The Outsiders Comprehension Questions

1) What happened to Ponyboy's parents?

• They died in an car accident
• They were in jail for fraud
• They ran off together
• They're always busy with work

2) At the start of the book, what happened to Ponyboy on his way back from the movies?

• He was jumped by the Socs
• He got arrested
• He was offered a job
• He witnessed a murder

3) What was unusual about the girls Ponyboy and Johnny talked to at the movies?

• They were Socs
• They had boyfriends
• They were Greasers
• They were bald

4) What did Cherry tell Ponyboy about the Socs?

• They weren't all like the people who jumped Johnny
• They had troubles he had never heard of
• That the Socs don't have it made
• All of the above

5) According to Ponyboy and Cherry, what's the real difference between the Socs and the Greasers?

• Socs don't feel anything; Greasers feel too violently
• Socs feel too violently; Greasers don't feel anything
• Socs have money; Greasers don't have money
• Socs don't have money; Greasers have money

6) Why did Ponyboy try to run away the first time?

• Darry slapped him
• Darry told him he had to join the army
• Sodapop died
• The cops arrested Darry and Sodapop

7) Why did Johnny and Ponyboy have to leave town?

• Johnny killed a Soc boy

• Ponyboy killed a Soc boy

• Johnny killed Dally

• Ponyboy killed Dally

8) Who came up with the plan to get Johnny and Ponyboy to the abandoned church in the country?

• Dally
• Cherry
• Darry
• Two-Bit

9) According to Ponyboy, how is Johnny not like the rest of the members of their gang?

• He couldn't talk to them about poetry and sunsets
• None of them could relate to his struggles
• None of them had bad home lives like him
• None of their names started with J

10) What happened as a result of Johnny killing Bob?

• A war broke out between the Socs and the Greasers
• People stopped naming their kids Johnny
• Darry lost his job
• Soda re-enrolled into school