Name ______________________________________________________ Period ___________

The OutsidersS.E. Hinton

8th Grade Language Arts – Ms. Samson

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STUDY GUIDE INSTRUCTIONS:

Over the next two week, you will work with your group to read the novel, The Outsiders.

Use the chart below to keep track of how you plan to read the novel during the next two weeks. There are 12 chapters in the novel. You will be able to read in class but will not be able to take the books home each night.

Reading Plan:Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday2/16

NO SCHOOL

2/17 2/18 2/19 2/20

2/23 2/24 2/25 2/26 2/27

As you read each chapter, you might find it helpful to:1. Preview the questions you will have to answer for that chapter before you do

the reading.2. Decide how you will read each chapter (aloud, on your own, etc.).3. Read the chapter.4. Work with your group to complete the study guide for that chapter.

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The Outsiders Vocabulary (list #4)

Create a vocabulary web or a vocabulary card for each of the ten words below. Due Thursday, 2-19.

ROOT ROOT MEANING VOCAB. WORDScred believe incredulous (p. 24)in- not, withoutNon- no, not, without nonchalantly (p. 25)pre- earlier, before, in front of premonition (p. 67)re- again, back, backward reluctantly (p. 71)

aloof (p. 38)eluded (p. 78)gallant (p. 76)ornery (p. 39)ruefully (p. 60)sullen (p. 73)

Vocabulary web:

Vocabulary card:

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Chapter 1

Quick Check Questions:

1. How are Greasers different from Socs? Describe each group.

2. Why is the 'gang' important to Johnny?

3. How does Ponyboy react to what Sodapop tells him about Darry?

4. Do you think Darry loves Ponyboy?  Why Darry treat Ponyboy the way he does?

5. What happened to Pony on his way home from the movies?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:Choose one quote from this chapter that reveals something significant about one of the characters from this chapter. Write the quote and what you can infer about the character.

Personal Response Question:What does Ponyboy mean when he says, "I lie to myself all the time"?  Do you ever lie to yourself?  Why?

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Chapter 2

Quick Check Questions:1. Are the names Ponyboy and Sodapop nicknames?  Explain.

2. Who are Cherry and Marcia? Why were they alone?

3. Why doesn't Ponyboy like referring to Sodapop as a dropout?

4. Ponyboy describes Two-Bit "grinning like a chessy cat" on page 27.  What does that mean? What two figures of speech is Hinton using in this phrase?

5. According to Two-Bit, why don’t Socs fight fair? How is this different than the Greasers?

6. What are the two Greaser rules according to Two-Bit?

7. What is "a weed" slang for in 1967?

8. What do we find out happened to Johnny prior to the time of this story?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:Why did Cherry respond differently to Pony than she did to Dally when they first met?

Personal Response Question:What is a Greaser’s definition of friendship? What is your definition of friendship? Give an example of something that someone has done for you that showed they were a good friend.

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Chapter 3

Quick Check Questions:1. The blue Mustang is a symbol. What do you think to blue Mustang symbolizes? Explain.

2. Who were Cherry and Marcia's boyfriends?

3. What does Cherry explain as the difference between the Socs and the Greasers?

4. What reason does Pony give for the separation between Greasers and Socs?

5. What does Ponyboy mean on p. 39 when he says "Johnny and I understood each other without saying anything"? 

6. When and how did Pony's parents die?

7. What happens when Pony comes home after his curfew?

8. Why does Johnny like it better when his father is hitting him?

9. Why was Pony late coming home from the Nightly Double?

10. What caused Pony to "run away"?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:At the end of the chapter, how does the author foreshadow that bad things are to come?

Personal Response Question:What will happen in school on Monday? What does this show us about Cherry and Pony’s situation? What would you do if you were in Cherry’s place?

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Chapter 4

Quick Check Questions: 1. What does Pony mean when he says the socs were "reeling pickled" on page 54? How

does this affect Pony and Johnny’s feelings towards them?

2. Describe the major event that happens in this chapter.

3. How did the author foreshadow that Johnny would use his knife in chapter 2?

4. Put yourself if Pony’s place. How would you feel about your situation? EXPLAIN IN DETAIL.

5. Why did Johnny and Pony go to Jay's Mountain?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:The boys immediately turn to Dally for help after the incident with Bob. Why is he the logical choice?

Personal Response Question:What would your advice be to Johnny and Ponyboy if they'd come to you for help instead of Dally?  Explain.

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Chapter 5

Quick Check Questions:1. Why does Pony have a problem with Johnny's idea to disguise themselves?

2. What does Pony mean when he says, "I was supposed to be the deep one" (p. 75)?

3. Why does Pony realize he doesn't like Dally?  Can you explain what he means by this?

4. What's a 'heater'?  Why does Dally have one? What does this tell the boys about the situation at home for the Greasers?

5. Why are the Socs and the Greasers going to fight in the vacant lot? What is at stake?

6. Who's the spy for the Greasers?  Does this surprise you?  Why or why not?

7. What was Johnny's favorite part of Gone with the Wind? Of whom did it remind him?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:Examine Robert Frost's poem, Nothing Gold can Stay.  What do you think the poem is saying?  How might this apply to the characters in the novel?

Personal Response Question:On page 78, Johnny compares Pony and his brothers to their parents.  Which one of your parents are you most like?  What similarities do you share?

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Chapter 6

Quick Check Questions:1. Why doesn't Dally want Johnny to turn himself in?

2. What "other side" of Dallas is revealed in this chapter?

3. What happened when Johnny, Pony and Dally returned to the church?

4. Why do you think Johnny wasn't scared, despite the obvious danger, on page 92?

5. Describe Johnny's relationship with his parents.

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:Why do you think Johnny decided to turn himself in?

Personal Response Question:What's your own definition of a hero?  Do the three boys prove themselves to be heroes, according to your definition?  Explain.

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Chapter 7

Quick Check Questions:1. What do you think the relationship between Pony and Darry will be like now? Give some

specific examples from Chapter 7 of how it is changing (pp. 100-113).

2. Explain what Pony means when he says Soda "reminds me of a colt" on p. 101.

3. What condition is Johnny in after the fire?

4. "Maybe people are younger when they are asleep" (p.104).  what do you think about this comment? What does it mean?

5. What additional problem did the three brothers face after Pony's return?

6. Why would Two-Bit think Johnny, Dally, and Pony were heroes all along; before they saved the kids?

7. Why did Pony think it was better to see Socs as "just guys" on p. 118?  What do you think he means by this?  

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:What was Bob's 'real' problem, according to Randy (p.116)? Do you think this was the real reason behind his actions?

Personal Response Question:Why would being crippled be worse for Johnny than someone else? How would you feel if you woke up from a traumatic experience and you were in Johnny’s condition?

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Chapter 8

Quick Check Questions:1. How does what the doctor first says, on page 119, foreshadow Johnny's condition?

2. Describe Johnny’s attitude towards death.

3. When Johnny's mother came to visit him at the hospital, what was Johnny's reaction?

4. What does Two-Bit mean on p. 123 when he says, "We could get along without anyone but Johnny"?

5. What does Dally ask Two-Bit for? What do you think that he will do with it? 6.

7. If Darry didn't have Soda and Pony, why would he be a Soc?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:What do you think Pony means when he thinks, "We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason" (p.121)?

Personal Response Question:Put yourself in Johnny's place. If you knew that you were going to die in the near future, how would you feel? What would you want to do with the time you had left?

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Chapter 9

Quick Check Questions:1. What is the difference between Tim Sheppard's gang and Ponyboy's?  Explain how Pony

feels this difference might give his group the upper hand?

2. What are the rules of the rumble? (pp. 140-142).

3. Briefly describe the different boys' reasons for fighting. (Darry, Steve, Soda and Two-Bit)

4. Why does Darry hate Paul Holden so much?

5. What advice did Dally give to Pony on the way to the hospital after the rumble?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:Even though Pony does not want to be a greaser and does not like many of the things that greasers do, the rumble allows him to be proud to be a greaser. Explain this contradiction.

Personal Response Question:What were Johnny's last words to Ponyboy? What do you think they mean? What does he want for Pony? If you could leave your friends with one piece of advice, what would it be?

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Chapter 10

Quick Check Questions:1. Why was Johnny's dying so difficult for Dally to handle?

2. What happened to Dally? Why do you think he wanted this fate?

3. Of what did Pony try to convince himself on the way home from the hospital?

4. What did Pony decide was the reason Dally couldn't take Johnny's death?

5. Why would Pony have thought he was in Windrixville while he was delirious?

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Chapter 11Quick Check Questions:

1. Explain why Pony might rather anyone's hate than their pity (p.162).

2. What do you think is going on with Ponyboy when he says, "Johnny didn't have anyhing to do with Bob's getting killed" (p.166)?

Chapter 12Quick Check Questions:

1. Why doesn't Ponyboy feel scared when the Socs approach him and he threatens them with a broken bottle (p.170-171)? How is this a dramatic change from the Ponyboy we have seen up until this point?

2. What do we learn was so special about Johnny (p.178)?

3. What does Ponyboy end up doing for his English assignment? Why does he write this? What is he trying to show?

4. What was the result of the court hearing?

5. How do we know Ponyboy will be all right?

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Write a paragraph about each of the questions below.

Extended Response Question:Johnny's note to Ponyboy made several points. What were they?

Personal Response Question:Do you think that different groups of people are treated differently at Cal Young? If so, how? If not, why not?

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