Question

Can anyone do a summary for chapter 4 in the novel The Outsiders? please

Answer 1

Answer:

Ponyboy and Johnny are heading home through the park when they hear a car horn. It comes from the blue Mustang, the one that picked up the girls. Five Socs get out and drunkenly approach Ponyboy and Johnny. They grab Ponyboy and dunk him in the fountain, holding him under so long he thinks he is drowning.Moments later Ponyboy wakes up on the ground beside the fountain, coughing and shivering. Johnny is sitting beside him, big-eyed and pale. “I killed him,” Johnny says. “I killed that boy.”

Bob, the handsome leader of the Socs, is lying dead on the ground. Johnny explains that he stabbed Bob in self-defense; the Socs were drowning Ponyboy and preparing to beat Johnny up like they did before. When Bob went down, all the other Socs ran. Ponyboy listens to the story and panics. He throws up and falls into a fit of screaming. Johnny shakes him and makes him calm down.

Johnny says that he and Ponyboy have to get out of town. He decides they should go to their friend Dallas for money, a gun, and a plan. The boys know Dallas is at a party, so they go knock on the door. Dallas listens to the boys’ story and congratulates Johnny for killing a Soc.

Although Dallas is cold and ruthless, hardened by his rough life, he is also proud and loyal. He helps Ponyboy and Johnny without hesitation and without mentioning the legal repercussions he might face as a result. He finds dry clothes for Ponyboy, and he gives Johnny money and a gun. He instructs the boys to take the train out to the country and wait in an abandoned church he knows. When Dallas mentions that he never thought he would get “mixed up in a murder rap” outside New York, Johnny makes a little noise and shudders.

As Ponyboy and Johnny jump into a boxcar and ride out of town, Ponyboy tries to convince himself none of this is happening. Wishful thinking does not help, however, and he has to figure out what to do next. When the boys arrive at their stop, Ponyboy goes alone to find out how to get to the mountain with the church where they are supposed to hide. He combs his hair and tries to look less like a hood, but he knows his clothes and hair give him away. When he finds a farmer, he asks for directions, pretending that he is just a kid playing army. He finds out where to go, and he and Johnny find Dallas’s abandoned church. They flop down on the floor and go to sleep.

Answer 2

Ponyboy and Johnny reach the park around 2:30 a.m. A blast from a car horn alerts them that the blue Mustang is near. The boys realize that they are outnumbered as five Socs climb out of the car, including Bob and Randy, Cherry's and Marcia's boyfriends. These Socs had threatened Two-Bit, Johnny, and Ponyboy earlier in the evening when they found them walking with Cherry and Marcia. Johnny pulls his switchblade, but a weaponless Pony is grabbed before he knows it and shoved face first into a chilling fountain. In fear, Pony gasps for air but realizes too late that he is sucking in water and drowning.

Ponyboy awakens on the pavement gasping for air. Johnny is next to him and tells him, "I've killed that boy." Johnny is stained with blood and is still clutching his switchblade. Ponyboy sees the Soc, Bob, lying in a pool of blood. Johnny is cool, as Ponyboy has never before seen him, and states that they need money, a gun, and a plan. Knowing that Dally is the gang member with the resources to help them, they go in search of him to a party at the home of Buck Merril, Dally's rodeo partner. They find Dally there, and he provides them with $50, a gun, warm, dry clothes for Pony, and a plan that includes a safe hiding place. Dally instructs them to hop a train to Windrixville, hike up Jay Mountain, and stay in an abandoned church until he comes for them.

Ponyboy and Johnny follow Dally's instructions. On their walk up the mountain to the church, they notice that their appearances contrast sharply with the country culture. The church gives Ponyboy a creepy feeling, perhaps a premonition, but sleep overtakes both boys and any fears or premonitions are lost to exhaustion.

Good or no?