In The Outsiders, Dally wants to die because Johnny, the only person he truly loves, has died.

Common English idioms & expressions

The figurative language in The Outsiders is mostly metaphors and personification.

Terms in this set (12)

• Dally Grinned Wolfishly.
• The cinders and embers sting and smart like ants.
• Pony sees a ribbon of highway.
• The water is like liquid ice.
• explosions from the fire sound like gunfire.
• living with his haircut is like living in a Halloween costume Pony can’t get out of.
• Pony fears he’ll drown in the smoke.

The Outsiders Themes

• Divided Communities. Ponyboy stands in the middle of two major conflicts: the conflict between the Socs and greasers, and the conflict between Ponyboy and Darry within the Curtis family.
• Empathy.
• Preserving Childhood Innocence.
• Self-Sacrifice and Honor.
• Individual Identity.

The main theme of The Outsiders is self-identity vs. group identity. There is evidence for this theme in the title itself, as the Outsiders form their own group (the greasers) because they feel they’re on the outside of society.

Three major characters who die in the novel The Outsiders are Bob Sheldon, Johnny Cade, and Dallas Winston.

Stay gold, Ponyboy. “Stay gold” is a reference to the Robert Frost poem that Ponyboy recites to Johnny when the two hide out in the Windrixville Church. One line in the poem reads, “Nothing gold can stay,” meaning that all good things must come to an end.

Dally doesn’t want Johnny to turn himself in because he has helped him this much already and he doesn’t want his help to go to waste and he doesn’t want Johnny to go though with jail because Dally knows what it fells like.

According to Randy, Bob wanted to be given a set of limits that he had to obey. According to Randy, Bob’s best friend and confidante, all Bob really just wanted: “to make someone say ‘No’ and they never did. They never did.

In Chapter 9, Johnny dies. A little later, after Dally is shot dead by the police, Ponyboy faints. He faints because of the extraordinary amount of emotional and physical trauma to which he has been subjected in a brief period of time. His friends are dead, and he carries wounds from the rumble.

According to Randy, Bob’s problem was that his parents never set any boundaries for him or punished him for his misbehavior. Whenever Bob would get into trouble, his parents would blame themselves, and Bob would go unpunished.

Johnny refuses to see his mother when he is in the hospital because he feels that she does not care about him. Johnny Cade came from a troubled home where he suffered abuse at the hands of his father and was neglected by his mother.

History. Sodapop told Ponyboy he was sure he was going to marry Sandy. However, when she got pregnant, she left to go live with her grandmother in Florida. Soda later runs off, saying he hates being in the middle, and it makes him feel more worse because she left him, and he loved her so much.

What do Johnny’s last words mean? Right before he dies in the hospital, Johnny says “Stay gold, Ponyboy.” Ponyboy cannot figure out what Johnny means until he reads the note Johnny left. Johnny writes that “stay gold” is a reference to the Robert Frost poem Ponyboy shared when they were hiding at the church.

Dally died by police fire: suicide by cop. In this book, Dallas dies by being shot by a whole bunch of police officers. He has robbed a grocery store and the police are chasing him. When Johnny died, Dally was so sad that he ran out of the hospital and it seems that he went straight out and robbed the store.

Johnny’s death was hard for Dally to handle because he was the one person Dally cared about. 3. Why do you think Dally would have wanted to die? Dally doesn’t have anyone else in the world that he cares about, and he doesn’t want to be alone.

Johnny’s words refer back to the poem that Ponyboy recited while they were hiding out in the old church. The poem is “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. The basic idea is that good things don’t last forever.

What made Johnny’s eyes glow with pride? The Greasers put up a good fight. Dallas said he was proud of him. Ponyboy said he was his best friend.

After Johnny dies in the hospital, Dally is so upset, he runs away from Ponyboy and robs a grocery store. The police chase him to the empty lot where the greasers hang out. Dally dies with a “look of grim triumph on his face,” and Ponyboy realizes that Dally “wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.”

Johnny leaves Ponyboy a note in the copy of Gone with the Wind that Johnny gives to Ponyboy. He writes about the poem that Ponyboy read to him–Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” and compares being young to being gold. He says that Ponyboy has many aspects of being gold, or appreciating the world.

Ponyboy can’t accept Johnny’s death because he was too young. Also because he was still in shock. Ponyboy collapses the night of the rumble because he got kicked in the head and got a concussion. Ponyboy also could have passed out from the death of Dally and the lose of blood.

Ponyboy learns that he got a concussion when a Soc kicked him in the head during the rumble, and that he has been delirious in bed for three days.

Johnny’s main message throughout the letter is that Ponyboy should remain innocent and not grow up too quickly. He also wants Ponyboy to relay that message to Dally in order to give him hope.

Johnny tells Ponyboy that he (Johnny) killed Bob because the Socs were going to drown Ponyboy and beat up Johnny.

Johnny’s Letter is a letter in the copy of Gone With The Wind that Johnny asked the nurse in the hospital to give to Ponyboy.

What did Johnny say his future would be like? He would never walk again. He would have girls all over him.

Darry slaps Ponyboy because he is angry and frustrated that Ponyboy came home past his curfew. Darry was worried that something terrible had happened to Pony, and overcome with emotion, Darry reacts without thinking and slaps Ponyboy when he finally returns home.

Randy Adderson (called Randy Anderson in the film) is a Soc in The Outsiders, and a minor antagonist turned supporting tritagonist. His girlfriend is Marcia, and his best friend was Robert Sheldon, whom he met in grade school.

Darry hates Paul Holden because Paul was given the opportunity to attend college and play football, and he was not. Ponyboy mentions that Darry wasn’t only jealous of Paul Holden; he was also ashamed to be representing the Greasers. Paul is essentially the epitome of what Darry wishes he could have become.