The Outsiders Dialectical Journal In the first chapter we are introduced to our narrator, Ponyboy. Ponyboy is raised by his two older brothers Darry and Soda. They are all part of a gang called "greasers", which Dally, Johnny, Two-bit and Steve join. There's another group called "socs" which stands for socials, and everyone in that group is very rich. One day Ponyboy was attacked by a group of socs, but luckily Darry was there to help before anything too serious happened. The first element of literature is characterization. Ponyboy is a keen observer, trying to make sense of the complexities of those around him. At the beginning of the story, he stops and spends several pages giving us a brief description of the characters of Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny. This is also known as direct characterization. He tells us that Steve is “arrogant and intelligent” (Hinton 9). Two-Bit can't stop goofing around and goes to school to "kick it" (Hinton 10) rather than to learn. Dallas, he says, is "harder, colder, meaner" (Hinton 10) than the rest of them. In the second chapter Ponyboy and Johnny go with Dally around the movies where they meet two socs girls. One of the girls' names is Cherry Valance, the other is Marica. When Dally started trying to talk and embarrass them, Cherry told Dally, "It's a shame you can't ride the bull half as well as you can talk." But Dally ignored that remark and went to get some coke. Once he was gone, Cherry and Ponyboy started talking and realized that they weren't that bad after all. Then Two-Bit comes back to announce that Dally slashed Tim Shepard's tires and says there's going to be a fight. Some time passes and Cherry decides she wants to get some popcorn and Ponyboy goes with her, Ponyboy telling Cherry the story of which... middle of paper... to bed or another house. Randy stopped by and told him that Johnny killed Bob. The best literary element for this chapter is the plot. The main plot of this chapter is when Randy tells Ponyboy that Johnny killed Bob. “Listen to me, Pony. You didn't do anything. It was your friend Johnny who had the knife…” (Hinton 165) In chapter twelve Ponyboy's English teacher tells him that since he is failing English, he has to do an extra credit assignment to improve his grade. Ponyboy and Darry also argue forcing Soda to leave. So the trial confirmed that Ponyboy and Soda can stay with Darry. Then Ponyboy wrote his article about his experience, basically the whole story. The best literary element of this chapter is the plot. The plot is when Ponyboy and Soda find out that they will be able to be with Darry. “Then he said I had been acquitted and the whole case was closed.” (Hinton 168)