Throughout the novel, The Outsiders, Ponyboy is a quiet and lonely teenager. But, by the end of the book, he soon finds his place with the Greasers and learns that bravery is important. The Outsiders is a story about a boy named Ponyboy who faces the troubles between the Greasers and Socs; two different gangs that can never seem to get along. When a crime is committed, Ponyboy and all of his friends must pay the price and learn that bravery can be hard at times, but it is always worth it in the end. Pony starts out as a shy adolescent who keeps himself to himself, but soon grows to be the opposite. For example, Ponyboy usually implies that he is lonely, “I had a long walk home and no company, but I usually lone it anyway, for no reason except that I like to watch movies undisturbed so I can get …show more content…
“But I usually lone it anyways” is a direct sign that we can tell that Ponyboy is different than the rest of the gang, because they apparently don’t read books or watch movies. This is an early sign in the books which tells us that Ponyboy is lonely, and does a lot of things by himself. Another example of Ponyboy’s isolation and quietness is “They were all tough as nails and looked it. I had grown up with them, and they accepted me, even though I was younger, because I was Darry and Soda’s kid brother and I kept my mouth shut good” {page 9}. Most of the people in the gang (ex. Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, Johnny} consider him to just be “Darry and Soda’s kid brother”. This implies that the main reason why the whole gang respects him and doesn’t beat him up is most probably because of Darry and Soda’s good reputations. Another reason why the gang bear with him is that fact that “my mouth shut good” meaning Ponyboy knew the situations in which it was appropriate to speak up and which ones it
This started to happen when he was in the church trying to hide away from the police because of the murder of one of the Soc’s. “I was trembling, and it wasn’t all from cold” (Hilton p.57). This shows that Ponyboy was scared, starting to break, and noticed that maybe this “hard bad boy” life isn't for him. Ponyboy put more and more thought about what it takes to be a greaser, which made him realize that maybe the gang life wasn’t good for him. “We were good fighters and could play cool, but we were sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser” (Hinton, p.88). Ponyboy is expressing that it is hard to be as strong as the other boys and sometimes he just couldn't or he couldn't be ok with what they were doing. “It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, ‘cause I’m supposed to be smart’ I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head” (Hinton, p.4). Ponyboy knows he has the potential to be something else and while being in hiding in the church it helps him realize that if he really wanted to he could be whatever he puts his mind
In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy, along with his brothers and friends, has to face the daily struggles of being a greaser among the Socs. This fiction book focused on Ponyboy’s life and the problems he ran into with the Socs. He and his gang of friends had fights with the Socs that happened often, and had to deal with a Soc being killed by one of the Greasers, though it was an act of self defense. The three topics addressed in this intriguing novel are the fight between rich and poor, the power of friendship, and what it means to be a hero.
Ponyboy was a bad kid, he fought against Socs and he even smoked a weed, which is a cigarette. Later on he got into worse trouble and had to hide. He wanted to change and be a different person. While he hid he was scared and frightened and was beginning to think of how he was doing in life, and his thoughts were not very well. After the church incident, he began to change a little.
Moreover, Ponyboy is a thinker. He can think for the opposite side of his gang, the Socs. Although the Socs almost drowned him, he can still understand the Socs and didn’t be blinded by the hate. He in the chaos and impulsive world can see through the surface of the conflict and see the core of the world that people are the same. That is really amazing and Ponyboy does have the board mind of a
One reason is that he fought against the socs in the rumble (big fight between the socs and greasers). “I have been. a rumble. I’m okay”. (83) This quote means that Ponyboy was in the rumble he got hurt, and is okay. Another reason that Ponyboy accepts being a greaser is that he looks like one. For example, the key aspects of being a greaser are having long greasy hair, getting drunk, smoke a lot, and jump socs. Ponyboy does pretty much all of this. The last reason that proves that Ponyboy accepts being a greaser is that is supports the other greasers. “Don’t remember how Johnny was your buddy, don’t remember that he didn’t want to die. Don’t think of Dally breaking up in the hospital, crumpling under the streetlight ” (81). This quote means that Johnny was Ponyboy’s best buddy and he never wanted to die but he did. Dally breaking up in the hospital and crumbling in the streets is almost meaning how Dally reacted to Johnny dying and that led up to him dying. The parts where Ponyboy says, “Don’t think of” means to take it off his mind and try to feel better about the two deaths. The greasers also respect Ponyboy, for example, during an argument towards the end of the book Darry said to Ponyboy “Sure, little buddy” (84). Another example of the greasers respecting Ponyboy is how Johnny helps Ponyboy feel better a lot of in a lot of conflicts. For instance, getting hit or getting almost drowned. Ponyboy positively accepted
He knows that Ponyboy has a chance because he is very smart. How they both reacted to not having parents shaped and effected who they are. “Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time(2).” This explains how Johnny was effected by his parents. His parents constantly fighting and beating him made him who he was. A part of him was effected by all the chaos and pain he had to go through every day. “We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. I don't mean I do things like that. Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police.” Social roles are a part of self-image that makes a person who they are. In the novel Ponyboy explains the groups that the Greasers and Sochs were split into. This
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a late 60’s novel about a young 14 year old kid named Ponyboy. He is part of a hood group on the eastside of town called the greasers that to him are closer than family. Each and every person within the gang looks out for each other and would do anything for them, but sometimes these things they would do for each other without second thoughts have jurrasic effects that nobody could see coming in the future.
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.
the beginning of the book chapter 1 Ponyboy went to the movies alone on the way home some greasers jump him and in the right moment his group members save him from getting beat.
He is told “you’re too young” to be smoking by Jerry. Ponyboy doesn’t realise that he’s too young because he’s use to seeing all of his peers smoking, provoking him to think that it’s normal. Another example would be that all his mates had a reason to fight in the rumble, this caused him to wonde why he fought in the first place if it wasn’t for self defense. Sometimes the problem with having a peer group, can be that those around the individual can start to cause peer pressure.
Ponyboy doesn’t act like any regular greaser who is tough and likes to pick fights. Ponyboy cares about other people and will do things to benefit others. “I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I just went on picking up the glass from the bottle end and put it in the trash can. I didn’t want anyone to get a flat tire.” (pg. 172) Instead of leaving the
Johnny dies from rescuing kids from the burning church that used to be their hideout. After this happens a group of rich kids jump out of their car and threaten Pony. Ponyboy breaks the end off of his soda bottle, and threatens to cut them up. Pony realizes how aghast Two-Bit - a member of the gang - is at his actions, and Two bit tells him, “Ponyboy, listen, don’t get tough. You’re not like the rest of us and don’t try to be” (Hinton 171). Two-Bit wouldn’t have cared if anyone else had threatened to cut up someone, but when Ponyboy does, Two-Bit is aghast, and tells him off. He tells Pony that he isn’t like the rest of the gang, and hints that he doesn’t want him to be. Even the gang knows how different Ponyboy is from the rest of them, and they almost become like older brothers to Ponyboy in the way that they protect him. They are all reckless and carefree, but they know Pony well enough to know that he’s not like that. He is quieter, and his experiences of his parent’s and various friend’s deaths has not turned him cold yet. The gang knows this, and they want him to stay that way: good and
Ponyboy Curtis - Ponyboy is a fourteen-year-old member of a gang called the Greasers. His parents died in a car accident, so he lives alone with his two older brothers, Darry and Soda. He is a good student and athlete, but most people at school consider him a vagrant like his Greaser friends.
To keep a strong friendship you need to stay loyal to one another just as much as Ponyboy and his brothers stay loyal to each other after stating in chapter twelve “If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything.” Through passionate tone used by Sodapop throughout this quote we are shown that after everything they have been through that they trust each other and that staying together is all
The Outsiders is about the life of a 14-year-old boy. The book tells the story of Ponyboy “Curtis” and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. Ponyboy and his two brothers, Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16, have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."