Resumo de The Outsiders

It's
the well known story of East vs. West, rich vs. poor, and gang vs. gang. The hook
is the rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs. The Greasers are poor,
the Socs are rich, and they hate each other. Knives. Chains.
Rumbles. Fire. Police. Guns. Unlikely heroes.
People get hurt. People die. It's a nonstop adventure about
fictional characters, but with true-to-life reality. It's also and mainly about a
boy handling the cards he's dealt with. It's about accepting life and
death. It's about understanding people. It's about friendship and
family. It's about coming to terms with who you are.

Ponyboy is the narrator and main character of the story. He grows
up
knowing only the life of a Greaser, but feels that he's different
somehow. He lives with two older brothers. The eldest, Darry, is
only 20 years old. He takes care of Ponyboy and Sodapop so social
services won't break his family apart. He's the leader of the Greasers,
looking after the rest of the gang: Dally, Steve, Two-bit, and Johnny,
like a
father figure. Darry also wants Ponyboy to achieve more in life, when
Ponyboy is still questioning life.

There's already tension between the Greasers and the Socs, but it rises to the
breaking point when Cherry and Marcia, girls associated with the Socs, befriend
Ponyboy and Johnny. Cherry and Ponyboy find out they have a lot of things
in common with each other, which teaches Ponyboy that Greasers and Socs may not
all be as different as he thought they were. To teach the two boys a
lesson, the Socs jump them one night, ending with Johnny killing Bob, a Soc and
Cherry's supposed love interest, out of self-defense. Ponyboy and Johnny
go into hiding in an abandoned church, which catches fire while children are in
it. The boys save the children and end up in the hospital as heroes. The
Greasers, with the help of another gang, wins a rumble against the Socs.
Johnny dies that same night. Dally goes out in rage because of Johnny's
death. He robs a store, points an empty gun at the police, and is shot to
death, right in front of Ponyboy, who becomes delirious after losing two
friends in one night. When nursed back to health, he doesn't want to
accept his friends' deaths and wants nothing to do with living, especially
school, but he would fail his English class if he doesn't turn in an essay (and
Darry wouldn't have that). When trying to write that essay, he finds a
letter Johnny wrote to him before he died. Ponyboy then realizes that
there are many boys just like him, wanting for something better but not knowing
they can get it; there are many boys like Johnny, scared; there are many boys
like Dally, angry at the world. Many people do not understand those boys,
and Ponyboy decides that he wants and needs to tell their story--his story,
starting with his English teacher.

Hinton mixes what might seem like sappy themes with a fast reading plot filled
with the slap-you-in-the-face kind of truth. To some, this story might
even hit close to home. The movie version is also well made.

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