73 pages • 2 hours read
S. E. HintonThe Outsiders
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1967A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
At 2:30 in the morning, Pony and Johnny are the only ones in the park. As they walk around calming down, the blue Mustang from earlier that evening appears and begins to circle them. The five Socs drunkenly stagger towards them, but it is too late for Johnny and Pony to run. They are both terrified but could “never let [the Socs] have the satisfaction of knowing it” (54). Bob and Randy insult them, then threaten them for picking up “their” girls. David, one of the other Socs, catches Pony when he tries to run and holds his head under the water of the park fountain. Just as Pony begins to fade out of consciousness, he suddenly jerks out of the water and onto the pavement, choking. When he gets his bearings, he notices Johnny looking sick and Bob's still body in a pool of blood. Johnny tells him: “I killed him, I killed that boy” (56). He explains that he stabbed Bob with his switchblade, causing the rest of the Socs to flee. Pony vomits, then starts to panic. Johnny calms him down, then decides that Dally would know how to help them.
The boys find Dally at his rodeo partner's house, and he is unfazed by their story. He finds Pony a dry shirt and gives him his leather jacket, promising Pony not to tell Darry or Soda what happened. He gives the boys $50 and a gun, advising them to escape town on the next freight train to Windrixville where they can hide in an abandoned church on Jay Mountain. The boys make it into a box car undetected and jump off the train at the first stop around dawn. Half asleep, Pony realizes: “My dream's come true and I'm in the country” (63).
Johnny advises Pony to “make like a farm boy” and ask a local how to find Jay Mountain (63). During his walk, Pony realizes how quickly his life has changed and is convinced he and Johnny will be on the run forever. A passing farmer gives him directions, and after 45 minutes of walking, the boys reach the “old and spooky” church. The space gives Pony a “premonition” (66), but both boys immediately fall asleep without saying anything.
Chapter 5 Summary
Pony wakes up many hours later, disoriented and confused; he tries to convince himself it is a normal weekend morning at home. He realizes Johnny is gone, and he finds a note telling him he went to town for supplies. While waiting for Johnny, Pony's “over-active imagination” leads him to think of the many worst scenarios, making him anxious and scared. Much to Pony's relief, Johnny returns safely with a box of supplies. Among the baloney and bread is a copy of Gone with the Wind, a deck of cards, and peroxide. Knowing their descriptions will be printed in the newspaper, the boys cut their hair, and Johnny persuades Pony to bleach his. Pony is devastated, as his “tuff” hair is a major source of pride (71). Johnny tries to cheer Pony up, but they are both scared and homesick. Johnny finally breaks down with the guilt of what he has done, and the two take turns crying and consoling each other. Pony drifts off to sleep, and when he wakes, Johnny assures him: “We're all cried out now [...] We're gonna be okay now” (74).
The boys spend five days in the church, trying to keep themselves entertained with card games and reading. Johnny fixates on the idea of a southern gentleman in Gone with the Wind; they remind him of Dally, whom Johnny thinks is exceptionally gallant. One morning, Pony and Johnny both witness a beautiful sunrise, which reminds Pony of a Robert Frost poem. He recites it to Johnny, admitting he “never quite got what [Frost] meant by it” (78).
On the fifth day, Pony gets sick from smoking too many cigarettes, and he wakes up from a nap to find Dally in the church. Dally assures the boys it is safe to leave because he convinced the police that they ran for Texas. He delivers Pony a letter from Soda, in which Soda expresses how worried he and Darry are.
Dally takes them to a Dairy Queen to eat, and as the boys gorge themselves on sandwiches and ice cream, Dally updates them on what has happened since Bob's murder. The greasers and Socs “are having all-out warfare all over the city” (83), and there is a “rumble” scheduled for the following night to settle things. Dally admits he has started carrying an unloaded gun (a “heater”) just to scare the Socs off and discloses that Cherry is a “spy” for the greasers.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
The cycle of violence continues when Bob, Randy, and their friends ambush Johnny and Ponyboy in the park. Ponyboy and Johnny knew that crossing social boundaries and befriending the Soc girls was a risk; in this community, not sticking to your “own kind” warrants punitive action. Each side attacks the others' physical characteristics, demonstrating their inability to see each boy as an individual. In Chapter 2, Ponyboy had foreshadowed Bob's murder—Johnny does kill the next person who jumps him. Bob's death is the catalyst for the novel's subsequent events, and for Johnny and Ponyboy's growing up, as they now face many adult decisions. Ponyboy's initial panic underscores just how young and innocent he still is, especially when compared to Dally: Pony starts screaming, and the sight of Bob's body makes him physically sick, while Dally remains unfazed and even applauds their actions (59). The items he gives the boys demonstrate his concern for their well-being, as he risks jail time himself for helping them. The money, gun, and leather jacket not only link the boys to Dally physically, but also represent the troubled futures that await them if they continue to live their lives the way Dally does.
Until now, being a greaser has provided them with group loyalty, acceptance, and physical protection from the others. Now that they are on the run, though, they must shed their identifiable greaser hair for the sake of their safety. This is monumental for Ponyboy, since it is a major source of pride and identity, and their haircuts symbolize that they are truly on their own in Windrixville. They both sob at this realization, demonstrating their closeness. They have an intimate enough friendship that they can be vulnerable with each other, and they do not force one another to conform to the traditional detached expectations of masculinity.
However, once the boys are “all cried out,” they emphatically decide that they will no longer cry, symbolizing their desire to steel themselves against the world and whatever hard choices they will still have to make. Especially in contrast to how vulnerable they have just been with each other, this marks a moment of growing up and hardening. However, their reaction to the sunrise shows that they have not lost their appreciation for beauty and have not totally lost their boyish innocence. Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay stresses the impermanence of all that is “gold,” and while the boys cannot cling to their childhoods forever, they learn that they should nurture and cherish their golden qualities instead of sacrificing them for the sake of self-preservation.
Ponyboy recognizes the irony of his country dream coming true: just last night he had drifted off thinking about how a life in the country would solve everyone's problems, while he is presently in the country escaping them. The church also presents an ironic parallel for the boys: they used to attend church services together and would sit in the back to avoid being judged, and now they are hiding in the back of this one to avoid being seen again. Ponyboy senses a “premonition” while inside and points out how mindful the boys are of their cigarettes, foreshadowing the fire to come. By introducing these ironic turns of events and foreshadowing, Hinton highlights just how unpredictable—and sometimes cruel—life can be.
When Dally arrives to bring them home, he reports on the impending rumble as if it will solve the inter-group conflict. Despite his “hood” or “delinquent” behavior, he has demonstrated his care for the boys, and Gone with the Wind helps Ponyboy realize just how selfless, noble, and even gallant Dally can be. Nevertheless, Dally is unable to (and has no desire to) see past group differences and empathize with any Socs, believing that violence is the only solution and actively perpetuating the endless cycle.
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