Chapter 1 Key Points:
Ponyboy Curtis, the narrator of the story and a fourteen-year-old boy who wears his hair long and calls himself a greaser--one of the poor, tough gang of boys who fights with the Socs, ("Socials") a gang of rich, violent boys.
That night, Pony wonders why the Socs hate the Greasers so much, and why Darry has to work so hard. Life seems unfair. Soda tells Pony not to take Darry's nagging seriously: Darry works too hard, and is only trying to protect Ponyboy. Pony wishes he believed that Darry really loved him.
Chapter 2: Key Points
Pony goes to the movies with Dally and Johnny.
Ponyboy Curtis, the narrator of the story and a fourteen-year-old boy who wears his hair long and calls himself a greaser--one of the poor, tough gang of boys who fights with the Socs, ("Socials") a gang of rich, violent boys.
- His parents were killed in a car crash, and he is only allowed to stay with Darry and Soda if they all behave.
- Pony gets good grades in school, but “doesn’t use his head”
- When he is almost two blocks from home he gets jumped by a group of Socs in a Corvair.The Socs tease him, asking him if he needs a haircut, then saying, "How'd you like that haircut to begin just below the neck?"
- The gang comes to his rescue.
- Pony sometimes thinks that Darry is cold and unfeeling.
- We meet the members of the gang:
- Steve Randle, Soda's best friend
- Two-Bit Mathews never stops joking around
- Dallas Winston is tougher and meaner than the rest of them
- Johnny Cade, the sad, small, frightened pet of the gang.
That night, Pony wonders why the Socs hate the Greasers so much, and why Darry has to work so hard. Life seems unfair. Soda tells Pony not to take Darry's nagging seriously: Darry works too hard, and is only trying to protect Ponyboy. Pony wishes he believed that Darry really loved him.
Chapter 2: Key Points
Pony goes to the movies with Dally and Johnny.
- At the theatre, Dally sits behind two girls and talks dirty loudly until one of them tells her to leave them alone.
- Dally comes back with Cokes, but when he tries to put his arm around Cherry, she throws hers in his face.
- Johnny tells Dally to leave Cherry alone. Ponyboy is shocked.
- Johnny cannot get over the beating the Socs gave him that one night.
- Cherry and Pony go to buy popcorn, Pony feels nervous because people are staring at him and Cherry, but he tells her the story.
- Now, Johnny is so afraid that he carries a switchblade, and Pony knows Johnny would rather die or kill someone than be beaten like that again.
- Pony enjoys watching a movie with a nice girl, looking back on that night he realizes that he had no idea how tough the Socs' lives really were.
Chapter 3: Key Points
Chapter 3: Key Points
After the movie, Marcia and Cherry need a ride home, so Two-Bit convinces them to let him drive them. As Pony talks to Cherry, he realizes that she is not so different from a Greaser. He asks her if money is the only thing that separates them. She says, "It's not just money...We're sophisticated to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us."
After the movie, Marcia and Cherry need a ride home, so Two-Bit convinces them to let him drive them. As Pony talks to Cherry, he realizes that she is not so different from a Greaser. He asks her if money is the only thing that separates them. She says, "It's not just money...We're sophisticated to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us."
- Cherry and Pony realize that they can talk to each other
- Pony tells Cherry about Sodapop's horse, Mickey Mouse
- Cherry tells Pony that she can see he is a thoughtful person.
- A blue Mustang comes towards them. It is their boyfriends' car.
- Cherry asks Pony about Darry, and suddenly Pony explodes. "He's as hard as a rock and about as human...he thinks I'm a pain in the neck. He likes Soda--everybody likes Soda--but he can't stand me."
- The Socs reappear in the blue Mustang.
- Pony feels Johnny trembling next to him.
- Cherry tells Pony that she can't talk to him at school--they just aren't part of the same world.
- Pony lies under the stars with Johnny, wondering why life for Greasers is so hard.
- When Pony wakes up it's the middle of the night. He runs home, and sure enough, Darry is waiting up for him, very angry.
- Darry slaps Pony hard.
Chapter 4: Key Points
As they walk through the park in the darkness, they hear a car horn. Five Socs hop out of their blue Mustang, and Pony can see they are very drunk. Johnny's face goes blank--only Pony can see the fear in his eyes.
- A Soc tries to drown Pony
- Johnny kills Bob.
- The boys go to see Dally at Beck Merrill’s
- Dally gives the boys some money, a plan and a gun,
- The boys catch the train to Windrixville and find the abandoned church
- The boys are so tired that they fall asleep almost immediately.
Chapter 5: Key Points
- At the church in Windrixville, Ponyboy wakes up disoriented
- Johnny has brought supplies, including a copy of Gone with the Wind
- The boys decide to cut and bleach their hair:Pony boy is horrified.They lose their “greaser” identity.
- For the next few days, they read Gone with the Wind and talk
- Johnny thinks that Dally is gallant, like the Southern gentlemen in the story
- One morning, the boys watch the sun rise.It reminds Pony of a poem by Robert Frost, "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
- On the fifth day, Dally arrives and tells them it's safe for them to come out of the church
- There is an all-out war going on between the Socs and greasers
Chapter 6: Key Points
On the way back to the church, Pony wonders why Cherry wants to be their spy. Johnny announces that he is going to turn himself in. At first Dally is angry, but he explains what prison can do to you. We see how much Dally cares about Johnny.
- The boys see that the church is on fire and immediately think they must have started the fire with a lit cigarette.
- Without thinking, Ponyboy and Johnny run toward the fire to rescue the children trapped inside.
- "That was the only time I can think of when I saw him (Johnny) without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes."
- Pony wakes up in an ambulance. Johnny is in critical condition.
- Darry and Soda come to the hospital.When Pony sees Darry's face, he knows that Darry does love him after all, "I had taken the long way around, but I was finally home. To stay."
Chapter 7: Key Points
In the hospital reporters interview the Curtis brothers.
- Dally is burned but will be okay, but Johnny's back is.
- The brothers go home. The next morning, Pony is making breakfast when Steve and Two-Bit show up. They tease him about his hair, but he is happy to see them anyway.
- The newspapers have been calling Pony a hero. Pony reads in the paper that Cherry and Randy, Bob's friend, both support the greasers, saying that Johnny had killed Bob in self-defense.
- The brothers may still get separated.
- Pony remembers his nightmare.He asks Soda about his girlfriend and feels bad when he learns that Sandy left. Pony knows how much Soda loved her.
- < > takes care of Ponyboy during the day. Pony likes Two-Bit: he sees things realistically, and he tells funny jokes. At the Tasty Freeze a blue Mustang pulls up near them. Randy pulls Ponyboy aside and tells him he doesn't want to fight anymore, it doesn't do any good--it only hurts people.
Chapter 8: Key Points
- "Let them go in...It can't hurt now." Pony realizes that this means Johnny is going to die
- Johnny tells Pony he's very scared, "I wouldn't mind it so much if there wasn't so much stuff I ain't done yet and so many things I ain't seen. It's not fair."
- Johnny’s mother arrives, but he refuses to see her and then passes out from exhaustion
- Dally will be ok, physically.He gets very angry when he realizes how bad things look for Johnny.
- He takes Two-Bit's knife, planning to get even with the Socs in the rumble.
- Pony admits that he has a bad feeling about the fight.
- When they run into Cherry she tells Pony that she can't go see Johnny because he killed Bob.
- Ponyboy gets angry at her, but deep down he knows he still likes her though--he doesn't really believe in hating someone just because they're part of a group you're supposed to hate.
Chapter 9: Key Points
- Ponyboy is sick
- The boys all get dressed up before the rumble
- Ponyboy wonders, "What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is a reputation for being a hood, and greasy hair?”
- Darry realizes that Ponyboy may be too weak to fight, but Pony insists
- Pony realizes that appearances make people judge them differently from Socs
- Darry offers to begin the fight, when his old friend, Paul, steps forward
- Pony realizes he doesn't hate Socs anymore and he doesn't want to fight like this. He wants people to be friends as individuals, not hate each other in groups.
- Dally shows up and the fight begins.
- Though the greasers get beaten up badly, they win the fight.
- Dally drags Ponyboy to see Johnny in the hospital where they find out that Johnny is dying.
- Johnny tells Pony to "stay gold," like in the poem, and then he dies.
- Dally becomes hysterical and runs out of the room.