The Outsiders
By S.E. Hinton
What’s a Greaser?
• Listen to “Rock this Town”
• What do you picture the kids in this song doing?
• How does this song make you feel?
Look at Hollywood images of greasers.
What do the people in these pictures have in common?
Movie Depictions of Greasers
During Reading
• Write definitions for vocabulary words from the book.
Infer their meaning using clues from the text.
After Reading Chapter 1:
Discussion
• Who is the narrator?
• Why doesn’t the author use standard English?
• Compare the two groups of teenagers described by
Ponyboy.
• How are Ponyboy and his friends the same
as/different than you?
The Outsiders
By S.E. Hinton
Chapter 2
Before Reading Chapter 2
• Choice 1: Randomly pick the name of a person in
the gang.
• Write a description of that person. Use evidence from
the book.
or
Draw and label a picture of one of the kids in the gang.
Choice 2: Complete a short open-book quiz. (page 12,
Student Packet)
During Reading
• Write definitions for vocabulary words from the book.
Infer their meaning using clues from the text.
After Reading Chapter 2
• Jigsaw: Complete a description of one character
from the gang, randomly chosen.
• Outsiders- Character Map.doc
• Review characters. Online quiz: Which Outsider are
you?
The Outsiders
By S.E. Hinton
Chapter 3
Quick Write Topics
(Choose 1)
•
1. What does Cherry explain as the difference between the socs and the greasers?
•
2. What does Ponyboy mean on p. 39 when he says "Johnny and I understood each other
without saying anything"? Have you ever had a relationship with someone who you
understood, or who understood you, without having to say anything?
•
3. When and how did Pony's parents die?
•
4. What happens when Pony comes home after his curfew?
•
5. Why does Johnny like it better when his father is hitting him?
•
6. At the end of the chapter, how does the author foreshadow that bad things are to
come?
•
7. What would your advice be to Johhny and Ponyboy if they'd come to you for help
Chapter 5 Quickwrites
1. Why does Johnny think Dally is a hero (p.
76)? Do you think Dally is a hero based on what he
did?
2. Examine Robert Frost's poem, Nothing Gold can
Stay. What do you think the poem is saying? How
might this apply to the characters in the novel?
3. Who's the spy for the greasers? Does this
surprise you? Why or why not?
Chapter 6 Quickwrites
1. Why doesn't Dally want Johnny to turn himself
in?
2. What "other side" of Dallas is revealed in this
chapter?
3. What's your own definition of a hero? Do the
three boys prove themselves to be heroes, according
to your definition? Explain.
Chapter 7 Quickwrites
1. Why would Two-Bit think Johnny, Dally, and
Pony were heroes all along; before they saved the
kids?
2. What was Bob's 'real' problem, according to
Randy (p.116)?
3. Why did Pony think it was better to see socs as
"just guys" on p. 118? What do you think he means
by this?
Rules of a Rumble pg 141
Rules of a Rumble pg 141
Fists only
If you run, you lose
2 people (1 from either side) start the fight
Gangs (like Sheppard and Brumly) might gang up on
the same side
Chapter 8 Quickwrites
1. How does what the doctor first says, on page 119,
foreshadow Johnny's condition?
2. "We needed Johnny as much as he needed the
gang. And for the same reason" (p.121). What do
you think Pony means, and what is the reason?
3. If Darry didn't have Soda and Pony, why would he
be a soc?
Chapter 9 Quickwrites
1. On the bottom of p.133, when Pony asks what kind of a world
it is, what comment is he making about how society judges
people?
2. Why do the boys fight (p. 133)? Why is Pony different?
3. What do you think Johnny's last words (p. 148) to Pony mean?
Chapters 8 & 9 Quiz
• http://www.funtrivia.com/html5/index.cfm?qid=23
3336
Chapter 10 Quickwrites
1. How does Pony's dreaming, or lying to
himself, finally work in this chapter?
2. Why was Johnny's dying so difficult for
Dally to handle?
3. Why do you think Dally would have wanted
to die?
Chapter 11 & 12
Quickwrites
1. What 'circumstances' do Ponyboy's teacher refer to? What circumstances does
Ponyboy think his teacher is referring to?
2. Why doesn't Ponyboy feel scared when the socs approach him and he threatens
them with a broken bottle (p.170-171)? How is this a dramatic change from the
ponyboy we have seen up until this point?
3. What does Pony mean “I’d rather have anybody’s hate than their pity.” (p. 168)
4. Explain how Darry and Ponyboy play tug of war with Soda.
5. What do we learn was so special about Johnny (p.178)?
6. What does Ponyboy end up doing for his English assignment?
Memoirs about Gang
Involvement
• http://www.youthcomm.org/topics/gangs.html
Resources
• Venn Diagram: Greaser vs. Soc Problems
Support Links
• Good Outsiders discussion questions by chapter
• Multiple-Choice book review quiz and chapter
summaries.
• Multiple-Choice Quiz: more obscure details from
the book to practice using the text as a reference.
• Jeopardy Review Game