The Outsiders
Direct Characterization-Ponyboy
“I have light-brown, almost red hair and greenishgray eyes….my hair is longer than a lot of boys
wear theirs, squared off in the back and long at
the front and sides…” (page 1) Reveal about
character?
Propel action? Provo Reveal
about character?
action? Provoke?
Propel
Direct Characterization-Darry
“Darry is six-feet-two, and broad shouldered and
muscular. He has dark brown hair that kicks out in
front and a slight cowlick in the back…He’s got eyes
that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice.
They’ve got a determined set to them...” (page 6)
Direct Characterization-Soda
“Soda is handsomer than anyone I know. Not like
Darry-Soda is movie-star kind of handsome. He’s
not as tall as Darry, and he’s a little slimmer, but he
has a finely drawn sensitive face that somehow
manages to be reckless and thoughtful at the same
time. He’s got dark-gold hair that he combs backlong and silky and straight-and in the summer the
sun bleaches it to a shining wheat-gold. His eyes
are dark brown-lively, dancing…” (page 8)
Direct Characterization-Dallas
“He had an elfish face, with high cheekbones and a
pointed chin, small sharp animal teeth, and ears
like a lynx. His hair was almost white is was so
blond, and he didn’t like haircuts or hair oil either,
so it fell over his forehead in wisps and kicked out
in the back in tufts and curled behind his ears and
along the nape of his neck. His eyes were blues,
blazing ice, cold with a hatred of the whole world.”
(page 10)
Direct Characterization-Johnny
“If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been
kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of
strangers, you’ll have Johnny. He was the youngest,
smaller than the rest, with a slight build. He had
big black eyes in a dark tanned face; his hair was jet
black and heavily greased and combed to the side,
but it was so long that it fell in shaggy bangs across
his forehead. He had a nervous, suspicious look in
his eyes…” (page 11)
PONYBOY
Ch.__1__
I don’t care, I lied to myself. I
don’t care about him
either…I don’t care about
Darry. But I was still lying and
I knew it. I lie to myself all the
time. But I never believe me.
Reveals character
* This shows Ponyboy’s
internal conflict about
his brother Darry. He
feels like Darry doesn’t
love him, and tries not to
care, but he really does.
CHERRY
Ch.__2__
“Things are
rough all
over.”
Cherry was saying that the
Socs had problems too.
She wanted him to
understand that the
Greasers weren’t the only
ones who had struggles in
life.
PONYBOY
Ch 3 “It’s okay…
We aren’t in the
same class. Just
don’t forget that
some of us watch
the sunset too.”
Ponyboy points out that
the sunset closes the gap
between the Greasers
and Socs. Even though
their lives are different,
they live beneath the
same sun.
Cherry
Ch 3 “I could fall in love
with Dallas Winston.
I hope I never see him
again, or I will.”
JOHNNY
And Johnny, who was the
most law-abiding of us,
now carried in his back
pocket a six inch
switchblade. He’d use it,
too, if he ever got jumped
again. Nobody was ever
going to beat him like that
again. Not over his dead
body.
PONYBOY
• Dally was so real he scared
me.is more
Ponyboy
Ch 5
“Dally was
so real he
scared me.”
comfortable with fictional
heroes than with real
people like Dally who have
lost their innocence. Johnny
sees Dally as gallant, but
Ponyboy can’t.
Dallas
Ch 6
Oh, blast it, Johnny...you get
hardened in jail. I don’t want
that to happen to you. Like it
happened to me...”
Dally shows a new side
of himself. He admits
that he once wasn’t a
hardened young man.
He’s trying to save
Johnny from becoming
hard-hearted like him.