Discuss the theme of gender in these chapters. How do the characters treat members of the same sex, and of the opposite sex?

I think gender roles are pretty much written in stone. Girls are soft and pretty. They need to be protected. Boys can be gallant, like in Gone with the Wind, or they can be rude like Dally at the drive-in. Girls break hearts like Sodapop's. Girls do not fight but remain in the background as girlfriends to male characters in the book.

Well the story is about males, but I'd say that both genders are treated equally. This book was written by a teenage girl in the 1960s. The girls are more of girlfriend background characters, although I consider Cherry a strong character