Summary Of The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

In the coming-of-age novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the story takes place in a small Oklahoma town in 1965, in which there are two teenage rival groups—the privileged Socs and the lower-class Greasers—divided by their socioeconomic status. Ponyboy is a Greaser boy, and after a fight with his older brother and fellow Greaser Darry, he runs away with Johnny to escape their abusive families, However, they are stopped by a group of Socs for talking to two Soc girls, Cherry and Marcia, and Johnny ends up murdering one of the Soc members. Fearful, the two boys hide in an abandoned church with supplies from a Greaser named Dally. After a week, Dally comes back and reports what’s happening back at home. Johnny and Ponyboy, disgruntled, announce that they’ll turn themselves in to the police—however, while on their way they spot the abandoned church on fire with children trapped inside, and heroically rescue them.

He is reunited with his gang and learns that he and Johnny will be put on trial. While Johnny is recovering, the Greasers and Socs have a rumble over their territory and the Greasers win. Sadly, Johnny does not make it and dies from the injuries. Ponyboy is in denial, and what makes it even worse is that Dally has been gunned down by the police from robbing a grocery store—he is now dead, too. In shock, Ponyboy passes out, and when he is well, attends his hearing. The judge declares that he will not be sent to a boy’s home and he can live with Darry again. After all these moving events have taken place, Ponyboy feels changed. He decides to tell his story for an English paper, which is actually the novel The Outsiders