Character Analysis Of Ponyboy Curtis From 'The Outsiders'

Superman Returns “’Don’t you ever use your head?’” These are the words of Darrel Curtis, or Darry, from The Outsiders by S.E Hinton that he repeatedly states in the novel to his youngest brother, Ponyboy. The Outsiders is a realistic fiction novel that includes two main groups, the Greasers and the Socs, who were always getting into brutal fights with each other. The main problems in this novel are stereotyping and finding your identity. Darrel Curtis is the unofficial leader of the Greasers.

He didn‘t make a sound, but tears were running down his cheeks. I hadn‘t seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had been killed and in that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me and ―that was his silent fear then—of losing another person he loved.” Ponyboy and Dally have always had a rocky relationship. Ponyboy resents Dally as he thinks he is too controlling.

Ponyboy Curtis in the fourteen-year-old boy that explains the story in both the book and the movie, and also the youngest of the greasers. Ponyboy is very intelligent compared to the rest of the gang he is most defenatly the smartest to them all. Because his parents have died in a car accident, Ponyboy lives with his two brothers Darry and Sodapop in both the book and movie. Darry repeatedly accuses Ponyboy of lacking common sense in the book more so then in the movie, but Ponyboy is a much brighter then his brother takes him for. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy struggles with class division, violence, innocence, and familial love but in the movie they dont focus on his school as much. He matures over the course of the book and the movie both.

In chapter 3, Darry and Ponyboy got into a fight, in which Darry hit Ponyboy. This fight resulted in Ponyboy and Johnny killing a Soc, runnning away, going missing for five days, and getting Ponyboy injured and Johnny dead. The boys returned home when they were rushed to the hospital after being wounded from a fire. Once Ponyboy came to in the hospital, he saw Darry, crying. "Darry didn't like me... he had driven me away that night... he had hit me...he didn't give a hang about me... Suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying... Darry did care about me..." (98). Ponyboy ran to Darry, hugged him, and started sobbing. The two brothers stood in the waiting room, hugging and crying together. Daarry never scolded Ponyboy about him running away, because he was focused on Pony's health. He stayed at the hospital that night. Darry loves Pony, and now Pony knew.

“The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, is centered around Ponyboy’s path to maturity and the life lessons he learns along the way. The novel follows Ponyboy, a greaser, and his gang’s conflict with the Socials, a rival gang. In it, he learns to not judge people hastily and reject gang mentality. Ponyboy also loses his innocence. The following paragraphs will explore his growth throughout “The Outsiders”.

At the end of the book Ponyboy finally comes to terms with the deaths of Johnny and Dally, and he finally realizes that violence is not the answer when he makes up with Darry. Darry and Ponyboy are shouting at each other, and Ponyboy asks Sodapop to take his side. This causes Sodapop to rush out of the house, and Ponyboy and Darry chase after him. When they finally catch up Sodapop tells them he feels sick of being pulled apart by their fights. Ponyboy sympathizes with Sodapop as he says in the text: “Darry and I did play tug of war with him, with never a thought to how much it was hurting him.” Ponyboy suddenly understands what his fighting with Darry has done to Sodapop, and later in their conversation Ponyboy realizes why he never got along with Darry: “I saw that I had expected Darry to do all the understanding without even trying to

Darry, the oldest brother have had many conflicts with Soda and Pony, which made him change during this novel. First, one event that made Darry change was when he slapped his little brother, Pony when he came home late. Pony ran away for a few days because he thought that Darry didn’t want him as a brother anymore. Darry was so sorry, sad, and mad at himself for slapping Pony.

After Johnny’s death, Ponyboy finds a letter written by Johnny that reads, “When you’re a kid everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep it that way, it’s a good way to be,” (178). Johnny urges Ponyboy to embrace his youth and innocence by not yielding to the greaser lifestyle. He insists on Ponyboy seeking his full potential. Ponyboy acknowledges that there are different stories beyond one’s appearance like himself because although the society previously consider him a nuisance to the community, they are proved wrong after he transforms into a hero after saving children from a church fire, which contributes to his dynamic change. Even the close-minded public are subject to their own change of mind. Johnny’s letter also leaves a lifelong impact on Ponyboy’s perspective on the importance of family because the absence of family in Johnny’s life makes Ponyboy treasure the atypical family he has, whether it may the greasers as a whole. In all, a number of people influence Pony to change his views on people and his

In fact, Ponyboy has done this countless times. In other words, Ponyboy would be surprised by what he learns about someone just by looking at their actions or face expressions. For example, on page 86 it states,“It was hard to believe a Soc would help us, even a Soc that dug sunsets.” Ponyboy now realizes it doesn’t matter who you are financially or your complexion. To repeat, on page 88 it says,“He meant it when he said he didn’t care about his parents. But he and the rest of the gang knew Johnny cared and did everything they could to make it up to him. I don’t know what it was about Johnny-maybe that lost-puppy look or those big scared eyes… made everyone his big brother.” Ponyboy clarifies that Johnny still cares about his parents even if they beat him up, however, Dally is upset and told Johnny to forget about them. Ponyboy comprehends Dally really cares for Johnny. To enumerate, lastly on page 162 it mentions,“A real person, the best buddy a guy ever had… Did he have a kid brother that idolized him? Maybe a big brother who kept bugging him not to be so wild? His parents let him run wild-because they loved him too much or too little?Did they hate us now?” Ponyboy doesn’t understand why a Soc would come and talk to him normally and tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together. With this in mind, Ponyboy is intellectual, a deep

There were constant fights either between family or friends that affected the way Ponyboy, let alone the whole gang, grew up-not to mention how they connect to the poem’s themes.“‘Hey, grease,’ one said in an over-friendly voice. ‘We’re gonna do you a favor, greaser. We’re gonna cut all that long greasy hair off.’” Excerpts like these are evidence that Ponyboy was never accepted by other crowds, let alone his older brother Darry. Hints are dropped, like those within the poem explaining how the life was “not as ideal” as the Socs on the other side of town. During his youth, Ponyboy had to undergo some very painstaking experiences including the loss of his parents and the emotional complications within his siblings. In my opinion, the quote from “Poverty and Wealth” that best symbolizes Ponyboy’s maturity levels increasing and how he learns to deal with the struggles but still push through with a positive attitude.“His wants were simple, and simple his creed, To trust God fully: it served his need,” Almost afraid of what was to come from the future,

Imagine being dumb, stealing and carrying blades everywhere you go, and being unable to feel deeply, those words would make people think of Greasers. Most people when they think of gangs they think, that they fight, steal, and do not care about what is going on around them. Those statements that Greaser's and other assortments of gangs are dumb, criminals, and unfeeling may not be true, Ponyboy, the main character in S.E. Hinton’s book The Outsiders, opposes all of those statements.

Early on, Pony thinks that Darry doesn’t cares very much about him and would do anything to keep them apart from each other. While walking back home after the movie that pony watched with Cherry Valance, she asked how Darry was compared to Soda. Pony answered, “Darry. . . what was Darry like? ‘He’s. . .’ I started to say he was a good ol’ guy but I couldn’t. I burst out bitterly: ‘He’s not like Sodapop at all and he sure ain’t like me. He’s hard as a rock and about as human. He got eyes exactly like frozen ice. He likes Soda -- but he can’t stand me. I bet he wishes he could stick me in a home somewhere, and he’d do it, too, if Soda’d let him.” (Hinton 42). This demonstrates Pony’s opinion because Pony see's Darry getting along with Soda, Pony believes Darry has the capacity for love, but he just doesn’t have it for Pony. Pony forms his initial opinion because he is very naive. When Darry pushes Pony to get very good grades, Pony believes it is because he wants to be controlling. Originally Pony believes that darry is a horrible guardian but later on in the book he sees the other side of Darry.After Darry and Pony finally got to see each other after Pony ran away, he saw Darry crying while giving him a hug,“Suddenly I realized, horrified, that darry was crying...In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through. Darry did care about me. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me.” (Hinton 98). While giving Darry that hug, Pony realized something he never thought would come from darry, Pony saw him crying. For the first time, Pony saw that Darry does everything that he possibly can to help Pony get a better future then what he experienced. Darry tries to give Pony what he missed out on and Pony finally realized is it. This change in opinion for Pony

At the beginning of the book, Ponyboy is in intelligent, young teen, but he lacks the perspective to understand the environment around him. He can only see his side of the story and fails to understand why others act the way they do. The first example of this is his oldest brother Darry. He thinks Darry hates him because he is always giving Ponyboy a hard time about his lack of common sense, his grades,...

It is apparent throughout the movie that Ponyboy struggles with his identity. After his parents had passed away, his older brother, Darrel, became the parental figure for Ponyboy and his other brother, Sodapop. Ponyboy had felt that Darrel didn’t like him anymore and feels that Darrel blames

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