What up y’all? This week we takin it to the STREETS with The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Fo’teen year old Pony Boy Curtis jus’ walkin home one night, minding his
own damn bidness when all the sudden- “Break Yo’self Fool!” Five hoods from West Side crew
roll up and start layin a whoop on my boy when “HOLD UP”- Pony Boy’s East side
bruthas drop in and shake dem haters off. See, fo years there been beef goin on between
The Socs, or the West Side rich kids, and the “Greasers,” the East side po’ kids.
Pony boy livin’ in the slums with his two brothers Sodapop and Darry. And when
Pony on da streets, he and his bros always rollin deep with some otha’ Greasers- Johnny,
Steve, Two-Bit, and crazy white-boy Dallas Winston, or Dally for short.
Later, Johnny, Dallas, and Pony Boy chillin at da drive-in when they start throwin
game at these two soc biddies named Cherry and Marcia. When Dallas bails and Two-Bit
shows up, da boys decide to keep it gangsta and offer da ladies a ride home. While they
rollin up to the hoopty, tho, da girls boytoys Bob and Randy step to em afta’ poundin’ way too
much crunk joose. Mad-dogging ensues and da sh** bout to go down when da womenses break
it up and head home with their men.
Dat night, Pony boy and Johnny pass out while they soakin’ in dat night sky,
so when Pony get home, Darry all like “Muthafuka where you been? I been stayin up all night
waitin fo yo ass.” Darry get all riled up and WHACK-
gives em five across da face. All to’ up bout it, Pony Boy books it to the park where
he meets up with his boy Johnny. Just then “Oh Damn!”- Outta nowhere Randy, Bob,
and da rest of dem Soc haters jump our boys! It’s almost lights out for Pony Boy, whose
ass bout to get drowned, til Johnny whips out his blade and shanks Bob. WOOOO he dead!
Buggin like crazy, Pony and Johnny hit up crazy-ass Dallas, who throws em a piece,
fiddy bucks, and tell em to get outta town and lay low in an abandoned church til things
cool off.
Bout one boring-ass week later, Dallas show up and take em to a
Dairy Queen and tell em what’s goin down in town: The Socs and da Greasers bout have an all-out
rumble in da streets. Cherry on our side now actin’ like a spy, and da law is ridin’
Pony Boy and Johnny’s asses HARD- even got they descriptions in the paper. Johnny decide
he gonna turn himself in pleadin’ self defense, but errybody head back to the church first.
When they get there, it straight BLAZIN wit lil’ kids trapped inside! Johnny, Pony,
and Dallas keep it clutch and save all the churrin, but when da roof caves in, Johnny’s
back gets fu**ED up and he dies at da hospital.
Dallas gets so crunk bout Johnny dyin’ that he boosts some sh** from da grocery sto’
and now he on the run from the 5-0. Pony and da boys try to help a brutha out, but da fuzz
get to Dallas first and pump him full of lead.
Pony Boy sees da whole thing go down, and realize dat Dallas’s heart been shat on
so much, dat he probably wanted to die.
With all this messed up sh** goin’ on around them, Soda get Darry and Pony to stop bustin’
eachothers asses all the time, cuz they all they got left. Pony Boy gets straight with
the law, but he havin’ trouble at school. Teach hooks him up and say he can write a
paper if he wanna pass English. After thinkin’ bout all da mess dat went down with Dallas,
he realize dat people need to hear da truth: The world ain’t JUST a whack-ass place.
There’s good in there, and otha’ people stugglin jus like you. So keep a lookout for
peeps who need a hand, and don’t judge a book by its cover. Pony actually start writing
a book which ends up being da book you just read...
Even though Da Outsiders was written fo’ adolescent kids, it sho as hell pissed off
a lot of adults.. Matta’ fact, this book keep it so real dat when it came out, parents
were trippin dat it describe young people talkin mess, smokin’ cigs, and dodgin’
the law. But what really make dis work so legit, is how Hinton don’t shy away from
da beef between the social classes.
See at first Pony Boy and da crew thinkin dat they so different from da Socs cuz they
born with phat stacks, whereas da Greasers gotta bust they ass for a livin and ain’t
got sh** to their name.
A life full of empty pockets and no opportunities can make a man cold as ice- like Dallas. And
when you on the struggle like dat, da only thing you got is yo pride to keep you strong,
and yo gang to get yo back.
“We’re all we’ve got left. We ought to be able to stick together
against everything. If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything. If you don’t
have anything, you end like Dallas...and I don’t mean dead, either. I mean like he
was before. And that’s worse than dead.” (176)
But eventually Pony-Boy realize dat whether you got swole dollas or no dollas, errybody
got problems- even the Socs. And in that way they ain’t so different. Cherry help him
understand dat when she say:
“I’ll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the
West-side Socs. I’ll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. We
have troubles you’ve never even heard of. You want to know something?’ She looked
me straight in the eye. ‘Things are rough all over.’” (34-35)
All throughout this book Ponyboy feelin’ like he an Outsider- even when he wit his
own crew. But no matta’ how tight you are with someone, there always gonna be differences
between one person and anotha. And even if it’s a fat-ass social gap like da one between
da Greasers and da Socs, there’s always a chance to build a bridge and pave it with
gold, playa.
In fact, da poem “Nothing Gold can Stay” by Robert Frost gets a shoutout in da book
dat schools Pony boy real good.
“I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote
it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid everything’s
new, dawn.
It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you dig sunsets,
Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be.” (178)
There’s gold inside erry homie, and dats what you gotta get at if you wanna be able
to connect wit’ people. So stay gold by pre- ordering the Thug Notes book. We been
workin’ our asses off on this bad boy. It’s got breakdowns of the 16 most assigned books
made of 100% real talk. So click the link in the description and throw down some change
fo’ yo boy Sparky. Thanks for watchin’ y’all. Peace.