Ponyboy Curtis
The narrator and main character. He's fourteen, sensitive, and smart, which makes him an outsider even among the Greasers. The whole novel is his attempt to make sense of what happened to his friends and to himself.
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Characters
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Contents
Characters
Who matters and what they help you prove.
Johnny Cade
Ponyboy's closest friend. Johnny is quiet, gentle, and deeply scared after being beaten by Socs. He kills Bob to save Ponyboy, spends the rest of the novel carrying that weight, and dies after saving children from the fire. His death is the emotional center of the book.
Dally Winston
The gang's most hardened member. Dally has been in trouble since he was young and has no softness left — except for Johnny. When Johnny dies, Dally loses the one thing he cared about and engineers his own death.
Darry Curtis
Ponyboy's oldest brother and legal guardian. Darry gave up a college scholarship to keep the family together. He's strict and cold on the surface, but Ponyboy eventually understands that the pressure Darry shows is fear of losing him.
Sodapop Curtis
The middle brother. Sodapop is warm, easygoing, and the emotional buffer between Darry and Ponyboy. He dropped out of school to work at a gas station and carries his own quiet sadness, especially around his girlfriend Sandra.
Cherry Valance
A Soc girl Ponyboy meets at the drive-in. She's Bob's girlfriend but connects with Ponyboy over shared interests. She agrees to spy for the Greasers and tells Ponyboy that Socs have problems too. She complicates the novel's picture of the class divide.
Two-Bit Mathews
The oldest Greaser in the gang, known for his humor and his switchblade. He keeps things light but also shows how the gang functions as a substitute family for boys with nowhere else to go.
Steve Randle
Sodapop's best friend. He works at the gas station with Sodapop and is loyal to the gang, though he and Ponyboy don't always get along.
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