The Outsiders Reading Check
Chapter 1
Setting
Important Events
Picture
1. What do you know about Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry?
2. Who are the Socs? Who are the Greasers?
3. How does Ponyboy’s relationships with Sodapop and Darry differ? Explain.
4. Why is the “gang” important to Johnny?
5. How does Ponyboy react to what Sodapop tells him about Darry?
6. What does Sodapop mean on p.18 when he says, “I lie to myself all the time?”
Do you ever lie to yourself? Why?
The Outsiders Reading Check
Chapter 2
Setting
Important Events
Picture
1. Are the names Ponyboy and Sodapop nicknames? Explain.
2. Who are Cherry and Marcia?
3. Why doesn’t Ponyboy like referring to Sodapop as a dropout?
4. What is Ponyboy comparing Two-Bit to when he calls him “chessy cat” on p.27?
5. What literary device does the author use to describe Johnny’s mugging
[pgs.31-34]?
6. What happened to Johnny?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 3
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. What does Cherry explain as the difference between the Socs and the
Greasers?
2. Why don’t the Socs feel anything and the Greasers feel too violently?
3. What does Ponyboy mean on p.39 when he says, “Johnny and I understand
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? Why is that important?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 4
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. How did the author foreshadow that Johnny would use his knife in chapter 2?
2. What would your advice be to Johnny and Ponyboy if they’d come to you for help
instead of Dally? Explain.
3. Do you think Bob’s death was justice? Explain.
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 5
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. Who does Johnny think is a hero [p.76]? Do you think Dally is a hero based on what he did?
2. Johnny says that he never thought of “colors and stuff” until he met Ponyboy. What is the
significance of colors in their world?
4. What’s the poem about on p.77 by Robert Frost?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 6
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
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 you definition? Explain.
4. What does Pony realize about Darry at the end of this chapter?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 7
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. “Maybe people are younger when they are asleep” [p.104]. What do you think about this
comment?
2. Explain the significance of Randy and Ponyboy’s interaction in this chapter following the
death of one’s friend and the possible death of the other’s. Why are they just coming together
now and what does Randy’s speech reveal about the Socs?
3. Why does Ponyboy respond to Randy, “No. You hate the whole world.”
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 8
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. What does Pony mean on p.123 when he says, “we could get along without
anyone but Johnny”?
2. If Darry didn’t have Soda and Pony, why would he be a soc?
3. How would you characterize Pony and Cherry’s conversation at the end of the
chapter? Does it make them seem “different” from their groups or does it make
them for a moment blend back into their group identity?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 9
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. On the bottom of p.132, when Pony asks what kind of a world it is, what comment is he
making about how he judges people?
2. What is the difference between Tim Sheppard‟s gang and Ponyboy’s? Explain how Pony
feels this difference give his group the upper hand?
3. What do you think Johnny’s last words to Pony mean?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 10
Setting
Important Events
Questions
1. How does Pony’s dreaming, or lying to himself, finally work in this chapter?
2. How does Pony describe Dally as a person who made a difference on pg. 154?
Picture
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 11
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. Explain why Pony might rather have anyone’s hate than their pity (p.162)?
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”(p.166)?
The Outsiders Chapter Reading Check
Chapter 12
Setting
Important Events
Picture
Questions
1. What kind of guy is rare? (p. 178)
2. Why would Johnny reiterate the need for Ponyboy to tell Dallas it is worth it? What does
Dallas symbolize in this novel?
3. Why the title of the book? Who is the biggest Outsider of them all and why?