Plot

• 1. Plot

  • We first meet our narrator, fourteen-year-old Ponyboy, as he's walking home from the movies—alone, which is something he's not supposed to be doing. “. 
  • “I had a long walk home and no company,but I usually lone it anyway”
• 2.

  • Ponyboy lives in a dangerous area. His EastSide neighbourhood is patrolled by entitled Socials, rich kids from the West Side of town. Pony's a Greaser and defenceless Greasers are the Socials' favourite targets. Ponyboy is attacked by a group of Socials when he's in a vacant lot, just minutes from his home.
  • Luckily his older brother, Darry and Sodapop, and the rest of his gang, Steve, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Dally, come to his rescue and chase away the Socials. We learn that Ponyboy and his brothers lost their parents recently in a car accident.
• 3.

  The next night (Saturday), Pony and Johnny go to the drive-in with Dally. Two Socials girls are there watching the movie too. Dally begins harassing them, but Johnny tells him to stop. Dally does, but leaves in a huff. So the girls, Cherry Valance and Marcia, ask Pony and Johnny to sit with them and watch the movie. The girls are sitting alone because their boyfriends were drinking, and Cherry didn't want to be around drunk guys.
• • 4- Soon Two-Bit shows up and seems to hit it off with Marcia. Meanwhile, Pony tells Cherry about the horrific beating Johnny got from a gang of Socials last spring, a beating that's left him in a constant state of fear.
  • After the movies, Pony, Johnny, and Two-Bit begin walking with the girls to Two-Bit's house. He plans to drive the girls home but their boyfriends, Bob and Randy, intervene and the girls leave with them instead.
• 5.

  • Later, Ponyboy and Johnny fall asleep in the vacant lot. When they wake up it is 2 a.m. Darry is furious when Pony gets home and they argue. Darry slaps Ponyboy, who then runs back to Johnny. 
  • “Darry hit me! I swear, we used to get along just fine until Mom and Dad died”
• 6-They walk to the park and a gang of Socials, including Randy and Bob, attack them. One of the Socials, a guy named Bob, tries to drown Ponyboy in the fountain, and Ponyboy passes out. When he wakes up, he learns that Johnny stabbed Bob and Bob is dead.
• • 7 - Ponyboy and Johnny go see Dally, who tells them to jump a train out of town and hide out in an abandoned church. He gives them some money. The two boys follow his instructions and spend five days in the church. Dallas shows up on the fifth day, and takes them out to eat.
• 8.

   - When they get back to the church, it's on fire, and a group of school children are trapped inside. Pony and Johnny rush in and save all the little kids. But a piece of burning timber falls on Johnny, and Pony is knocked unconscious by Dally (who was putting out the fire on his back). 

  • They foreshadowed the burning of the church on several occasions.

  “I saw Johnny's cigarette glowing in the dark and wondered vaguely what it was like inside a burning ember.” They also mentioned that they were careful with their cigarettes.
• • 9- When Pony wakes up, he's on the way to the hospital. At the hospital, he's reunited with his brothers. He discovers that Dally is okay, but Johnny is in critical condition and might die.
  • The next day is a big Greasers vs. Socs rumble. Cherry Valance has helped ensure that both gangs will fight fairly, and that neither will bring weapons. The Greasers win (“We beat the Socs”), and Pony and Dally, who got out of the hospital in time for the fight, rush to the hospital to tell Johnny
• • 10- While they're with Johnny, their feelings of triumph quickly fade as Johnny dies.

  His final comment is particularly striking in this story because they remind us that we should retain our principles and mannerisms and not alter for anyone.(“Stay gold,Ponyboy,Stay Gold)
• 11-Pony returns home after the loss of his best friend. Pony and the rest of the gang learn that Dally has robbed a grocery store, that the cops are chasing him, and that he wants the gang to meet him at the vacant lot. The cops come to the lot and Dally shows them his gun. They kill Dally. 

  (Dally who was so brawny(strong) had a breaking point after Johnny died “So even Dally has a breaking point”, which resulted in his death).
• 11 - Soon after, the hearing was held on whether Ponyboy will face charges for running away, and whether he and Soda will be able to stay with their big brother Darry. Fortunately,The judge acts in the Curtis boys' favour, and life goes back to usual. 
• • Except that it doesn't. Pony seems to be losing his mind, his balance, and his good grades. “Now, I was lucky to get a D on a composition”. 
  • When his English teacher tells him to write an essay, one from the heart, about something Meaningful to him, he realizes that he can share the story of the three dead boys with the world, and maybe make a difference in the lives of others. So, turns out, the story we've been reading is really Ponyboy's English homework. “I sat down and picked up my pen and thought for a minute.”