Ponyboy Curtis lives with his two older brothers in the lower-class east side of town. The three boys are orphans and part of a street gang calling themselves the Greasers. Ponyboy's oldest brother Darry took responsibility for him and their middle brother called Sodapop when their parents were killed in a car accident.
Walking home, one day, Ponyboy is attacked by members of the Socs--Socials from the uptown, west-side of their Oklahoma town--who threaten his life. The Greasers come to the fourteen-year-old's rescue: Johnny, Dally, Steve, Two-bit, and Ponyboy's two brothers. After a scuffle the two groups separate.
The Socs and Greasers clash again when Ponyboy and Johnny run into a couple of the Soc girls and, later, their boyfriends. The clash ends with Ponyboy regaining consciousness next to a beaten Johnny and Soc corpse. Fearing for their lives Ponyboy and Johnny escape to a nearby town where they hide out in an abandoned church.
Johnny and Ponyboy have a change of heart, but before they can face the music at home they discover schoolchildren in the abandoned church which has caught fire. Again, Ponyboy passes out; when he wakes he, Johnny, and Dally are in the hospital. They check out to partake in a rumble between the Socs and Greasers which has lasting consequences.
The Outsiders is a classic tale about teenagers struggling to make their way in a world that doesn't care about their potential, only their choices. Teen readers can relate to the boys' struggles in a story aimed at readers the same age as the characters: mid- to late-teens with violence and moral challenges Ponyboy must face on his way through trial and tribulation.
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