Lesson 36: The Outsiders, Chapter 12

Have students take out their copies of The Outsiders with their annotations.

• Lesson 35 Homework: Students read Chapter 12 of The Outsiders and annotated for moments showing how Ponyboy changed or grew as a person during the book.

Academic Talk Stems/Moves

Present cue cards with these talk stems/moves:

• Add On: I’d like to add to that … / I also think/feel that … / That reminds me of …

• Clarify: Can you tell me more about ... / Can you explain why …

• Inquire: Why do you think that? / Why do you feel that way? / Can you give an example? / What if …

• Challenge: I agree because … / I disagree because … / In my opinion … / Could it also be that …

Say these directions: In this discussion, we’ll compare our personal responses to the way The Outsiders ended.

Begin by asking one of the following questions or by modeling a response to a question and having students build on your response with an Add-On or Challenge talk move. Discuss one or all of the questions as time allows.

• Ask: Do you agree with how Hinton concluded Ponyboy’s narrative? Did you find the ending effective? Why or why not?

  • Ponyboy’s memories of Dally and Johnny and his decision to tell people “their side of the story” made the ending effective to me. He affirms that his friends’ stories are important and that he will use his painful experiences to send a hopeful message.

• Ask: What is one change you would make to the book’s ending, if any? Why would you make this change?

  • I think the ending would have been more powerful and effective if Ponyboy had decided to write the story for his own reasons rather than for a school assignment. This ending would have shown that he wants to write because self-expression is important to him, not because of school requirements.

• Ask: Consider the fact that Hinton was a high school student when she wrote The Outsiders. How does this knowledge impact your understanding of the novel’s ending?

  • I think Hinton may have seen Ponyboy as a version of herself—a high school student who sometimes feels misunderstood and wants to tell people about their experiences and perspective.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Now that you know how the book ends, you can consider how the author develops themes and character perspectives from beginning to end. You may have also noticed that the symbols of gold and sunsets return in the final chapter. Today you’ll analyze how Ponyboy has changed and grown, and you’ll write your own version of Johnny’s message to Ponyboy.

Cloze Vocabulary

Target Words: subsides, sullenly, premonition, bewilderment, physiological, liable

Introduce Activity: Present each sentence and the word bank. Explain that students will complete each sentence, considering their knowledge of the vocabulary and the context of the sentence. 

• As needed, have students briefly review vocabulary definitions from their Personal Dictionaries.

Complete Sentences: Ask students to work in partnerships to complete each sentence.

Word Bank: subsides, sullenly, premonition, bewilderment, physiological, liable

1. When Randy said he was worried, Ponyboy looked at him with ________; he didn’t understand what a rich Soc had to worry about.

2. Ponyboy had a(n) ____ that the rumble would lead to more trouble.

3. At first it hurts when Ponyboy remembers Johnny, but this hurt ____ by the end of the book; he can then reflect on his friend’s life.

4. Sometimes Ponyboy responds ____ to Darry because he is frustrated with Darry’s rules.

5. After talking about their feelings, the Curtis brothers were ____ to have a stronger relationship.

6. Staying in the Curtis house helped characters meet their _____ need for shelter if they had nowhere else to sleep.

Answer Key: 1. bewilderment, 2. premonition, 3. subsides, 4. sullenly, 5. liable, 6. physiological

Review responses: Review responses as a whole group and discuss why each word best completes the sentence.

Why does this word fit?

1. Bewilderment fits because it describes something that confuses and puzzles Ponyboy.

2. Premonition fits because Ponyboy has a feeling something bad will happen at the rumble.

3. Subsides fits because the hurt decreases or becomes less intense over time.

4. Sullenly fits because it describes how someone speaks or acts when they are unhappy or irritated.

5. Liable fits because it describes a result that is probably going to happen.

6. Physiological fits because shelter is a need that natural, living things have.

• Ask: Explain to a partner how using the words in a sentence helped you to remember the words.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Think about how vocabulary words can help you express ideas more precisely as you discuss the text.

Part A: Analyze Character Growth and Theme Development: The Outsiders, Chapter 12 (RL.7.2, RL.7.3) (15 minutes)

Review some of the text’s major themes or ideas, such as identity, loyalty, belonging, empathy, and connecting across divides. Explain that Chapter 12 develops many of these themes.

Connect to Themes in Media (Optional)

Remind students that multimedia versions of a story can help readers understand a story’s themes in a different way. Review the storytelling tools that filmmakers use, such as lighting, camera angles, sound, and actor body language.

If possible, play a song or video clip from a film version of West Side Story. Explain that the plot of the musical centers on a romantic relationship between young people connected to two rival gangs. It develops themes similar to those in The Outsiders, such as loyalty among gang members, group membership and social identity, and connection across divides. (West Side Story adds the element of race and ethnicity; one gang has white members and the other has Puerto Rican members.) Choose clips that highlight these themes, such as a scene showing gang members’ friendships or a nonviolent confrontation between rivals.

• Ask: What details did you notice that could connect to themes of identity, loyalty, and belonging?

  • I noticed that characters in the same gang dressed and moved in the same way. They even sounded alike when they spoke. These details connect to the theme of identity by showing how much of the characters’ individual self-expression is shaped by group norms and group pride.

Have students briefly discuss any similarities they noticed between West Side Story and film versions of The Outsiders.

Analyze Character Growth

Provide student pairs with Venn diagrams. Label one side of the diagram Ponyboy in Chapter 1 and the other side Ponyboy in Chapter 12. Label the center Ponyboy in both chapters.

Say these directions: In narrative writing, characters often change and grow between the beginning and the end of the story. For instance, plot events often have a strong effect on them. Think about how Ponyboy feels and behaves in the opening scene of Chapter 1 and how he feels and behaves in Chapter 12. How has he changed, and how has he remained the same? Use the Venn diagram to record text examples that show similarities and differences between Chapter 1 Ponyboy and Chapter 12 Ponyboy, as well as how each example shows change or lack of change. Use your Chapter 12 annotations to help.

Complete one entry as a class. Ask students to describe how Ponyboy feels toward the Socs in Chapter 1 (Ex. scared, anxious) and to provide text evidence to support their answer. (Ex. Ponyboy walks faster and starts sweating when the Socs approach.)

• Ask: Does Ponyboy still feel this way in Chapter 12? How does he feel toward the Socs in that chapter?

  • impatient, angry; no feelings at all

• What text evidence shows this feeling?

  • He doesn’t run away when they confront him; he threatens them with a weapon and says he’s “had about all I can take from you guys.”

Have students summarize these details in the outer circles of the Venn diagram. Then have partners add at least one more example for each diagram section.

• Ponyboy in Chapter 1: unsure if Darry loves him; believes Darry sees him as “just another mouth to feed and somebody to holler at.” Ponyboy in Chapter 12: more understanding of how Darry shows love; realizes Darry has “given up a lot for Soda and me.” Ponyboy in both chapters: interested in stories and the ways people tell stories; talks about his interest in movies in Chapter 1, decides to write down his own story in Chapter 12

• Ask: How do the ways Ponyboy changes—or the ways he stays the same—send a message about identity?

  • Some parts of Ponyboy’s identity, like his love for books and stories and his love for his family, stay the same because they are especially important to who he is. This sends a message that some relationships and interests are more essential to people’s identity than others are.

If time allows, have students share their responses in a brief whole-class discussion.

Analyze Theme Development

Have each pair join another pair to form a small group. Ask groups to discuss one or more of these questions. Then transition to whole-class discussion as time allows. In a smaller class, have students continue to work in pairs.

• Ask: How do the Curtis brothers use empathy to bridge divides in Chapter 12, and how does empathy help give them a sense of belonging? Why do you think the author chose to include these scenes at the end of the book rather than earlier in the book?

  • Ponyboy empathizes with Soda in a new way by realizing that Soda, who often supports and encourages Ponyboy, sometimes needs this support and encouragement himself. This realization helps bridge a divide Ponyboy may not have known was there. Empathy helps give Ponyboy a sense of belonging because he discovers he can play an important role in the family—he can be there for his brother. I think the author included these scenes at the end of the book because Ponyboy could only make these connections to his brothers after he learned and grew in other ways.

• Ask: Why do you think Ponyboy chooses to pick up the pieces of broken glass in Chapter 12? How does this action connect to ideas about violence and destruction in the book?

  • I think Ponyboy wants to repair some of the damage gang violence has done. The book shows how violence can cause widespread harm and how people who engage in violence may have conflicted feelings about it. Ponyboy’s choice is an attempt to resolve this conflict within himself.

• Ask: Consider the paragraph where Ponyboy describes “hundreds and hundreds of boys” who may have had similar experiences to those of the gang. How does this paragraph develop themes of empathy and connection?

  • The paragraph shows Ponyboy demonstrating empathy for other people he will never meet, thinking about ways he can use his own experience to help them. It suggests that empathy can help people see ways they are connected to strangers, such as strangers who are going through the same struggles.

As time allows, have students discuss the following additional questions.

• Ask: How does the author develop the reader’s empathy for the characters? Were there any characters you found easy or difficult to empathize with? Why?

  • The author uses Ponyboy’s unique voice to help develop the reader’s empathy. Because the reader can relate easily to Ponyboy, they can also empathize with his friends. The author also uses dialogue to develop the reader’s empathy, since characters share more about their emotions and challenges in dialogue. I found Ponyboy and Johnny easy to empathize with because they are kind and thoughtful, and the reader spends a lot of time with them. I found Bob more difficult to empathize with because of the way he attacked Johnny.

• Ask: The author S.E. Hinton used her initials instead of her full name to hide her gender. Her publisher didn’t think reviewers would believe that a girl could write a book centering on male characters’ experiences. How does this detail impact your understanding of identity, belonging, and/or empathy in the novel?

  • This detail shows that people will often jump to conclusions about someone based on outward details of their identity. For instance, Ponyboy describes several times how people judge him and his friends unfairly based on the way they look. Hinton may have felt that people would judge her unfairly as well.

Alternatively, students could discuss the questions in a jigsaw formation. Have each group address one question. Then re-form groups and have students take turns summarizing their question and response.

Part B: Write Using Imagery (RL.7.4, W.7.3.b, W.7.3.c, W.7.3.d, W.7.4) (15 minutes)

Bring the class back together. Review that another way the author expresses important themes and ideas is through recurring imagery. Students will take a closer look at the use of imagery to represent ideas in Johnny’s letter to Ponyboy and then write about the same ideas themselves.

Graffiti/Table Talk

Present a board or shared digital space.

Say these Directions: Think about how dawn, gold, green, and sunsets are used as images in Johnny’s letter and in the Robert Frost poem. What concepts do you think these images symbolically represent? List your ideas on the board.

Begin by listing concepts associated with one or two of the images. (Ex. dawn: childhood, innocence) Have students contribute their own responses until several concepts are listed for each image. As appropriate, students can use the same concept for multiple images; for instance, both dawn and gold could represent innocence.

• dawn: purity, beginnings; gold: value, hope; sunsets: peace, goodness, unity, connection; green: newness, excitement

Have students review the chart and identify which concepts appeared most often.

Write About Concepts Using Imagery

Ask students to record at least one concept that each image could represent.

Say these directions: Now you’ll rewrite Johnny’s message in your own words. Think about what Johnny wants Ponyboy to understand. Think about the concepts or big ideas the author develops through Johnny’s message and the ways she uses images to stand for these ideas. Then consider how you would express these same ideas if you were writing to a friend.

Explain that students will rewrite the part of the letter from “… he meant ...” to “… it’s a good way to be.” Ask students to:

• Include one or more images the author uses—dawn, day, gold, green, and/or sunsets—to represent a bigger concept.

• Include one descriptive detail, such as sensory detail or figurative language.

• Include one or more transition words/phrases to show a shift in time.

Work through an example as a class. Use sentence frames that include the image words, and have students suggest responses to complete the sentences.

• Ex. In your dawn years, _______________. [the world feels fresh like a spring garden] But then, as day comes, __________________. [the world grows stale like plants dying in winter] You can still be gold if you _________________. [find freshness in every season]

Students can complete the writing activity individually or in pairs.

• As a kid, you see gold everywhere. It’s all bright and exciting. At some point, though, the gold fades to rust, and you’re over it. But I think the brightness never really went away. If you keep looking for gold, you’ll find it again.

Scoring Rubric

Turn and Talk [RL.7.4]

• Ask: What does “stay gold” mean? Does "gold" refer to something physical or symbolic here?

Students respond:

• Turn and talk (30 sec) OR

• Quick cold call

3-2-1 Summary

Provide students with 3-column Chart graphic organizers.

Say these Directions: Use the graphic organizer to record three events that best helped you understand the book’s themes, two examples of characters who connected across a divide (two characters for each example), and one sentence summarizing what you think Ponyboy learns in the book.

Have students complete the summary independently or with a partner.

Instruct students to choose an event or interaction in the novel that develops the theme of empathy. Students should respond to the following prompt in their Journal:

• How does this example show that empathy can create, or contribute to, a sense of belonging?