“Nothing gold can stay” is the title and a line from a poem by Robert Frost. This quote means that nothing good ever lasts or that no one stays young forever. In S.E Hinton’s novel The Outsiders. This theme, nothing good ever lasts is shown as Ponyboy, the book’s main character is changed, and realizes things he has been blind to before.In many of the characters this theme is shown as they change, from the beginning, to the end of the book. In characters such as Ponyboy, Johnny and Cherry, the theme shines through even brighter than others. In Ponyboy’s case the theme of change is shown through how much he has learned by the end of the book. Johnny is changed by the end of the book too because he starts to look at the world differently. And Cherry shows this also, by losing her boyfriend. In the next few …show more content…
This is because Johnny is abused at home, he’s jumpy, and always nervous. By the end of The Outsiders however, Jonny seems to have lost most of that scared, unhappy personality. In the burning church when Ponyboy and Johnny are trying to save the kids, Ponyboy notices a change in Johnny, “That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes.” This may have been because Johnny felt like he was finally doing something worth doing in his life, like he hadn’t really been doing anything that counted for anything before. Johnny represents the theme of change because he changes so much during the book, or tries to change. By the end of the book when Ponyboy reads Johnny’s letter Johnny realized what the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost means. In his letter he tells Ponyboy about it, “I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid everything’s new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it’s
With his long greasy hair and baggy worn out clothes he looked likes a bad kid, but the way he talked and the way he thought it was a whole different person inside of him. The Outsiders is about two rival gangs that fight and go through so much stuff to just to call the territory their own. It is the Socs versus Greasers. They always have their back up because you can't trust anyone, but at the end of the day is all the rubbles and fighting worth it? Ponyboy one of the greasers has a big character change during the book. In the beginning of the book Ponyboy was getting jumped by the Socs and he was acting all tough and defending himself, in the middle of the book he starts to break while he is in the church, and when the kids were stuck in
This shows that Greasers get beat up by the Socs, & the Socs drive into the Greaser’s territory to jump them. Johnny gets scared, & after this he never walks alone again. According to pg. 92 of The Outsiders, “I leaped out of the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost falling, coughing and sobbing for breath. Then I heard Johnny scream…” This is when Johnny & Ponyboy are trying to save the kids.This shows the violence that Johnny was exposed to. He was exposed to the violence at the church because of the violence he was exposed to when Ponyboy and him got jumped. In total, the Greasers were exposed to a lot of violence in the story.The second reason why the Greasers struggle more than the Socs is because they have to make many sacrifices. Quote from the book to back up your perspective. In the book, Darry had to work to help pay the bills of the house, & to keep Ponyboy in school. He was way overworked, and he didn’t have any freedom to go anywhere because of his
The reasoning for this, may lay somewhere in authority and protection. Johnny is the one who everyone feels needs to protect, and act kind towards and around. Everyone else stood around aimlessly and confused (other than Ponyboy who was right with Johnny), but Johnny was the one who really jumped into the action. This remarkable boy leaped into danger that would soon claim his life, without a second thought.
Boom! Johnny drops to the floor. Kids are screaming. This is when Johnny is a hero for the second time in the story, The Outsiders. Johnny is a hero because he saved kids from a fire and Johnny saved Pony from dying.
In the book, Johnny saves several characters from death. In the book, Ponyboy evolves into a hero which will be shown in the evidence. He is more than a friend to Johnny and saves a couple of children’s lives. Dally may not care about strangers, but he cares about his friends. Dally goes into the burning church for Ponyboy and Johnny. Ponyboy’s jacket is on fire and Dally put out, which saves him from a bad burn and possibly saves his life. Ponyboy isn’t the one saves. Dally goes into the burning and crumbling church to save Johnny, risking his life. The Outsiders proves that anybody can be a hero, no matter his/her
The legendary quote “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold” from the renowned novel “The Outsiders” is something that I hope my children and grandchildren will have the privilege to know and understand. The Outsiders has a strong value of family and friendship. Throughout the book there are many satellite themes and issues. The book is known as a coming of age for adolescence. When I first read this book it was in my 8th grade Language Arts class. The first thing that came to my mind was “hey, isn’t that the movie with that Cruise guy”. I had no clue that the story of Ponyboy Curtis would touch my heart in such a way. I had been going through so much that year, I felt as if I was Ponyboy. Middle school starts were kids finally come to a realization of
They all go to town to get something to eat. When they return to the church, it was on fire. Ponyboy and Johnnycake went in to save the children from the burning church. Johnnycake is trapped inside. Dallas goes into save him. Then, the church collapses. They are rushed to the hospital. Ponyboy and Dallas are okay, but Johnny is severely injured. Ponyboy talks with one of the Socs and they both discuss about how they are tired of fighting. Everyone should be equal. Later, the Greasers and Socs get into an enormous brawl , but in the end the Greasers win. Ponyboy and Dallas rush to the hospital to tell Johnnycake they won the brawl. Johnnycake tells Ponyboy to stay gold. Those are the last words Johnny spoke before he died.
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 is a book that changed the style of young adult writers because it went off from the genre that young adult writer were using during that time period. The reader sees the everyday problems that teenagers were going through, “I can’t take much more Johnny spoke my own feelings I’ll kill myself or something” (Hinton 47). Johnny felt unloved because his parents treat him bad and say hurtful things to him, but when Johnny is with the gang he feels loved because they embrace him, and let him stay at their house if he cannot bear to go home to his parents. So many writers were use to telling fairy tells and fables, the realism of the outsiders made it the first of its kind during the time period it was written. Todd Howard points this out in his book Understanding The Outsiders, “ Thus the overwhelming commercial success that The Outsiders enjoyed among teens shortly after its first publication, it sent astonished publishers scurrying to find writers who could duplicate the novel’s formula and gave a pause to literary critics” (Howard 8). Authors in the early sixty’s never thought about writing a book showing the gang and social class differences, and this is why The Outsiders was a successful book because it opened people’s eyes to the problems some...
Literature allows the reader to experience a variety of conflicts and emotions of the characters in the plot or novel. In The Outsiders, Johnny faces various conflicts. Specifically, Johnny struggles with abusive, unloving parents, the fact that he never got a proper education, and that he was wanted for manslaughter. Thus, Johnny must learn that his life is precious.
Even though he was a skilled worker, he was proud, and full of arrogance. But after his terrible tragedy, his rude character died in the birth and death room, and Johnny was reborn as a more patient and caring person. He still won't take pity from anyone, but on the inside he is probably crying out for help. Although he has no one to talk to, he does have special talents that help keep him going strong.
...t like the rest of the Greasers he wouldn’t kill or nothing no matter what. They could of said Johnny not no killer but don’t push him because he will go off but instead they made it seem like he was a kid that lived in a household that didn’t care about him and that he was a punk and never stood up for himself.
Out of all of the members of the gang Johnny and Ponyboy were the closest, because they were the youngest and also they were not as tough as the other boys. After Ponyboy got in a fight with Darry about being late at getting home, Ponyboy ran to the lot and told Johnny that they were running away. Without hesitation the two boys took off running. Johnny needed no explanation. He had a rough life at home and without the support from the gang he may have already killed himself. Johnny just wanted to be there and support his friend like they had been supporting him through everything. At many points throughout the novel Ponyboy teaches or shows Johnny something new. “You know Johnny said slowly “I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept, reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before” (Hinton,78). When Johnny says that to Ponyboy is gives readers a glimpse of how Johnny having Ponyboy in his life makes it better. Another key point of their friendship in the novel is after Johnny kills the Soc. This is a key point because they run off to Jay Mountain to hide from the police and while they are there they discover more about each other and themselves. The boys are at that church for about a week before Dally came to check in on them and while they were inside that church they read Gone with the Wind. As they read Gone with the Wind they started to make connections
In S. E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, all is well until the end of this section; the innocence of Ponyboy of Johnny lost to the murder of Bob.The loss of Johnny’s innocence is the heavier surprise. He has mainly been the victim of his problems with his situations, showing the innocence, before
In The Outsiders it is given that through faith and devotion to one another Ponyboy and the gang use their close friendship in troublesome situations for instance when Johnny tells Ponyboy “i had to” he does this as an act of loyalty to Ponyboy to show him that he can trust him no matter what situation they are in. Most of the story is told from first person or Ponies perspective which shows us without exception every aspect of the story. When Johnny dies at the end of the book Ponyboy only then realizes the importance of him, and the gangs need for someone like Johnny to give them a sense of purpose after mentioning “we couldn't get along without him . We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang.” Throughout all of Ponyboys hardships Johnny was always there to support him even when Ponyboy wanted to run away after darry slapped him, he never asked any questions.