Rebeldes (Susan E. Hinton)

Welcome to this deep immersion in Rebels. Today we are going to analyze some key fragments of the novel by S. Egington. That story that, well, has marked so many people. Hello. Yes, we get full in the world of Ponyboy Curtis. A boy in the 60s, eh?

Un greaser del East Side atrapado en esa división tan bestia de la sociedad. Exacto. Los greasers por un lado, la clase obrera, y los Sox por otro, los niños ricos del West Side. Efectivamente. Y no es solo la pasta, son los valores, las actitudes, la forma de ver la vida.

It's an abyss, come on. Well, our idea today is to break down a little the experiences of Ponyboy through these texts. The loyalty of his gang, that relationship so complex with his older siblings since their parents are missing. And of course, the clashes with the Socks, those violent moments that, well, are going to change everything for him.

¿Empezamos? Venga, al lío. Vale, pues empezamos justo cuando Ponyboy sale del cine. Está pensando en Cole Newman. Y ya ahí de primeras te das cuenta de que este chaval no es el típico greaser. Totalmente.

He's been in movies, books, something that differentiates him quite a bit from the rest, even from Darry and Sodapop, his brothers. He describes his look, doesn't he? The long hair, the combed hair. That's very Greaser. It's his mark of identity. There's that duality you're talking about. He's a Greaser, yes. Part of that group we associate with hardness, maybe with rebellion.

But he has a sensitivity, an inner life that makes him different. And then he gets into the family dynamic. Darry, the older brother who had to leave school to take care of himself, is super strict. Of course, he's got a huge weight. He became a father overnight and is tough with Ponyboy, out of fear, out of responsibility. Then there's Soda Pop, the medium. Soda.

Pure energy, charming, the one who understands Ponyboy. It shows that Ponyboy adores him. It's like his emotional anchor, right? Yes, yes.

But being a greaser isn't just about hair and a leather jacket. It's dangerous. Uff, and so much. Walking alone on the street is playing it. And Ponyboy knows it well. He tells us about Johnny Cage, his friend. The beating he got from some oxen. Terrible. They left it marked. Yes, physically and psychologically. With a constant fear. And that fear doesn't take long to come true for Ponyboy himself. Well, no. Almost nothing else after leaving the cinema follows him a car.

a red corvallis socks five uncles they go down they surround him the scene is full of tension and they go after him with a knife they threaten to cut his hair imagine the kid's panic remembering johnny he tries to defend himself to bite

But they're too many. They cover his mouth. It seems that the story repeats itself. But then... The cabaret appears, his gang, Darry, soda pop. And the others, Steve Randall, the one who knows everything about cars, soda friend, 2-Bit Matthews, always with a stick, but with his knife... Dallas Winston Daly, the most chungo, the most curtido, with a story in New York...

y johnny claro el pequeño la mascota del grupo aunque ya no tan pequeño después de la paliza llegan todos juntos como una unidad la familia que han elegido y los socks se piran y la reacción de darry es bueno primero la bronca es que no usas la cabeza

But you can see that there's fear underneath, right? The fear that something serious will happen to him. It's that tension of Darry, the responsibility. Yes, while Soda Pop defends him to the fullest. There you see the dynamics. Of course, the vulnerability of going alone in front of the group's strength and the vital importance of that gang as a security network. That need for a group is constant. Later, they go to the auto-cinema. Dali, Johnny and Ponyboy.

Y se encuentran con dos chicas Socks, Cherry Balance y Marcia. ¿Y Dali? Pues empieza a hacer de Dali, a meterse con ellas, a decirles burradas. Pero Cherry no es de las que se callan. Le planta cara. Y entonces pasa algo. Algo bastante fuerte. Sí, que Dali se pone más borde. ¿Y Johnny? El callado, el miedoso Johnny. Le para los pies a Dali. Exacto. Le dice déjala en paz. A Dali.

And it works.

Dale leaves. Mosqued, but leaves. And that opens an unexpected door. A door to conversation. Cherry and Marcia, instead of being scared, invite Ponyboy and Johnny to sit down with them. And they start talking about the differences between Greasers and Socks, and Cherry says a phrase that, tell her, says, things are very crude everywhere. It's brutal.

He explains that being a SOC is not paradise, that they also have their problems, their demons, a kind of coldness, of existential emptiness. They are looking for something they can't find. And Ponyboy is thinking: "Is the difference the paste or something deeper?" He says something like: "You don't feel anything, and we feel everything with too much violence." Wow!

It's a very powerful reflection for a kid his age.

Cherry sees something in them, in Ponyboy and Johnny, the differences of Dali. She sees their humanity, let's say. And there comes that conversation about the sunset. Beautiful. Yes. They discover that they both like to see the sunset, even if one sees it from the porch of their rich house and the other from the staircase of theirs. Perhaps the different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunsets. It's...

It's a very powerful simulation. That human connection under the labels. A small bridge between two worlds. But that bridge is super fragile, because social reality is imposed again right away. Girls' boyfriends appear. Bob Sheldon and Randy Anderson. Socks, of course. And they come. Drunk. And with a desire to fight.

Bob wears some very striking rings, a detail that is not unnoticed. "Uff, the rings!" The text insists on them. And of course, they connect with the beating they gave Johnny. It's a foreshadowing, isn't it? Something bad is cooking up. The tension rises. You, Bits, take a low, ready to fight. But Cherry avoids it. Yes, he decides to go with them to calm things down.

But first, he says something to Ponyboy that hurts him. That you won't be able to greet him at the institute. Because of the appearances. Because of what they will say. It's a jar of cold water. Confirms that social barrier that seems unsalvable even after that real connection they had.

Y toda esa tensión acumulada explota más tarde en casa. Ponyboy llega tardísimo, se había quedado dormido en el solar con Johnny. Y Darry, que estaría muerto de preocupación, pierde los nervios. Discuten a gritos. Y por primera vez, Darry le pega a Ponyboy.

Un golpe. Eso lo rompe todo. Esa barrera física es un punto de inflexión total en su relación. Ponyboy sale huyendo, convencido de que Darren no le quiere, de que no le importa. Encuentra a Johnny y le dice que se escapan. Se van al parque a enfriarse, a pensar, pero el destino, o la mala suerte, les lleva justo a donde no debían. Vuelve a aparecer el coche de los Sox, el Mustang azul, Bob, Randy y los demás, aún más borrachos, y

and seeking revenge for the car movie. Now the confrontation is inevitable, and it's brutal. They go for Ponyboy. They grab him and... and put his head in the fountain in the park. They try to drown him. They drown him. Ponyboy feels that he's going, that he's dying. The water is freezing. And Johnny sees him. He sees how they drown his friend, his only real friend. The panic. The memory of his own beating.

The rings of Bob shining. And he takes out the knife, the one he always carries on him since he was hit. And to save Ponyboy, he stabs Bob Sheldon, the leader of the Shocks. Bob dies right there. Silence. Panic. Total shock. They have just crossed a line from which there is no return. And what do they do?

a quien recurren dos chavales muertos de miedo que acaban de de matar a alguien instintivamente piensan en dali el único que parece saber moverse en ese mundo oscuro el único que podría ayudarles a salir de esa y dali a su manera responde

¿No se asusta? ¿No juzga? ¿Actúa? ¿Les da pasta? ¿Una pistola descargada? Por si acaso, les dice. Muy Dalí eso. ¿Y un plan? Coger un tren de mercancías a un pueblo. Wintersville.

Hiding in an abandoned church in a mountain, Jay Mountain. And he gives them a kick. He'll say they've gone to Texas. Dali is the protected man, the one who knows how the street works, how to dodge the police. It's his only salvation table at that moment. They arrive at the church, a tetric place, isolated. And there, well, reality hits them again. They have to disappear, change their appearance.

Y Johnny lo tiene claro. Hay que cortar el pelo. El pelo griser. Uf.

For Ponyboy, it's a huge stick. His hair is... It's part of who he is. And not just cutting it. Johnny insists that he has to dye it blonde. It's losing his identity, you know? His mark of pride, of belonging. It's a very strong symbolic blow. They feel even more isolated, like fugitives disguised. Johnny also cuts his, of course. Days pass there, hidden. They kill time as they can. Ponyboy reads out loud what the wind took away.

Y es curioso como Johnny se queda flipado con los caballeros sureños del libro, su galantería, su lealtad, y lo compara con Dali. Sí, recuerda una vez que Dali se echó la culpa de algo que no hizo para proteger a otro de la pandilla. Ve esa nobleza extraña en Dali. Y también hablan de un poema, Nothing Gold Can Stay, de Robert Frost. Ese poema va a ser clave.

pony boy recites it from memory talks about that, no? that nothing golden remains of the fleetingness of beauty of innocence of how good things, pure, end up being lost with the hardness of life

Johnny catches him on the flight. He connects him to the sunrise they saw when they arrived at the mountain. That image is recorded. And it will resonate until the end, yes. Several days pass, and Dali appears. Finally. He brings them news from home, and a letter from Soda Pop. A letter? Imagine the emotion of Ponyboy. Soda Pop is very worried, of course.

Dalí tells them that the tension in the city has burst. Greasers against Socks. A great fight is being prepared, a rumble, without weapons, just with punches, to sand things down, supposedly. And they get the bomb news. Cherry Balance. The girl Sock is acting as a spy for the Greasers. Tela, Bob's girlfriend, the boy Johnny killed, passing information to the Greasers. It's just that Cherry's position is super complex.

He feels that the Sox started the violence, that Bob was drunk and was looking for the fight. He acts for a sense of justice that goes beyond the gangs. He's very brave, really. All these news, the letter, the guilt, make Johnny make a decision. He wants to surrender. He thinks he can claim his own defense, that Cherry will testify for him.

No quiere que Ponyboy viva escondido por su culpa. Dal intenta a disuadirlo, pero Johnny está decidido. Así que vuelven hacia la iglesia para recoger sus cosas. Y... Se la encuentran en llamas. La iglesia está ardiendo. Y hay un grupo de niños de excursión cerca. Hay niños atrapados dentro. Y sin pensárselo.

And Johnny behind. They rush to rescue, break a window and get between the smoke, the flames. It's an act of pure, instinctive heroism. They forget who they are, that they are fugitives. They only see children in danger. It's amazing to see these kids, labeled as criminals, risk everything to save strangers. It shows the humanity that is under the Krieser facade. They manage to get several children out.

but when they are about to leave, the roof begins to collapse. A burning beam falls and hits Johnny in the back. He leaves him unconscious. Dali, who had come in to help, manages to get him out.

but both are badly injured serious burns pony boy also burns and daly hits him to turn off the flames on his back leaving him shocked the three end up in the hospital pony boy has mild burns with emotion he will recover daly has a fatal arm but he will also get ahead but what about johnny what about johnny is very serious the diagnosis is terrible broken back third-degree burns probably won't walk again if he survives

The tragedy is total. And in the midst of all that anguish, of that pain, a key moment arrives. Darry and Sodapop arrive at the hospital. And Ponyboy sees Darry, crying, broken by fear of losing him. And finally Ponyboy understands it. He understands that Darry's hardness, his demand, was not lack of affection. It was fear. It was responsibility. It was love for his way.

Yes, he cared about Darry. He realizes. It's a super emotional reconciliation. Necessary. But just when it seems that the family is starting to heal, another threat arises. Yes, the newspapers. On the one hand, they call them heroes to save the children. But on the other hand, the possibility is mentioned that the social services intervene, that they separate the brothers. That they send Ponyboy and Soda to a children's home.

the sword of damocles is still there just when more united they need to be while they recover a little he receives an unexpected visit randy adderson bob's friend the other sock that was in the park randy is destroyed fed up with violence he tells pony boy that he will not go to the great fight to the rumble that it is of no use the gracers will continue to be gracers and the socks will continue to be socks he says

It's a very raw vision, but it also shows us a more human Bob, a boy who was looking for limits, who was lost. And Cherry also talks to Ponyboy. It's a difficult conversation. She explains why she can't go see Johnny at the hospital. Of course, Johnny killed Bob and Cherry wanted Bob. It's too painful for her. But even so, she reaffirms that special connection she has with Ponyboy. She reminds him of the sunset.

Demuestra la complejidad de los sentimientos, de las lealtades rotas por la tragedia. A pesar de estar débil, de sentirse mal, Ponyboy insiste en ir a la pelea, al rumble. Siente que tiene que estar ahí. Se preparan todos. Cada uno con su motivación, ¿no? Soda va por la acción, por la adrenalina. Steve, por puro odio a los Sox. Darry, por orgullo, por demostrar algo.

Two-beat, because that's what the gang does. And Ponyboy. Ponyboy goes for them. For Johnny. For belonging. They get together with other Greasers gangs. The fight is wild. 20 Greasers against 22 Sox. Only fists. No weapons this time. The highlight is Darry against Paul Holden. They were friends. They played American football together. Now one is Greaser and the other Sox.

toda la división social el rencor concentrado en esa pelea y de repente aparece dali sí se ha escapado del hospital con el brazo vendado y todo su llegada es como una inyección de moral y los grisers se crecen pelean con más furia y ganan

The Sox flee. Victory. But... what? Exactly. An empty victory, as Randy said. Nothing changes in the end. Just more pain. More wounds. Dali knows it. He grabs Ponyboy, who is exhausted. Let's see Johnny. They run to the hospital. They arrive just in time. Johnny is very, very weak. He can hardly speak. Dali, euphoric about the fight, says, We've won, Johnny. We've given them a beating. But Johnny whispers...

inútil pelear no sirve de nada y entonces mira a pony boy y le dice le dice esas palabras sigue siendo dorado pony boy sigue dorado y se va johnny muere es demoledor el golpe final johnny el alma buena del grupo el más sensible muerto y para dally es el fin del mundo johnny era la única persona a la que dally quería de verdad

la única que veía algo bueno en él pierde el control totalmente sale corriendo del hospital como un loco roba una tienda aponta de pistola la descargada que les dio a ellos llama a la pandilla desde una cabina les dice que les esperen en el solar y se enfrenta a la policía allí saca la pistola sabiendo que no tiene balas buscando que le disparen y lo hacen dale y cae abatido bajo la luz de una farola

He gets the violent death that, deep down, he seemed to be looking for. Seeing his two best friends die in a matter of hours is too much for Ponyboy. He loses consciousness. He faints. Days pass. Delirium, fever, commotion. When he recovers a little, he reaches the judicial scene. The judge has heard testimonies, surely medical reports, about Ponyboy's state. And he absorbs it. He decides that Bob's death was in his own defense.

And most importantly, let him stay with his brothers. Legally, the case is closed.

But emotionally, Ponyboy is completely made up. Completely. He's apathetic, forgetful, he's got notes on the floor at the institute, he tries to be tough, he's insensitive… Yes, there's a scene where he even threatens some socks with a broken bottle. He scares his own friends, it's not him. He's traumatized, of course, looking for a way to process so much pain, so much loss.

And then, again, a family crisis acts as a revolt. Another fight between Darryl and Ponyboy. And Sodapop can't take it anymore. He runs away, desperate. When they find him, he explodes. He reveals his own hidden pain. His girlfriend, Sandy, has left him. It seems that she is pregnant with another. And above all, she can't stand the tension between her brothers anymore. She's always in the middle.

Les obliga a parar, a escucharse, de verdad.

And soon after, Ponyboy is rereading what the wind took away, the book he read to Johnny, and finds something inside. A note? A note from Johnny? Yes.

And in that note, Johnny returns to the message of the poem. He's still golden. He asks Ponyboy not to be bitter about being a greaser, not to hate the world, that there's still a lot of good to see, to live, that preserves that sensitivity. He asks him to tell Dali to also look for that beauty, that sunset, something that Jana can do.

That note is the final spark for Ponyboy. It gives him a perspective, a purpose. He understands that his story, Johnny's, Dali's, is not just his. It's the story of many other kids like them, trapped by circumstances, by labels. He realizes that he has to tell it, so that others understand, to honor his friends, so that people see beyond the long hair and the leather jacket. And he decides to write it.

para una redacción que le han mandado en clase de lengua. Se sienta... Y empieza.

With the same words with which the novel begins. When the bright light of the sun came out, from the darkness of the cinema. It is his way of healing, of transforming all that pain, that confusion, into something, significant, into a testimony. Exactly. And these fragments that we have reviewed of rebels, well, they leave us with that image so powerful, right? Of the unbreakable loyalty, of the so raw social conflict,

of the search for identity and the terrible price that violence has. He teaches us how those labels, greasers, socks, can hide shared humanity. But also how empathy, courage, even heroism can arise in the most unexpected places, in the most difficult circumstances. And above all, that constant struggle to keep something good inside.

That golden essence, as Jonny said, in a world that often seems determined to extinguish it. It is the heart of history that continues to beat hard today. Totally. And it leaves us there floating a question, right? To think after this investment. What does it mean to us today, that of continuing to be golden, when life, well, when life gets really raw? There it is. A good reflection, Zinan.