The author suggests in these chapters that male-female relationships
between the Greasers and Socs are more peaceful and respectful than
male-male relationships. The encounters between Johnny, Ponyboy,
Marcia, and Cherry show that relationships between Greasers and Socs
are positive, even though they are from different groups. Although Dally
has a negative encounter with the girls, Johnny protects them because
of their gender. He most likely would not have done this if the conflict
were with another male. The male greasers and male Socs encounters
consistently result in violence. This difference shows that the gang
rivalry is one that is masculine in nature. It is also worth noting;
however, that internal group bonding in also strongly masculine. The
Greasers are all male, and they are protective and supportive of one
another.
12. What is Ponyboy comparing Two-Bit to when he calls him a “chessy
cat” on page 27? What two literary devices are used here?
Chessy Cat refers to a "Cheshire Cat, a proverbial grinning cat from
Cheshire, in England as described in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland”. In The Outsiders, Ponyboy was trying to describe that
Two-Bit Matthews was smiling broadly, much like that of the Cheshire
Cat. This is an example of a simile (comparing two unlike things using
like or as), as well as allusion (to make a passing reference to something
outside the text).
13. What literary device does the author use to describe Johnny’s
mugging (pgs.31-34)?
The literary device used is flashback. This is a literary or cinematic
device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological