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In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, what do Johnny and Ponyboy do while on the train?

Johnny and Ponyboy slept while on the train.


Johnny and Ponboy were in a very difficult situation.  After a fight with the Socs in the park, Johnny had killed Bob, a Soc.  He killed him because he thought the Socs were drowning Ponyboy in the fountain.  Johnny panicked because he had been jumped by Socs before and it left him traumatized.


The boys go to Dally, because he has had run-ins with the law and they know he will help them.  Dally tells them to hide outside of town.  The boys jump onto a train in order to get to an abandoned church where they will lay low. 


In the boxcar, the boys get to stop and think for the first time.  It hits Ponyboy what has happened.  Johnny killed someone and they are on the run.  He is scared, but he is also so exhausted from the events that he falls asleep.



I stretched out and used Johnny's legs for a pillow. Curling up, I was thankful for Dally's jacket. It was too big, but it was warm. Not even the rattling of the train could keep me awake, and I went to sleep in a hoodlum's jacket, with a gun lying next to my hand. (Ch. 4)



Johnny and Pony are in a situation that seems unbelievable.  Even with Dally's help, they feel overwhelmed.  They are on their own, and on the run from the law.  They are still accepting the fact that Johnny killed a kid.  It is all too much for them.

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