Choose one of the following questions to answer in a short essay. Indicate which essay you are answering by including the number you chose. All essay responses should be supported with details from the novel.
1. Compare and contrast Johnny and Dally. What roles do they play in the novel? What roles do they play in Ponyboy's life?
2. Discuss Ponyboy's evolving conception of the Socs. How does his opinion of the Socs at the end of the novel differ from his opinion at the beginning?
3. How is "Nothing Gold Can Stay," the Robert Frost poem that Ponyboy recites to Johnny at the church, relevant to Ponyboy and Johnny's story?
4. Dally is the meanest, crudest, roughest, toughest member of the Greasers. Why does Johnny think Dally is gallant? Give details from the novel to support your answer.