Chapter 10: Summary

At the hospital, the doctor informs them that M&M may have suffered long-term damage and may never recover fully mentally. Cathy is disturbed by this news and wants to stay at the hospital. Her father, however, insists that Bryon drop her home. Mr Carlson also thanks Bryon for his efforts in finding M&M. Bryon, for the first time, feels responsible and proud of his actions. Bryon tries to make Cathy feel better by saying that the doctor could have been mistaken about M&M. He says that the doctor’s conclusions could have been influenced by the fact that he did not approve of the use of LSD.

Cathy is inconsolable and feels that her brother will never be his former self. Bryon drops her off and drives home. At home, he is still disturbed about what happened. He wants to smoke and reaches out under Mike’s mattress. To his shock, he discovers a cylinder full of pills. He realizes to his dismay that Mark sells drugs. Already affected by what has happened to M&M, Bryon is unable to forgive Mark. He calls the police and waits for Mark to come home.

When Mark arrives, Bryon confronts him. Mark defends his actions by saying that he does not consume drugs himself and they really needed the money. Bryon tells him that he has informed the police. Mark is too shocked to react, and just waits for them to arrive and arrest him. He does ask Bryon why he was doing this to him, but Bryon remains silent. Eventually the police take him away. Once they leave, Bryon throws up in the washroom.

Chapter 11: Summary

The following day Bryon is unsure about his reasons for turning Mark in. He questions his actions and wonders if he should have given Mark another chance. Bryon’s mother remains hopeful that Mark may change his ways. Cathy visits Bryon that evening but he is harsh with her. He directs his self-loathing towards her. When Cathy leaves, Bryon realizes he is no longer in love with her. He does testify at Mark’s trial. Mark appears arrogant and unrepentant. He is sentenced to spend five years in the reformatory.

Bryon carries on with life in the next few months. He is numb and focuses on work and studies. He sees M&M one day and observes that he is no longer the boy they knew. He is a shadow of his former self. M&M says he is underperforming in school as he cannot remember things. Bryon also comes to know that Cathy is now dating Ponyboy Curtis. Bryon is not moved by this news, and he is surprised at his own indifference towards someone he cared about so much in the past.

Meanwhile, Mark’s behavior in the reformatory has been bad and there is a possibility of him being transferred to the state prison. Bryon succeeds in meeting Mark. However, Mark has changed for the worse. To Bryon, he appears like “a caged lion” with “sinister knowledge.” An embittered Mark still detests Bryon. Bryon conveys that if Mark can behave better and get out on parole, he could try and get him a job at the grocery store. Mark is quick to dismiss the idea. From his words and the way Mark looks at him, Bryon is convinced that if Mark had the chance, he would kill him. Mark is soon transferred to the state prison. Bryon does not try to meet him again.

Later, Bryon reminisces about the year that has gone by and if things could have turned out differently. For instance, what if M&M had had a good trip, what if he had never met Cathy. Finally, he wonders if he could rewind time and just go back to being a kid, a time when he had “all the answers.”

Chapters 10 and 11: Analysis

Bryon’s decision to turn Mark in was an impulsive one which he regrets the following day. In the previous chapters, we see him as a sensitive individual who was profoundly moved by M&M’s suffering. At that moment when he realizes Mark peddles drugs, he feels he does not have a choice. The next morning, once Mark is taken away, it dawns on him that he did have a choice. He could have asked Mark to change his ways and not called the police. However, being an adult also means learning to live with the consequences of the decisions one makes. For instance, M&M consciously chose to try hard drugs and was now left to face the consequences of that act. Bryon and Mark have travelled along two paths that will never meet, and that is what life and adulthood often holds. Each one of them now must live with the consequences of their choices.

By the end of the novel, Hinton poignantly brings out the fact that life may take a different turn at any moment and friends who once were as close as brothers can drift apart just like Bryon and Mark did. For a reader who feels intimately connected with these two characters throughout the course of the novel, it may be a frustrating experience to realize that the damage in their friendship is beyond repair. However, as an author, this what Hinton set out to do—to highlight that at times while growing up one travels along a road one least expects.

Bryon wishes to be a kid again. Given what we learn about their life, one can assume that he had not had a very comfortable childhood, but compared to his present predicament, his early years seemed like a time when he had some answers. At present, the path he has embarked on is strewn with complex and difficult questions for which he has no answers.