English Year 10 - The Outsiders: Characters

- Ponyboy Curtis, 14 years old and the youngest member of the greasers, narrates the novel. Ponyboy theorizes on the motivations and personalities of his friends and describes events in a slangy, youthful voice.

- Johnny Cade is a vulnerable sixteen-year-old greaser in a group defined by toughness and a sense of invincibility. He comes from an abusive home, and he takes to the greasers because they are his only reliable family.

- Before Cherry Valance enters the narrative, Ponyboy paints the conflict between the greasers and the Socs as irreconcilable. The introduction of Cherry, however, suggests that individual friendships can chip away at group hatreds.

- Sodapop, sometimes called “Soda,” is the middle of the three Curtis brothers. He is energetic, disinterested in school, and movie-star handsome. Ponyboy describes his idolization of Sodapop from the very beginning, and says his brother “gets drunk on just plain living,” a quality he deeply admires.

- Darry is the oldest of the Curtis brothers, becoming the father figure to Ponyboy and Sodapop after their parents die in a car accident. Darry gives up the possibility of going to college and playing football so that he can take a job as a menial laborer and provide for their family.