Who's bob in the outsiders?
The novel’s fourteen-year-old narrator and protagonist, and the youngest of the greasers. Ponyboy’s literary interests and academic accomplishments set him apart from the rest of his gang. Because his parents have died in a car accident, Ponyboy lives with his brothers Darry and Sodapop. Darry repeatedly accuses Ponyboy of lacking common sense, but Ponyboy is a reliable and observant narrator. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy struggles with class division, violence, innocence, and familial love. He matures over the course of the novel, eventually realizing the importance of strength in the face of class bias.
Read an in-depth analysis of Ponyboy Curtis.
Ponyboy’s oldest brother. Darrel, known as “Darry,” is a twenty-year-old greaser who is raising Ponyboy because their parents have died in a car crash. Strong, athletic, and intelligent, Darry has quit school. He works two jobs to hold the family together. The unofficial leader of the greasers, he becomes an authority figure for Ponyboy. He also makes good chocolate cake, which he and his brothers eat every day for breakfast. The other greasers call him “Superman.”
Read an in-depth analysis of Darry Curtis.
Ponyboy’s happy-go-lucky, handsome brother. Sodapop is the middle Curtis boy. Ponyboy envies Sodapop’s good looks and charm. Sodapop plans to marry Sandy, a greaser girl.
Read an in-depth analysis of Sodapop Curtis.
Bob’s girlfriend, she is a Soc cheerleader whom Ponyboy meets at the movies. Cherry’s real name is Sherri, but people call her Cherry because of her red hair. Ponyboy and Cherry have a great deal in common, and Ponyboy feels comfortable talking to her. Cherry is both offended and intrigued by her encounter with Dally Winston at the drive-in. Cherry admires Dally’s individuality and tells Ponyboy that she could fall in love with Dally. In the days preceding the rumble, Cherry becomes a spy for the greasers.
Read an in-depth analysis of Cherry Valance.
The toughest hood in Ponyboy’s group of greasers. Dallas, known as “Dally,” is a hardened teen who used to run with gangs in New York. He has an elfin face and icy blue eyes and, unlike his friends, does not put grease in his white-blond hair. Dally’s violent tendencies make him more dangerous than the other greasers, and he takes pride in his criminal record. Dally feels protective of Johnny Cade.
Read an in-depth analysis of Dallas "Dally" Winston.
A sixteen-year-old greaser with black hair and large, fearful eyes. Though Johnny does not succeed in school, he approaches intellectual matters with steady concentration. The child of alcoholic, abusive parents, he is nervous and sensitive. Since his parents do not care for him, Johnny sees the greasers as his true family. In turn, the older boys, particularly Dally, are protective of him.
Read an in-depth analysis of Johnny Cade.
The joker of Ponyboy’s group. Two-Bit, whose real name is Keith, is a wisecracking greaser who regularly shoplifts. He prizes his sleek black-handled switchblade. He instigates the hostilities between the Socs and the greasers by flirting with Marcia, the girlfriend of a Soc.
Sodapop’s best friend since grade school. Steve is a seventeen-year-old greaser who works with Sodapop at the gas station. Steve knows everything about cars and specializes in stealing hubcaps. He is cocky and intelligent, tall and lean. He wears his thick hair in a complicated arrangement of swirls. He is also tough—he once held off four opponents in a fight with a broken soda bottle. He sees Ponyboy as Sodapop’s annoying kid brother and wishes Ponyboy would not tag along so often.
Sodapop’s girlfriend. Sandy is pregnant with another man’s child and moves to Florida to live with her grandmother. Like the other greaser girls, Sandy appears in the text only when the boys mention her.
Cherry’s friend and Randy’s girlfriend. Marcia is a pretty, dark-haired Soc who befriends Two-Bit at the drive-in. Marcia and Two-Bit share a sense of humor and a taste for nonsensical musings.
Marcia’s boyfriend and Bob’s best friend. Randy is a handsome Soc who eventually sees the futility of fighting. Along with Cherry, Randy humanizes the Socs by showing that some of them have redeeming qualities. Randy helps Ponyboy realize that Socs are as susceptible to pain as anyone else. Randy tries to make peace with Ponyboy after Ponyboy saves the children from the fire, and he refuses to fight in the Soc-greaser rumble.
Cherry’s boyfriend. Bob is the dark-haired Soc who beats up Johnny before the novel begins. Bob has a set of three heavy rings, which he wears when he fights greasers. Bob’s indulgent parents have never disciplined him.
The husky blond Soc who steps forward to challenge Darry when the rumble begins. Paul and Darry were friends and football teammates in high school.
The teacher who accompanies Ponyboy to the hospital after Ponyboy saves the children from the fire. Though an adult and a member of mainstream society, Jerry judges the greasers on their merits instead of automatically branding them juvenile delinquents.
The leader of another band of greasers and a friend of Dally. Tim and Dally respect each other, despite occasional conflicts. Ponyboy thinks of Tim as an alley cat, hungry and restless. Tim does not appear in the novel until the night of the rumble, when his gang sides with Ponyboy’s. Ponyboy sees Shepard’s gang as real street hoods and criminals, and realizes that his own gang is little more than a group of friends fighting to survive.
Robert "Bob" Sheldon is the main antagonist in S.E. Hinton's 1967 novel The Outsiders, its 1983 film adaptation of the same name, and the posthumous overarching antagonist of the 1990 sequel TV series. He was the leader/one of the leaders of the Socs until he was killed by Johnny after trying to drown Ponyboy in a fountain.
He was portrayed by Leif Garrett.
Bob has dark brown curly hair. Like all Socs, he wears dress pants with a button-up shirt and button-up Jacket. He also has a Mustang like most Socs, meaning he prided himself in his good looks and cars.
Bob expresses a hatred for Greasers, especially for since he was a Soc leader. Whether this is out conformity or a personal reason is unknown; however, he did hate Johnny and Ponyboy even more after they along with Two-Bit, tried to take Cherry and Marcia home as he suspected that they were trying to take them away. He shows no remorse for the way he treats them even stating to Ponyboy that he and his friends were going to beat him up why did they before. He also shows that he is sexist by treating Cherry more as an object than anything.
In the movie version, his treatment of her becomes even worse as he tried to kiss her without permission at one point. Despite this, one might argue that he reasons he acts this way was because of his parents neglecting him and never making him work for anything. Both Cherry and Randy conform this. Cherry while explaining to Ponyboy that Bob had his "moments of being sweet" indicating that he was much nicer when he wasn't drunk or at least loyal to his fellow Socs. Randy, meanwhile, outright states that he would have been alive if his parents showed him some tough love every once in a while. This makes Bob a tragic yet still selfish young man who would do anything to make himself feel better. Even if it meant killing those who messed with him. Because of this, Ponyboy eventually realized that Bob along with the other Socs, were still humans with feelings, and in Bob's case, similar traits with the Greasers.
Bob pulls up with his friends, including Randy Adderson, in his Mustang. He and his friends are infuriated to discover that Greasers Ponyboy, Johnny, and Two-Bit have befriended their girlfriends, Cherry and Marcia. The girls defuse the situation by going with the Socs. The movie also shows why the girls left in more detail as the boys were clearly drunk with Bob also showing a lack of respect towards Cherry while in the parking lot.
Bob pulls up to the park, seeing that Ponyboy and Johnny are alone at an hour where other Greasers wouldn't be around to help them. Bob comments to them to them that Greasers are nothing more than white trash. In retaliation, Ponyboy calls Socs white trash with Mustangs and other nice things. Bob and his friends then chase down the two and start to drown Ponyboy. it takes all five of them to keep him down. Because of this, Johnny was able to get his knife out. Johnny then stabs and kills Bob Sheldon. It isn't known if Johnny intentionally meant to kill Bob or not. However, given that Bob was the one who ordered the attempted murder of Ponyboy and scarred Johnny for life, it's possible that Johnny stabbed him on purpose.
