Growing Up In Hinton's The Outsiders

When do you officially grow up? Some people grow up faster than others. In The Outsiders, the greasers learn a lot about growing by their circumstances and how they deal with them. Darrel Curtis, who every one called Darry, took on a lot of responsibility in order to care for his two younger brothers, Sodapop and Ponyboy. Ponyboy explains, “But then, Darry’s gone through a lot in his twenty years, grown up too fast,” (Hinton 2). Twenty year old Darry had to grieve his parents’ death, skip college to work and support his two brothers, and lose his childhood too quickly. Darry was very athletic and could have earned a scholarship to a college, but he gave it all up. He works too long and too hard and never has time for any fun. Darry was very close to his father and losing him was a big deal to him. Darrel Curtis is a prime example of someone who grew up too fast.

Ponyboy says, “Sodapop’ll never grow up at all” (Hinton 2). After his parent’s death, Soda also took on some responsibility. He works two jobs and he even fell in love, but he is still able to have fun and be a kid. After dropping out of high school, Soda fell in love with Sandy and wants to marry her. He wants to wait until Ponyboy gets out of school and gets a job so then Ponyboy can help with the bills. Which way is best, never growing up at all or growing up too fast? One thing that, in my opinion, affected the greasers’ life the most was death. The greasers thought of each other as more than just friends but as family. Ponyboy says, “Or I could have gotten one of the gang to come along, one of the four boys that Darry and soda and I have grown up with and consider family” (Hinton 3). Losing one of these boys was like losing a part of your family. After Johnny and Dally’s death, the greasers grew up. They experienced grief and loss. These greasers grew up too quickly because of their friend’s