Tension In Hinton's The Outsiders

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The Outsiders is a story that follows the life of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy is a greaser that lives on the poor side of town. The plot of the novel is constantly driven by the conflict between two different groups: the greasers and the socials, who have a long history of hatred for each other. The tension between the two groups is what causes the plot to arise. This story begins in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960s. Ponyboy along with his friend Johnny explore the beauty of life and go through a drastic period of coming of age.

Every story has an initiating incident; an event that begins a story’s problem and introduces the main conflict. In the novel, the initiating incident begins when Darry, Ponyboys old brother, hits Ponyboy …show more content…

The falling action in the novel is when Ponyboy arrives at home from the hospital to visit Johnny. Next, the gang receives a phone call from Dally explaining to them that he has just robbed a grocery store and is now being chased by the fuzz. Immediately, the gang leaves the house to go save their loyal friend. When they reach the park, it’s too late. Dally had already been shot dead by the cops(Hinton 153-154). A few days later at court Ponyboy is acquitted of the murder of Bob. At school, Ponyboy's English teacher informs him that he is failing and if Ponyboy can write him a composition, he will pass the class with a C (Hinton 169-170). These events are resolving the main conflict, all through the story, Ponyboy and Johnny are on a journey because of the murder of Bob. Since Pony is not guilty, these events are being resolved. The conflict is also being sorted out when the greasers win the rumble, meaning the socs will now leave the greasers alone. Moving forward, Ponyboy and the greasers will not have to worry about getting jumped by socs.

The whole central conflict of The Outsiders is between the Eastside greasers and the Westside socs. Their beef between each other is what makes the plot more intriguing. When Ponyboy’s brother, Darry hit him, Pony ran away. If Darry wouldn’t have hit him in the first place, none of the situations in the plot would have occurred. In other words, the events of the novel are like a chain. If one thing hadn’t taken place, the rest of the events that followed would not have developed. In the end, the conflict has been resolved and Ponyboy discovers that greasers and socs aren’t so different at

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