Cuenca, led to a visit to the city and the discovery that its famous Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses) had been renovated but were standing empty. Immediately struck by the houses as a possible site for a museum, Zóbel managed to persuade the mayor to let him use the properties in return for a symbolic rent.

The museum that opened on 1 July 1966 was not only Spain’s first abstract art museum but also, according to Fontán, the “first artist-run space in Spain, and one of the first in the world”. Although the gallery was hailed by the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York as “the most beautiful small museum in the world” – a description that gives the exhibition its title – its importance transcended visual art.

As well as showcasing works by the likes of Chillida, Tàpies, Luis Feito and Antonio Saura , the museum operated independently from the cultural framework of the Franco regime and helped transform Cuenca into a hub of artistic production and education.

“I think we can almost say that the Cuenca museum was the first democratic museum in the country because it didn’t ask anyone’s permission to do anything,” Fontán said. “It’s true that if it had gone against the regime, it would have been shut down. It was created on the fringes of the Franco regime’s official cultural policy, but it was dreamed into being by a group of artists, led by Zóbel.”

He said Zóbel and his friends, some of whom were clandestine communists, were united by “a shared desire to create a free space with a library and with works of art where people could make the transition to modernity”.

“The museum had a massive and very exciting impact: artists came to live in Cuenca; successive generations were weaned on the museum and its library – which has things like Ginsberg’s Howl or the complete works of TS Eliot – and there were also monographs and contemporary art catalogues and essays,” Fontán said.

“Just as importantly, there were subscriptions to the important international art magazines of the day, which meant that a little Spanish guy in Cuenca in 1966 could get them. It was easier to get them in Cuenca than in Madrid.”

Zóbel, who would have been 100 this year, donated the museum, its collection and its library to the Juan March Foundation three years before he died in 1984.

Fontán said the aim of the show was to tell “the unlikely story of an artist who helped other artists create the first space for modern and contemporary art in our country”.

He added that without Zóbel’s trailblazing vision – and without the artists and works and ideas he gathered inside the Hanging Houses almost 60 years ago – Spain would have taken far longer to establish itself as the cultural engine it became after the post-Franco return to democracy.

“What Zóbel did allowed Cuenca, this small city, to move ahead 20 or 25 years before the political experiment of the Spanish transition. Let’s say that the institutionality of art in Spain – that world of criticism, fairs, galleries, museums, collections – would have come later if it hadn’t been for this museum.”

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‘Not even a pipe dream’: John Akomfrah represents Britain at Venice Biennale

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Ron’s Place: Birkenhead flat of outsider art granted Grade II listing

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Campus protests over Gaza could affect graduation; Steve Inkseep interviews Blinken

Suzanne Nuyen

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Today's top stories

Hundreds of students have been arrested across the country as pro-Palestinian protests spread nationwide . It's been one week since police cleared an encampment of demonstrators at Columbia University. The students quickly reestablished their encampment. Since then, schools like UT Austin and the City College of New York have organized similar protests against Israel's war in Gaza.

Georgia State Patrol officers detain a demonstrator on the campus of Emory University during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Thursday, April 25 in Atlanta. Mike Stewart/AP hide caption

Georgia State Patrol officers detain a demonstrator on the campus of Emory University during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Thursday, April 25 in Atlanta.

• Columbia officials on Wednesday gave students 48 hours to disperse, or they would consider "alternative options," NPR's Adrian Florido tells Up First . That deadline is now looming. Protesters suspect they will be forcibly removed, as the encampment is taking place at the center of the school's graduation ceremony location. USC has already canceled its main graduation ceremony. Florido says other schools may begin to do the same because student protesters say they aren't going anywhere.
• Eleanor Stein is a college professor who protested in the Vietnam War as a student in 1968. On Morning Edition, s he  compares her past experience with the what's happening at Columbia today.

After hearing arguments yesterday, a majority of the Supreme Court seemed skeptical of granting former President Donald Trump immunity from prosecution for criminal acts. Trump's lawyers argue that the steps he took to stay in power after President Biden won the 2020 election were part of his official duties, thus, he can't be prosecuted for them. Here's everything you need to know about what the court's decision would mean for Trump — and the presidency as a whole.

• NPR's Nina Totenberg analyzes how the conservative Supreme Court justices' experiences could shape their opinion on Trump's immunity.

New York state's top court has overturned the 2020 felony sex crime conviction of former Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that Weinstein did not receive a fair trial in part because the trial judge allowed women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case. Weinstein was one of the most high-profile men accused of sexual assault during the #MeToo movement. Though the appeals court ordered a new trial, Weinstein will remain in prison for a separate conviction from a California sexual assault trial. Editor's note: This report includes descriptions of sexual assault.

• The New York trial judge allowed witnesses to testify to prior "bad acts" under the Molineux rule , whose precedent dates back to the 90s, NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas reports. But legal experts tell her allowing Molineux witnesses leads to a very subjective decision , which makes a conviction easier to challenge. 

From our hosts

This essay was written by Steve Inskeep , Morning Edition and Up First host. Steve and the Morning Edition team have returned to China — and Steve has noticed it's a lot different than when he was last there five years ago. He'll share some of his observations and what he's heard from locals on Morning Edition today and in the coming days.

Delivery rider in Beijing, China, on April 24, 2024. Stefen Chow hide caption

Delivery rider in Beijing, China, on April 24, 2024.

It's been hard for outsiders to get a firsthand view of China in recent years. First, the country sealed itself off from the pandemic; then, many expatriates left China; and now, though pandemic restrictions were long since lifted, journalists and others don't get in quite as often as at some other times. So we've taken a chance to look around while covering diplomatic meetings: this week's visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

One of the ways we've looked at the economy is by talking to delivery drivers, who whiz through the streets on silent motorbikes (all of them electric, by law), delivering meals, groceries, clothes, water cooler tanks and almost anything else. The pay is better than some other jobs — some drivers left their home villages to earn more in the city — though one driver, Liu Shiwei, said business isn't good . As he ate a simple lunch of noodles and beer, he said orders were down, and too many drivers competed for them.

Why are there so many drivers? Liu thinks it's because there's not enough work elsewhere, and he may be right. Last year China's youth unemployment soared so high the government stopped publishing statistics. That's just one sign of the strains on the world's second-largest economy, which has not recovered from the pandemic in the way many of its people wanted.

Steve sits down with Secretary of State Antony Blinken following a meeting between Blinken and China's President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese officials. Listen to Steve's exclusive interview with Blinken here .

Weekend picks

Protagonist Zau, flanked by the Masks of the Moon and Sun he'll use to fight through the enchanting world of Kenzera. Surgent Studios hide caption

Protagonist Zau, flanked by the Masks of the Moon and Sun he'll use to fight through the enchanting world of Kenzera.

Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:

Movies: The trailers for the Zendaya-led Challengers have been steamy. But the Pop Culture Happy Hour hosts say this terrific new film is so much more than a sexy tennis movie.

TV : Netflix's Baby Reindeer is a dark, haunting story of a comedian who is cruelly stalked by a mentally ill woman. NPR's Glen Weldon writes that it's both troubling and troublesome — because it depicts queer sexuality as something that happens to people.

Books : Amy Tan, best known for writing The Joy Luck Club , didn't set out to write a book in 2016. She was depressed with the state of the world and trying to lose herself in nature through bird watching. That experience inspired her latest book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles .

Music: St. Vincent tells NPR that her newest album, All Born Screaming , is an exercise in "tension and release" — with some moments that play as sonic "jump scares."

Theater: The new Broadway play Stereophonic features music from Arcade Fire's Will Butler. It offers a hyper-realistic look at the costs and glories of making art.

Games : Tales of Kenzera: ZAU has everything you love in a video game: sprawling levels, frictionless movement, frantic combat, and a lush soundtrack. Moreover, its story provides a deep lesson on grief and the power we hold in the face of indescribable loss.

Quiz: The results of each week's NPR news quiz can hit you right in the gut. I was called "wholly adequate" for my 9/1 score. How will you do ?

3 things to know before you go

Rick Mangnall remembers the time he was helped after a serious car accident by two Hispanic men in an old white pickup track. Rick Mangnall hide caption

Rick Mangnall remembers the time he was helped after a serious car accident by two Hispanic men in an old white pickup track.

• Rick Mangnall was stranded on the road in 2008 after a serious car accident. He says he'll never forget the gesture of comfort his unsung hero gave him when two men in a white pickup truck stopped to help. 
• More than 280 popular musicians, including Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Diplo, have signed a letter urging lawmakers to reform the concert ticketing system . 
• A Chicago woman is accusing American Airlines of racial discrimination after a flight attendant allegedly confronted her for using the plane's first-class bathroom.

This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi .

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Review: In ‘Still,’ Confessions Doom Two Reunited Lovers

Despite a juicy premise, this Colt Coeur production, starring Tim Daly and Jayne Atkinson, never manages to take off.

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By Rhoda Feng

In her essay “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” the novelist Ursula K. Le Guin hymned the bag as the proper shape for stories: it “is full of beginnings without ends, of initiations, of losses, of transformations and translations, and far more tricks than conflicts.”

One of the characters in Lia Romeo’s “Still,” a writer, carries just such a bag — a possible wink to her fellow novelist. The tote is large enough to house a ukulele, an avocado and a package of macadamia nuts — all of which are divulged in the play’s single moment of spontaneity — but its owner can’t seem to effect any Le Guinian “transformations” or “tricks.” There is a sense of stasis to the aptly named two-hander, which never ripens from a situation into a story.

“Still,” a Colt Coeur production that opened recently at DR2 Theater in the East Village, begins with two characters, former flames, meeting in a bar. Mark (a suave Tim Daly) and Helen (Jayne Atkinson) are in their mid-60s and haven’t seen each other in years. Sharing a bottle of wine, they shoot the breeze about their children and recent divorce (him) and new book and cancer diagnosis (her).

At first, they are content to pretend their past romance has subsided into a platonic relationship, but as the alcohol goes to their heads, they admit to carrying a torch for each other. A highlight of the show is their seduction scene: It’s the first I’ve seen onstage that unabashedly invokes the corporeal indignities of aging. The director Adrienne Campbell-Holt has Mark and Helen walk slowly toward each other while making sotto voce confessions: “I’m missing the nail on my right big toe,” “I have three fake teeth,” “I have arthritis in my knees.” Do I need to spell out what happens next?

Alexander Woodward’s softly lit set spins to reveal a hotel room. Resting against each other in bed, Mark and Helen proceed, post-coitally this time, with their confessions. Mark, who lives in Colorado, is considering relocating to Washington, D.C., to run for Congress, as a “moderate” Republican. “I wish you’d told me that before we ——” Helen says, gesturing limply to the bed with rumpled sheets. She considers herself a liberal, but political differences aren’t the only thing on her mind.

Part of the reason their relationship ended was because she had an abortion. Despite what Mark told her decades ago, he wanted Helen to have the baby. She, on the other hand, had felt — and still feels — that it would have been a mistake. “When we walked out of that clinic, I was — scraped out, and I was sad. But I felt so light, knowing that … all my cells were my own again,” she tells him. The stage is thus set for a real conflict.

Romeo is too smart to turn her characters into slogans for and against abortion rights, but neither does she do anything more than scatter the seeds of a setup. Precisely when we want her to floor the accelerator, she brakes, steps out of her vehicle and abandons her characters. Will Helen publish a memoir about her abortion? Will the book torpedo Mark’s chances of being elected to Congress?

We’ll never know. The play doesn’t end so much as peter off, like the volume dying down in a pair of headphones. That’s too bad because the premise of “Still” is juicy enough for one of Helen’s novels. She may one day turn it into a sequel to her current best seller, but as she knows better than anyone, those can take a vexingly long time to write.

Still Through May 18 at the DR2 Theater, Manhattan; coltcoeur.org . Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes.