The Outsiders Characters

Ponyboy the WriterFourteen-year-old Ponyboy is our narrator, and he has lots to say about himself and his world. Writing his story becomes a way for Pony to deal with the generous portions of grief...

Johnny has a really rough life. According to Pony, sixteen-year-old Johnny looks like "a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers" (1.49). When his...

At twenty, Darry is the oldest guy in The Outsiders, and the oldest of the Curtis brothers. He's movie star gorgeous and, like his brothers, he's super smart and athletic. Plus, he does all the coo...

Seventeen-year-old Sodapop is Mr. Personality and backs that up with lots of heart. Like his brother Darrel, he's fashion-plate handsome, and since he's a Curtis, he's smart, athletic, and hard wor...

Dallas fascinates Pony, and even before Pony becomes an ace storyteller, Dallas acts as his muse, or inspiration. Pony says, "I used to like to draw his picture when he was in a dangerous mood, for...

Two-Bit is the jokester of the gang and, at eighteen, also one of the oldest (just behind Darry). He talks non-stop and has a smart comment about everything, no matter whom he's talking to, even if...

Pony is least close to Steve, Soda's best friend. Steve thinks of Pony as a child, and doesn't like the fact that Soda is always bringing Pony along. This, of course, really bugs Pony, but he's not...

Cherry Valance, a girl from a wealthy family, and girlfriend to Bob, is the biggest female character in The Outsiders. In "Setting" and Ponyboy's "Character Analysis," we talk about Cherry as a uni...

Marcia is Cherry's friend and Randy's girlfriend. She's with Cherry at the movies and Pony thinks she's shallow and unprincipled, since she accepts a soda from Dallas, even after he's rude to her a...

Randy is Marcia's boyfriend, as well as Bob's best friend and partner in crime. He probably participated in the beating of Johnny, and certainly in the violence against other Greasers. When Bob is...

Bob is Cherry's boyfriend, the hard-drinking ringleader of one of the gangs of Socials terrorizing Greasers. Pony and Johnny are pretty sure Bob is the guy who kept his rings on while using Johnny'...

David only has a walk-on role in The Outsiders. He's the guy who tries to drown Ponyboy in the fountain when Bob tells him to give Pony a "bath." He doesn't reappear even though, according to us, h...

Sandy is Soda's girlfriend. She isn't involved in any of the present action of The Outsiders, and she remains behind the scenes the whole time. Pony has a pretty good impression of her, unlike his...

Evie is Steve Randle's girlfriend. She's a behind-the-scenes character who doesn't seem to influence the plot or impact the final outcome of the story in any way.

Sylvia was Dallas's girlfriend, but she apparently dated other guys when Dallas was in jail. When we meet Dallas, he's just broken up with her because of that. She's another behind-the-scenes figur...

Johnny's parents are abusive – his mother verbally, and his father physically. They're both neglectful. Johnny refuses to see his mother when she comes to visit him in the hospital, and he ta...

Since they die before the story begins, we don't meet the Curtis parents. From what we can gather, they were kind, loving, funny people who struggled to make ends meet, but managed to provide for t...

Tim is the leader of another Greaser gang, and a more organized and dangerous one at that. When the Greasers and Socials face off in the rumble, Tim and his gang join up with Pony's gang.

Curly is Tim's little brother and a member of his gang.

The Brumly boys are – you guessed it – from Brumly (which seems to be a fictional suburb of Pony's city), and make up another Greaser gang. This Brumly gang, like the Shepard one, is mo...

Buck is Dallas's roommate, and another behind-the-scenes character. He loans Dally his T-Bird, which Dally first uses to drive out to see Pony and Johnny at the church, and then to drive to the hos...

Paul appears once, at the rumble, on the Socials' side. He used to be good friends with Darry when they played football together.

Mr. Syme is Pony's English teacher. Pony likes him and says that he's a good teacher who really cares about his students. He's the one who encourages Pony to improve his grades and his life by writ...

The Judge is a very minor character who appears, fittingly, during the courtroom scene in the last chapter. Unlike some of the other minor characters, he does influence the outcome of the story, si...