The Outsiders — Chapter 2

About This Passage

Notice the word choices Hinton gives Ponyboy as he narrates Johnny's life. 'Rebellious and bitter' names what Johnny could have become but did not; 'killing' names what he is becoming instead. Ponyboy is drawing a line between the anger a beaten kid turns outward, as Dally does, and the wound Johnny carries inward. Hinton trusts her young reader with a grown-up idea: the same hard life can make one kid mean and another kid fragile, and the difference is not weakness — it is direction.

Narration Prompt

In your own words, retell Chapter 2. Begin at the drugstore where Dally shoplifts Kools, follow the three boys to the Nightly Double drive-in, describe how Dally harasses Cherry and Marcia until Cherry throws her Coke, explain what happens when Johnny says 'Leave her alone, Dally' and what it costs him to say it, and close with Ponyboy telling Cherry the story of Johnny's beating and Cherry's answer: 'Things are rough all over.'

Discussion Questions

1. Ponyboy tells us Johnny 'couldn't say Boo to a goose,' and yet in this chapter Johnny stops Dallas Winston's arm and says, 'Leave her alone, Dally.' What in the story makes you think Johnny was able to do this one hard thing? How do you know it was not just a lucky accident — what in Johnny's history does Hinton tell us about to help us understand the courage behind it?
2. Cherry throws her Coke in Dally's face and says, 'After you wash your mouth and learn to talk and act decent, I might cool off, too.' Later she tells Ponyboy, 'I kind of admire him.' How do you know those two feelings can both be true at once? What in the chapter makes you think Cherry can judge Dally's behavior without hating him as a person?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide