Shmoop - The Outsiders

Well, first, it seems important that the title is plural. The Outsider, singular, might suggest that Ponyboy is most focused on personal isolation - from family, friends, and society at large. Personal isolation is very important to him, but the plural could suggest that he's more concerned with groups of outsiders. And we definitely see this play out in the novel. Notice how Ponyboy is constantly describing the rules and norms of the different groups - mostly his own gang, other Greaser gangs, and the Socials.
He's also interested in how these different groups interact with each other. Ponyboy's trying to reach out to as many people as possible with his story. Perhaps most, he wants to connect with young men who feel powerless, and who are outside of many opportunities because of economic poverty - the types of boys who might be involved in a gang. In short, kids like himself and his friends.
But back to the original question ("What's Up with the Title?"), some titles are more mysterious than others. This one isn't so mysterious. "The outsiders" are the main characters, the Curtis brothers and their four friends. We all know what an outsider is, and we've all seen groups of people who are outsiders. In fact, we're all outside of something. At some point, perhaps on a daily basis, many of us feel separate from and different from others, to some degree or another. We can be isolated by lots of different things, including the politics and economics in our area, our states of mind, our physical conditions, things we've done and things that have been done to us, just to name a few.
But, these things can also connect us. Ponyboy's realization that Greasers and Socials are connected in several important ways, including a shared sense of isolation, is an important insight for him. It is sparked when he meets Cherry, and begins to understand that Greasers and Socs (and everybody else) are connected through nature. He writes, early in the novel, "Maybe the two different worlds we live in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset" (3.18). Yet, although they are connected, Ponyboy doesn't pretend that this connection really erases the practical differences of their day-to-day lives.
He tells his story in the hopes of creating opportunities for boys like himself, by humanizing them and showing their struggle. By focusing on individuals, he hopes to express some of the extreme problems that face the group, and break down some of those walls that might have seemed to surround such outsiders.

Ponyboy tells a tragic tale - a tale of violence, of poverty, and of young men dying in the streets. But, luckily, The Outsiders manages to end on a happy note, with most of Ponyboy's major problems resolved. He isn't sent to a boys' home, or brought up on charges. When he and Darry realize what their renewed fighting is doing to Sodapop, Pony understands that he does have the power to help make this a happy or an unhappy home.
What's more, we find out that Ponyboy isn't actually delusional (or so he says) and he begins recover from the recent traumas. He's just been pretending to think that he's the one who killed Bob, and that Johnny isn't dead. So, that's a relief, because we were really starting to worry about the kid. So far so good, right? Well, it doesn't stop there. S.E. Hinton isn't content to simply tie up loose ends. Her main character experiences a transformation. After reading Johnny's disturbing deathbed note (discussed in Johnny's "Character Analysis"), Ponyboy has an epiphany, or sudden and intense surge of understanding. It comes in several stages.
First, he has a vision of "hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys [...] who jumped at their shadows" (12.65). He sees boys dying on the streets in the nights.
And now for the epiphany part. He thinks,
It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing. There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn't be so quick to judge [...]. (12.65)
Wow! A powerful feeling has obviously gripped Ponyboy - he feels intimately connected with a vast group of outsiders, and wants to bring them inside by bringing them into the light, so to speak. Holding his pen, preparing to write, he remembers the three boys who died over the course of a single week.
Then he tells us, "And I decided I could tell people, beginning with my English teacher" (12.71). By italicizing I, Pony is expressing just how amazing and new this idea is to him - that he himself can do it, that he can single-handedly make a difference in the lives of many through his writing. He's energized and empowered. He's stepping through a doorway into a new life. He can be fearless with his pen. Ponyboy makes a brief appearance in Hinton's second novel That Was Then, This is Now. But this isn't a sequel, because it doesn't otherwise continue the story of