Tolog Review: The Outsiders

The Outsiders 
by S.E. Hinton
reviewed by Maya Mercade

The book The Outsiders is about a gang of Greasers living on the East side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ponyboy, "Pony", is the main character and lives with his two older brothers Darrel "Darry" and Sodapop "Soda" Curtis. Darry is the oldest and watches over his brothers as their guardian because both of their parents had passed away in a car accident. In this gang are seven members, Pony, Soda, Darry, Johnny, Dally, Two-Bit, and Steve. The Greasers have an ongoing rivalry throughout the book with the rich kids of neighborhood, the Socs. 

This rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs leads to fights and trouble throughout the book. Pony and Johnny found themselves to become friends with two Soc girls that go to their school, Cherry and Marcia. Cherry and Pony develop a very strong friendship along the way and she acts as an ally toward the Greaers whenever the two gangs would get into any trouble. The fights between them start to become more and more intense along the way. One night when Pony and Johnny were at the park they were jumped by a group of Socs. They tried to defend themselves but the two were no match for the group of guys. One of them tries to drown Pony in a fountain and Johnny ends up stabbing the Soc while both gangs fled from the scene. The boys continued with a wild journey trying to escape the police with the help of Dally. The rest of the novel goes about with Johnny unfortunately passing away after being hit by a piece of timber in a burning building, Pony having to go to court because Johnny killed one of the Socs, and Dally also passing away after being shot when he robbed a liquor store. 

Pony's biggest worry after the court trial was that he was going to be sent to a boys home and he did not want to be separated from his brothers. Luckily he was not and his life went back to normal. Except that it didn't. Pony seems to be losing his mind, his balance, and his good grades. When his English teacher tells him to write an essay – one from the heart, about something meaningful to him – he realizes that he can share his story with everyone, and maybe make a difference in the lives of others. So, turns out, the story is really Ponyboy's English homework.