Fridge / The Outsiders

• Fridge Brilliance: Why would S.E. Hinton put so much Ho Yay into the story if fans weren't meant to see the characters as gay? Well, the book was written by a teenage girl in the mid-1960's, who in all probability had little to no firsthand knowledge of how straight male bonding typically works, and had to extrapolate based on what she knew of the much more touchy-feely way women usually comforted and cared for each other. It's not intentional homoeroticism so much as it is Write What You Know from a less-than-worldy perspective.
• Fridge Logic: In Johnny's last letter to Ponyboy, he says "I'm going to miss you guys". But why would he say that? He knew he was going to die from his injuries and meant "I'll miss you in the afterlife".