Part 3---Response 3 Guiding Questions

1.    As far as I know, Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darrel and their companions were called “Greasers” by the rich who lived in the west side of this town. Greaser originated from an American slang that Greaser was an impolite term for the Mexican in 19^th century, and the slur likely derived from what was considered one of the lowest occupations that typically held by Mexicans. After the Mexican-American War ended, people kept using this insulting term to against Italian, Mexican, and even poor people like Ponyboy and his friends.

2.    In my eyes, the famous book that was Ponyboy’s favorite, “Gone with the wind” was the symbolism of equality and freedom. Just like the novel’s name that “Gone with the wind” which illustrated abandon all the worries, and just follow the wind fluttering to a random place. Since Ponyboy, Sodapop and Darrel faced too many obstacles, and it would be wonderful for them going with the wind, but they couldn’t. It seemed like they were doomed to be restricted by poverty and troubles. The book was their expectation, an impossible expectation.

3.    The climax of this story was that Greasers, including Sodapop and his friends, and Socials decided to have an ultimate battle for Bob’s death. Fortunately, Sodapop died eventually. The major conflict of the climax was that Bob’s death, and Sodapop had enough of hiding in the church, and the resolution was that Greasers still couldn’t get rid off Socials’ unfair treatment, and they didn’t dare to struggle again since Sodapop has been the sacrifice for their first try.

4.    I think there are three main themes in this story. The first one is that be honest to yourself that don’t change for anyone’s judgments, and don’t be ruined by anything bad. The another them is that friendship and family are so important, and the last one is that don’t stop struggling because of the possibility of failure.

5.    From this novel, I learnt that everyone should be honest to yourself that I should always know who I am, and what I am doing. These aren’t stupid questions since a number of things happen in our daily life would easily influence us, and we would become lost. I perceived this theory of life from Sodapop that Sodapop left a piece of paper to Ponyboy in the book, “Gone with the wind” before he went to fight with Socials. On this small piece of paper, he said, “Stay gold, which means stay true to who you are, don’t change for anything it’ll ruin who you are. The way you dig sunsets, Pony, that’s gold.” From Sodapop’s last letter, I can see Sodapop had already known he would fail in this battle, and the reason he persisted in going to fight was that he was so eager to fight for his destiny, only once a lifetime because he wasn’t a coward.

Part 3---Response 2---Guiding Questions

Part 3: Reading Journal

Response 2 Guiding Questions

  

1.   In the outsiders, the place changed. Because

Sodapop killed Bob involuntarily when he tried to protect Ponyboy, Ponyboy and Sodapop had to escape to a church that was far away from their home. Before, theses three boys lived in their uncapacious but cozy home, but after Bob’s death, they had to live in different places that

Darrel stayed in their home so that he was able to inquiry about the policemen process and continued earning money here, and Ponyboy and weren’t allowed to take a step out of church.

Talking of how does this switching serve the story, I think family affection was described fully. For instance, Sodapop ran a risk for getting food and a famous book, “Gone with the wind” to satisfy his younger brother. Moreover, Darrel came that far, from their home to the church, just for seeing his brothers were good, and every time, Darrel left almost all his salaries to Ponyboy and Sodapop.

           

2.   In my opinion, this book brought a cozy mood to me even though these boys were orphans, and I think Ponyboy contributed a lot to this mood. For instance, when Ponyboy blamed Darrel always had a serious face, imagine the scene, a younger brother complained and became sulky even though they quarreled sometimes, their love was eternal, and their help was momentary. In addition, in the church, Sodapop stared at Ponyboy who has already fallen in asleep in his arms. It was definitely a cozy scene even though they were in a trouble; they wouldn’t forget to enjoy the time with family members.   

                                                          

3.   I will compare and contrast Ponyboy and Sodapop. First, the similarities between Ponyboy and Sodapop, both of them were Greasers, so both of them had a longer compared with other boys because this was one of their traditions, and since they weren’t rich, so they always wore T-shirts and blue jeans. From the heart, their life was filled with fear since they were Greasers who were always bullied by Socials. Also, both of them were disciplined children that they tried to avoid troubles even though they hated Socials.

However, they were so different in other words. Darrel had countless concerns because he was the oldest child and his two younger brothers needed him to support. Thus, his mind was full of two ideas that one was how to earn more money, and the other one was how to provide them better protection and life. In a word, Darrel was very mature inside. In contract, Ponyboy was childish since he didn’t have many practical concerns, and all he concerned was when Darrel would have some spare time with him. Darrel worked in a smoke filled, which surprised me because he was a disciplined boy and he should be a good model for their brothers, and Ponyboy, such a naughty and naïve child was addicted by the book, “Gone with the wind”.

                               

4.   The conflict between Sodapop and Bob was the main cause of the whole story since Sodapop and Ponyboy had to escape far away.

5.   Ponyboy was the narrator of the whole story, and he was one of the main characters. This character was the cause of the story because his brothers fought, escaped and finally died for protecting him.

6.   The book was written in the first person with Ponyboy’s point of view. I think this is a wonderful choice because Ponyboy was humorous, and from his words, even serious Darrel became a little bit funny. Also, because Ponyboy was only 14 years old, and his several reactions were naïve, which made me worried a lot when I read it. All in all, it makes the whole story much more addictive.

7.   As Ponyboy said that he loved Sodapop more than his parents, which proved their relationship was so intimate. I, as the only child of my family，I would admire to have a older brother like Sodapop too because he could share the books and movies with me, and I could receive lots of sense of safety from him, just like what Sodapop did for Ponyboy.

                                                        

8.    I found the phrase “half-conscious” appeared in the novel many times. In the literal sense, “half-conscious” means that someone is partially alert or awake. This phrase was used to describe one of the Ponyboy’s friends who was hit by Socials, the reason why I chose this phrase was that it is an ideal phrase to indicate people’s status at that time. The poor Greaser hit by Socials was scared to death, and he wasn’t able to talk even though all his companions were surrounding him. There’s another reason that I chose this phrase. To some degrees, this phrase was able to illustrate people’s train of thought since their district was divided into East and West parts, and people living in the district even hated each other instead of being good neighbors. In my opinion, this is ridiculous. Thus, everyone was half-conscious all the time because no one dared to point out how stupid their behaviors was, and everyone tacitly consented to such a terrible condition.

Part 4---Section One

 

  As far as I know, Ponyboy, Sodapop and Darrel were full brothers in “The Outsiders”, and they perceived each other as their lives since their parents unfortunately died in a traffic accident. They depended on each other, and they belonged to the same age group, so did they have some problems in their daily life? Of course they had.

  Darrel, he was the oldest child in this family. Being the oldest child would not be a tough thing for most families. However, for a special family, being the oldest child would make one person become exhausted. Darrel started to take over his parents’ responsibilities after they had passed away. He had to work very hard, so that they could make a living; he had to supervise his two younger brothers, so that they would not let their parents down and one of the most formidable missions that he was bearing was that he must protect his family and even all the Greasers from Socials. Moreover, Ponyboy always blamed that Darrel was so serious all the time, and he couldn’t reach a consensus about reading habit with Ponyboy, which caused the relationship between them wasn’t intimate enough. Thus, in my opinion, Darrel had countless worries. Darrel’s several worries weren’t solved, for instance, how to make Ponyboy feel that his oldest brother love him so much? By spending much more time with Ponyboy in reading novels or watching movies? It was impossible, because Darrel spent almost all his time on hardworking. In contrast, Darrel solved other knotty things systematically. Apparently, he satisfied the family needs, and Ponyboy even had the extra money to buy movies’ tickets and books. It was very marvelous for Darrel since he was just one of the residences in East Side of the town, which represented he could only get some inferior jobs with pathetic amount of salaries. In addition, when Sodapop killed Bob involuntarily, Darrel reacted calmly and finally thought out a perfect burrow.

Mom will leave Canada

I really wanna spent more and more time with mom, and I start to miss her even though she hasn't left yet. Wish she will be healthy forever.

Final Project-Part 3-Response 1 Guiding Questions

Part 3: Reading Journal (Connect & Question)

Response 1: Guiding Questions

1. The story was set in 1960s in America, and I knew it from reading Chapter 1 in which the author introduced the setting at the beginning.

2. There are three main characters in this novel, and the whole story was told in Ponyboy’s point of view. Ponyboy was fourteen-year-old, and he had two older brothers, the oldest brother called Darrel, and the second oldest brother called Sodapop. Unfortunately, the three boys’ parents died in a car accident, so Darrel undertook the parents’ responsibilities, which caused Darrel lacked the sense of being humorous. Ponyboy really loved Sodapop, because Sodapop never shouted at Ponyboy, and he was willing to spent time with Ponyboy. Talking of Ponyboy, he had a light-brown, almost red hair and greenish-gray eyes. In addition, Ponyboy liked reading books and watching movies.  In my opinion, all of the three boys are disciplined children, because they help each other to make a living without parents, they treated people friendly, and they were judgmental.

3. Bob was a secondary character in “The Outsiders”. As far as I know, where Ponyboy lived was a dangerous area, and it was divided into East side and West side. Rich people lived in West side, and they were called “Socials”. Well, in the East side, people like Ponyboy who didn’t have high social status lived there, and they were called “Greasers”. Bob was the leader of one young “Socs” gang who was hard drinking, cruel, and he always bullied Greasers. The reason why Bob was essential for this story is that his existence creates the main conflict in this story since Ponyboy and Sodapop had to escape to a far church to live, and experienced the following suffering. Thus, Bob was the direct cause of the story.

4. I would like to talk about the relationship between Ponyboy and his second oldest brother, Sodapop. Ponyboy narrated he loved Sodapop more than his parents. Without any doubts, Sodapop was a responsible brother who found out and solved the worries for Ponyboy. Ponyboy loved him, because he was willing to listen to, to share, and to comfort. The reason why I think their relationship is important since family affection is one of the main themes for the story. During the story, they escaped to a far church together, and they confronted lots of troubles together. However, they never gave up, because their special relationship, and they cherished each other so much.

5. Bob was accidentally killed in a vacant lot is the direct cause for the following plots because Greasers and Socials didn’t like each other, and Bob, as the leader of Socials, his death represented the relationship between Greasers and Socials would become worse and worse. Moreover, of course, since Socials always bullied Greasers, they would revenge Greasers.

6. The culture involved in this story is level of differentiation, which represents that social status determines everything. For instance, rich people lived in West side, and poor people lived in East side, which shows that people were materialistic at that time. “The Great Gatsby” shows the same culture that people who have lots of money seem like having everything.

7. In this novel, I feel love is so great.  Love is one of the most common affection in the world. Love concludes friendship; romance, family ties, and love even exist between strangers who help each other by the motivation of being touched or compassion. The reason why Sodapop and Ponyboy were able to be alive in a far church is that many people helped them by giving money, bringing food, and even fighting for them.

8. I would like to talk the event that Sodapop protected Ponyboy when Bob was bullying Ponyboy. In real life, one of the most ordinary consensuses is older brothers are always able to help the younger timely.

9. I would talk about “the Great Gatsby”, because these two novels have some similarities since both authors focused on describing the luxury cars and clothes that some rich people have. In my opinion, lots of rich people involved in these two novels thought that owning money equaled owning everything, so they had the power to bully or laugh at others ceaselessly.

10. 1) Do you think Bob’s parents will revenge to the oldest brother, Darrel?

   2) Do you think the police worked effectively and efficiently at that time?

   3) Why Greasers persist in maintaining their long hair even though others always laughed at them?

   4) Do you think “Socials” have real friendship compared with the friendship between “Greasers”?

   5) How do you think Ponyboy’s future after he found out Sodapop’s death?

   6) In the end of the story, Ponyboy found a slip of paper that Sodapop left in the book, “Gone with the wind”, so what do you think was written on the paper?

   7) The book, “Gone with the wind” was mentioned of many times in this story, why?