Underlying the struggle between the Socs and the greasers is the struggle between the instinct to make peace and the social obligation to fight. Hinton turns the rumble into a moral lesson. The fight begins when Darry Curtis and Paul Holden face off; the fact that Darry and Paul were high school friends and football teammates suggests that their rivalry need not exist—that money makes enemies of natural friends.
While this animosity seems pointless, each gang member who fights still feels a responsibility to his gang to hate the other gang. Ponyboy feels this tension within him before the fight. His hesitation after speaking with Randy and his decision to take five aspirin before the fight show that he is emotionally and physically unprepared for the ordeal.
Nevertheless, Ponyboy ignores his instincts and goes through with the fight because he wants to please his social group.
His participation in the rumble cements his place in the gang; he is no longer a tagalong little brother but rather a fighter in his own right. The greasers prepare for the rumble as if preparing for a high school dance. They bathe, do their hair, and dress carefully. While other teenagers celebrate their identities by attending dances and parties, the greasers celebrate theirs by fighting. After the fight, however, the glamour of the event wears off. Despite their victory, the greasers understand the uselessness of violence.
Nothing has really improved for them: greasers are injured, separation still threatens the Curtis brothers, and Johnny still lies dying. Though everyone looks forward to the rumble as a culmination of tension, the rumble actually proves anticlimactic. Immediately after the rumble, Ponyboy and Dally rush to the hospital to see Johnny. Their actions suggests that the rumble is a minor event interrupting their real concerns. The rumble leaves the other greasers depressed too.
Victory does not thrill them as they thought it would. Here, Two-Bit perhaps unknowingly alludes to the concept that no matter how hard an individual tries to separate himself from who he is, it doesn't work. Perhaps Darry already knew that his affiliation with the greasers was for his brothers' benefit. Or maybe Darry recognized the need for the extended family that his gang offered. After all, the death of his parents only eight months earlier certainly has changed both his and his brothers' lives.
If their parents were still alive, they might not need a gang. Darry would have been in college, and Soda would not have dropped out of school. Ponyboy is still trying to accept the idea that everyone is human. Intellectually he knows that life can be a challenge for everyone, but his conversation with Cherry shows that his heart sometimes speaks first.
The concept that "Things are rough all over" is easier to accept in one's head than one's heart. Cherry, sitting in her pretty red Sting Ray, only seems to remind Pony of how unfair life can be. The words out of his mouth "Don't you ever try to give us handouts and then feel high and mighty about it. The fact that he does try to equalize the situation by mentioning sunsets does show his growth.
Pony has developed a more mature understanding of the world and it is evident here. His perspective is now more than just the insiders versus outsiders viewpoint. The foreshadowing that Hinton includes in this chapter is varied and teases readers into asking many questions. For example, Dally takes Two-Bit's prized switchblade, but what exactly does he intend to use it for? Will he be at the rumble even though he is supposed to be in the hospital?
Now Ponyboy appears to be running a fever — what is wrong with him, and when will he be forced to deal with his illness? And what about Ponyboy's gut feeling that something awful is going to happen? Is Hinton foreshadowing something that is going to happen at the rumble?
By using foreshadowing, Hinton builds suspense into the novel and also makes readers feel the vulnerability and insecurity that the characters must live with on a daily basis. Previous Chapter 7. Pony vows never to finish the book. Soda and Darry spend every moment by Pony's bedside. They are as exhausted as Pony.
The future for all three is uncertain. Pony has missed a lot of school, he has missed track, and the threat of being placed in a boys' home is still a very real possibility. Dally's death forces readers to take another serious look at themes that are vital to understanding the novel. One important theme is the evolution of family relationships.
In this chapter, Pony is concerned that he may have only called for Soda, not for Darry, while he was sick and barely conscious. Finally, Soda eases his concerns with assurance that he did ask for Darry. Early in the book, Pony believed that Darry didn't even like him, much less need him as a brother. After the fire at the church, when Pony was reunited with Darry, Pony finally saw Darry for what he really is: a caring brother who loves him, has sacrificed a great deal for him, and has done his best to parent him.
Since the killing of Bob, the flight from the law, and other events, Pony has developed greater maturity and a broader perspective. He is now less self-absorbed, and he is upset when he thinks that he may have hurt Darry's feelings by not calling for him. The issue of who is an insider and who is an outsider is another important theme. How readers and the novel's characters interpret Dally's death is totally dependent on perspective. For example, Ponyboy says, "Two friends of mine had died that night; one a hero, the other a hoodlum.
Johnny did save the children from the burning church, but he would never have been there in the first place if he hadn't been on the run. Did he kill Bob just to save Ponyboy and himself, or was the killing a self-fulfilling prophecy? Approximately four months ago, the Socs had badly beaten Johnny and he had vowed that "He would kill the next person who jumped him.
Dally did rob a grocery store and take the police on a chase that ended in his being shot. However, earlier in the book, Dally had risked going to jail himself in order to help Johnny and Pony when they were fleeing from the law.
And Dally did save Pony from certain death by pulling him out of the burning church. He also risked personal injury to go in after Johnny, and pulled him out as well. Even the papers considered him a hero.
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