Friday, April 28, 2017

What are some differences between Shepard's gang, the Brumly boys, and Pony's gang in The Outsiders?

The major difference between Ponyboy's gang and Tim Shepard's and the Brumly gangs is in organization. Ponyboy's gang is made up of "buddies who stuck together" while the other two gangs "had a leader and were organized." Ponyboy believes the reason that his gang is able to beat Tim's gang and Brumly's gang is because in his gang, each member leads himself. They weren't a bunch of followers waiting to get orders from their boss.

Ponyboy's gang is made up of his two brothers, Darry and Sodapop, Steve Randle (Soda's best friend), Two-Bit Williams, Johnny Cade, and Dallas Winston. His gang fights when they need to, but only Dallas "Dally" Winston has a rap sheet with the police. Ponyboy says Dally is "as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim Shepard's gang." The members of Ponyboy's gang all hang out together and are connected like brothers; they tease each other endlessly, but they are there for each other when one of the members is in trouble. Ponyboy's gang fights more with fists than with weapons (although Two-Bit carried a switch blade). His gang members never really wanted to hurt anyone.


Tim Shepard is a hood who led a group of hoods from ages fifteen to nineteen. Tim is proud of his bad reputation. Ponyboy says he looks like the type of street kid you see in movies. Tim ran his gang with strict discipline and his members were used to him making decisions. Shepard's gang is used to fighting with all types of weapons, including bottles, bike chains, knives, pool sticks, and guns.


Brumly's gang is similar to Shepard's, a group of guys who would "just get worse as they got older, not better." Ponyboy thinks this gang is made up of illiterate hoods. He doubts that "half of them can read a newspaper or spell much more than their names." Brumly's gang members have "weird vocabularies," likely because they are uneducated. 

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