Pony comments that his gang members are like family. This is because they are all very close since they have to depend on each other for everything. Pony goes to the movie by himself, and feels nervous because the Socs often jump greasers who walk alone.
Or I could have...
See This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
gotten one of the gang to come along, one of the four boysDarry and Soda and I have grown up with and consider family. We're almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well. (Ch. 1)
The gang is not just a loose group, and not just a bunch of trouble makers. They are exceptionally supportive of one another, and will come to the aid of any gang member. Pony and the other greasers often do not go anywhere alone.
Pony also explains that his own family is different because his parents died in a car accident, leaving his brother Darry to take care of his two younger brothers.
Sodapop... a dropout so he could get a job and keep me in school, and Darry, getting old before his time trying to run a family and hold on to two jobs and never having any fun... (Ch. 3)
Darry had to become a father to his brothers, and Soda dropped out of school. Pony felt the weight of Darry’s expectations. It often seemed like Darry was too strict and overbearing. He wanted so badly to keep Soda and Pony out of trouble that he went overboard with Pony. The death of Pony's parents also means that he and his brothers rely more on the gang.
The significance of the greaser gang being family is obvious when Johnny is in the hospital dying. Johnny’s doctor wants to limit his visitors.
The nurses wouldn't tell us anything about Johnny and Dally, so Darry got hold of the doctor. The doctor told us that he would talk only to the family, but Darry finally got it through the guy's head that we were about as much family as Dally and Johnny had. (Ch. 7)
The doctor realized that the greasers were Pony’s family and allowed them to visit with him anyway. After all, he was dying. He didn’t even want to see his own mother. The gang meant more to him than his real family, which was abusive and distant.
Families come in all shapes and sizes. It takes more than a mother, father, and kids to be a family. Family is people who care about you and look out for you. Pony's gang of greasers served that purpose.
In chapter 1, Ponyboy tells readers that the greaser gang is essentially his family. His mom and dad are dead, and he has his two brothers; however, the gang is such a tight-knit group of friends that Ponyboy considers them brothers rather than friends.
Or I could have gotten one of the gang to come along, one of the four boys Darry and Soda and I have grown up with and consider family. We're almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well.
The importance of the gang as family is really driven home to readers as Johnny is dying in the hospital. The doctors don't want anybody except family to come see Johnny, yet the boys in the gang adamantly defend the fact that they are the only family that Johnny really has.
The nurses wouldn't tell us anything about Johnny and Dally, so Darry got hold of the doctor. The doctor told us that he would talk only to the family, but Darry finally got it through the guy's head that we were about as much family as Dally and Johnny had.
In chapter 3, Ponyboy explains a little bit more about his parents and the life that he and his brothers are living. It's not a rosy picture. Ponyboy tells readers that the three of them are basically just hanging on. There isn't any concept of improving their lives. Darry works himself to the bone, and Soda also has to lend a hand with work just in order to keep Ponyboy in school.
Sodapop... a dropout so he could get a job and keep me in school, and Darry, getting old before his time trying to run a family and hold on to two jobs and never having any fun....
What are some quotes in the The Outsiders that relate to the topic of gangs/friends as surrogate family?
Johnny is a character in The Outsiders who gets more love from the other Greasers than he gets from his own family. In chapter 2, Ponyboy says the following:
I had seen Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man and never let out a whimper. That made it worse to see him break now. Soda just held him and pushed Johnny's hair back out of his eyes. "It's okay, Johnnycake, they're gone now. It's okay."
After the Socs beat up Johnny, Soda comforts him and holds him like he is a baby. Johnny receives the love he doesn't get from his family from the other members of the gang.
Later, in chapter 3, Johnny and Ponyboy have the following conversation:
"I think I like it better when the old man's hittin' me." Johnny sighed. "At least then I know he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you got Soda. I ain't got nobody."
"Shoot," I said, startled out of my misery, "you got the whole gang. Dally didn't slug you tonight 'cause you're the pet. I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang."
In this scene, Ponyboy lets Johnny know that he, Johnny, is valued and loved in the gang in a way that he isn't at home. While he only receives negative attention and violence at home, Johnny receives love and acceptance from the other Greasers.
In chapter 4, Johnny and Ponyboy go to Dally for help after Johnny kills a Soc. Dally and Ponyboy have the following interaction:
"Here!" Dally handed me a shirt about sixty million sizes too big. "It's Buck's—you an' him ain't exactly the same size, but it's dry." He handed me his worn brown leather jacket with the yellow sheep's-wool lining. "It'll get cold where you're going, but you can't risk being loaded down with blankets."
At this point in the book, Ponyboy is running away from home and can't go to his brothers for help. Instead, he seeks out Dally, a fellow gang member, to help him. The leather jacket is symbolic of the love that the gang members provide to each other.
What are some quotes in the The Outsiders that relate to the topic of gangs/friends as surrogate family?
I can point you to a few quotes to get you started -
In Chapter 1. Ponyboy tells us about the members of the Greasers:
"...the four boys Darry and Soda and I have grown up with and consider family. We're almost as close as brothers, when you grow up in a tight-knot neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well".
"...organized gangs are rarities - there are just small bunches of friends who stick together",
"If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are".
Later in the book, in Chapter 7, Ponyboy says,
"We always just stick our heads into each other's houses and holler 'Hey' and walk in. Our front door is always unlocked in case one of the boys is hacked off at his parents and needs a place to lay over and cool off. We never could tell who we'd find stretched out on the sofa in the morning...(we'd) risk a robbery...if it meant keeping one of the boys from blowing up and robbing a gas station or something. So the door was never locked".
What are some quotes in the The Outsiders that relate to the topic of gangs/friends as surrogate family?
Several of the main characters in The Outsiders consider their greaser buddies as family, particularly Ponyboy and Johnny. Following the death of his parents, Pony relies more and more on his friends since he has problems dealing with older brother Darry. Johnny's home life is terrible; his parents fight and argue all the time, and Johnny is both physically and mentally abused by them. He feels much more at home with Pony, Dally and Two-Bit.
Speaking of his greaser friends, Pony tells us that
We're almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well.
As for Johnny,
He was the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother... If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are.
And just before Johnny and Pony are attacked by the Socs in the park, Pony tries to calm his friend.
"... you got the whole gang."
Not long before Johnny died, Pony tried to cheer both of them up at the hospital. Pony saw that Johnny was dying, and he knew that the gang wouldn't be the same.
"You'll be okay," I said with fake cheerfullness. "You gotta be. We couldn't get along without you." The truth of that last statement hit me. We couldn't get along without him. We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang.