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The Outsiders Chapter Questions 1 - 12
Directions: Answer the following questions on line paper. Each question should be numbered and answered in complete
sentences; restate and answer. Be sure to cite proof of evidence when needed in RACE form.
Chapter 1
1. Who is the narrator of The Outsiders?
2. What two groups of teenagers does Ponyboy describe? Compare the two groups using evidence from The
Outsiders.
3. Based on what has been read, why did the Socs beat up Ponyboy?
4. Explain why did Ponyboy have a hard time with his oldest brother?
5. Describe how are Ponyboy and his friends like you? Different than you?
6. Darry is never sorry for anything he does, says Ponyboy. Is this a true understanding of Darry? Explain your answer.
7. What does Ponyboy mean when he says Sodapop “gets drunk on just plain living?” Explain using evidence from the
text.
8. Where do you think names like “Greasers” and “Socs” came from? Explain your answer using evidence from the text.
9. How would this story be different if Ponyboy and his gang were part of the Socs?
10. Do you think Darry loves Ponyboy? Explain.
Chapter 2
1. Where do the Socs and Greasers hang out?
2. What does each group do for fun?
3. How do Greasers learn more about the Socs?
4. What kind of rules do gang members follow in fights?
5. How could Cherry be a problem for Dally?
6. Why did Dally want to embarrass Marcia and Cherry by saying inappropriate things?
7. Explain what Ponyboy means when he describes Johnny as the “gang’s pet” using evidence from the text.
8. Why is it so important to Ponyboy’s gang to take up for each other no matter what someone did?
9. Why do you think Dally, who had seen people killed on the streets in New York, looked sick when Johnny was beaten
up by the Socs?
10. Do you think Cherry was right when she told Ponyboy, “Things are rough all over?” Explain using evidence from the
text.
Chapter 3
1. Why do you think Ponyboy and Cherry become good friends?
2. Do the characters in this book seem “real?” Why or why not? How does the author try to make them believable?
3. Why did Cherry and Marcia leave their dates? Explain using evidence from the text.
4. Why do you think Darry hit Ponyboy?
5. Why are the Socs cold and unfeeling?
6. Is Ponyboy right when he says that Darry would like to put him in a home?
7. Ponyboy describes how the different boys in their gang handle the fact that they are greasers. Soda ignores it,
Dallas is hard and mean, and Two-Bit pretends to enjoy it. Why do they all respond so differently?
8. In this chapter, Ponyboy talks about how his mom and dad had always had a hard time making ends meet. He
says, “When you’re thirteen in our neighborhood, you know the score.” What does he mean?
9. At the end of the chapter, Ponyboy says, “Things gotta get better, I figured. They couldn’t get worse. I was wrong.”
Based on what’s happened so far in the story, predict what will happen next. Explain using evidence from the text.
Chapter 4
1. Who (Greasers or Socs) do you think was wrong in the situation in this chapter?
2. If you had been one of the Socs, how would you have felt after Bob was stabbed?
3. If you had been one of the Greasers, how would you have felt after Bob was stabbed?
4. Why did Ponyboy turn to Dally for help? Explain using evidence from the text.
5. Dally is kind to Johnny and Pony when they come to him for help. Explain why Dally, who is usually unkind, would help
the boys.
6. Describe how you would feel if you were Ponyboy on the train to Windrixville. Explain using evidence from the text.
7. Suppose Ponyboy and Johnny had come to you for help the night Johnny stabbed the Soc. What advice would you
give the boys?
Chapter 5
1. What did Johnny buy at the store?
2. Describe how the boys changed their appearances. Explain using evidence from the text.
3. How did Ponyboy and Johnny pass the time at the church?
4. What was the cause of Ponyboy’s illness on the fifth day at the church?
5. How do you think Soda and Darry are feeling about Ponyboy being gone?
6. Describe an internal conflict that Soda and Darry may be having at this time.
7. What does Dally tell the boys about home? Explain using evidence from the text.
8. Who is the spy Dally tells Pony about?
9. What are the results of Dally’s visit with the war council?
Chapter 6
1. Do you think Dally's parents have influenced the way he is such as his personality? Explain.
2. Why doesn't Dally want Johnny to turn himself in?
3. What "other side" of Dallas is revealed in this chapter?
4. What's your own definition of a hero? Do the three boys prove themselves to be heroes, according to your definition?
Explain using evidence from the text.
5. Why do you think Johnny wasn't scared, despite the obvious danger?
Chapter 7
1.
What do you think the relationship between Pony and Darry will be like now? Give some specific examples from
Chapter 7 of how it is changing (pp. 100-113).
2.
What condition is Johnny in after the fire? Explain using evidence from the text.
3.
Why would being crippled be worse for Johnny than someone else?
4.
"Maybe people are younger when they are asleep". What do you think about this comment? What does it mean?
5.
Why would Two-Bit think Johnny, Dally, and Pony were heroes all along, before they saved the kids?
6.
What was Bob's ‘real' problem, according to Randy? Do you think this was the real reason behind his actions?
7.
Why did Pony think it was better to see socs as "just guys"? What do you think he means by this?
Chapter 8
1.
How does what the doctor first says foreshadow Johnny's condition?
2.
"We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason". What do you think Pony means,
and what is the reason?
3.
Describe Johnny’s attitude towards death.
4.
What does Two-Bit mean when he says, "we could get along without anyone but Johnny"?
5. Put yourself in Johnny's place. If you knew that you were going to die in the near future HOW WOULD YOUR FEEL?
WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE TIME THAT YOU HAD LEFT?
6. What does Dally ask Two-Bit for? What do you think that he will do with it? Explain thoroughly.
7. If Darry didn't have Soda and Pony, why would he be a soc? Explain using evidence from the text.
8. What does Cherry mean when she says Bob "wasn't just anyone"?
Chapter 9
1. When Pony asks what kind of a world it is, what comment is he making about how society judges people?
2. Even though Pony does not want to be a greaser and does not like many of the things that greasers do, the rumble
allows him to be proud to be a greaser. Explain this contradiction using evidence from the text.
3. What is the difference between Tim Sheppard's gang and Ponyboy's? Explain how Pony feels this difference might
give his group the upper hand?
4. What are the rules of the rumble? (pp. 140-142).
5. Why does Darry hate Paul Holden so much?
6. What do you think Johnny's last words to Pony mean? What does he want for Pony? Explain using evidence from the
text.
Chapter Ten
1. How does Pony's dreaming, or lying to himself, finally work in this chapter? Explain using evidence from the text.
2. Why is what happened to Johnny so difficult for Dally to handle? Explain using evidence from the text.
3. What happened to Dally? Why do you think he wanted this fate? Explain using evidence from the text.
Chapter Eleven
1. Explain why Pony might rather anyone's hate than their pity? Explain using evidence from the text.
2. What do you think is going on with Ponyboy when he says, "Johnny didn't have anything to do with Bob's getting
killed"? Explain using evidence from the text.
Chapter Twelve
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What 'circumstances' does Ponyboy’s teacher refer to? What circumstances does Ponyboy think his teacher is
referring to?
Why doesn't Ponyboy feel scared when the socs approach him and he threatens them with a broken bottle? How is
this a dramatic change from the Ponyboy we have seen up until this point?
What does Darry mean when he says, "you don't just stop living because you lose someone"? Explain using evidence
from the text.
Explain how Darry and Ponyboy play tug of war with Soda. Explain using evidence from the text.
What do we learn was so special about Johnny? Explain using evidence from the text.
What does Ponyboy end up doing for his English assignment? Why does he write this? What is he trying to show?
Explain using evidence from the text.