Innocence Can Kill : Innonyboy's Innocence Can Kill

In the book the outsiders Ponyboy is the main character. He is mainly distinctive from the rest of the characters by his physical traits and by his actions. Ponyboy was harassed several times by the Socs just because he was a greaser. Overall Ponyboy didn't use his head before he his actions. It caused him to get into many accidents such as when he was jumped in the beginning of the story because he walking home from the movie theaters by himself. Not only did Ponyboy not use his head he also was altruistic. An example of this is when he ran into the burning church to save kids even though it could have killed him.

The Outsiders illustrates the theme through the relationship of Ponyboy and Darry throughout the course of the book. In the beginning of the book, Darry slaps Ponyboy because he came home very late. This causes Ponyboy to run away from home with Johnny. Ponyboy tells Johnny, “‘He didn’t use to be like that...we used to get along okay...before Mom and Dad died. Now he just can’t stand me,’” (Hinton 51). This quote shows that Ponyboy is isolated from his brother. It shows how Ponyboy and Darry are drifting further apart from each other due to the death of their parents. Later on in the book when Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally are in the hospital, Sodapop and Darry come to see how they are all doing. When Darry and Sodapop see Ponyboy, they have a

In the book, The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis is part of the Greaser’s, a gang of boys who are in the lower class in 1965. Their arch rival, the Socs, are the more privileged, upper class boys from across town. Throughout the book, the two gang have many conflicts. Darry, Ponyboy’s oldest brother acts as a parent figure for him since both of his parents were killed in a car crash. Other member of the Greasers are Dally, Two-Bit, Steve, Sodapop, and Johnny. After getting in a fight with his brother, Ponyboy flees to the park where he runs into a group of Socs. The Socs attack Ponyboy and hold his head under the water in the fountain, trying to kill him. Ponyboy blacks out, and later wakes up to see on the Soc boys dead body next to him. Johnny then tells Ponyboy that he killed the boys because they were trying to kill Ponyboy. The boys are afraid, and desperately try to find Dally Winston, who gives them a gun and sends them to the abandoned church to hide. The two boys stay at the church for a while until they decide to go back into town. As they are leaving

Although it is supportive, he still doesn’t fit in and he doesn’t act like the other gang members, he isn’t tough and scary like them, he is much more vulnerable. Ponyboy and Johnny are both similar in the sense that they aren’t like the rest. Towards the end of the book, Ponyboy threatens a bunch of Socs and Two-Bit warns him by telling him, “Ponyboy, listen, don’t get tough. You’re not like the rest of us and don’t try to be…(171)” This serves as the conclusion of Ponyboy’s quest. When he realizes that he doesn’t need to act like the other greasers and that he can just be himself. Two-Bit helps Ponyboy realize that although he is different he still belongs with his friends and family, and that he doesn’t need to act a certain way or think a certain way to be part of the community. Therefore, the biggest factor in influencing Ponyboy’s identity, is his quest to find where he belongs and throughout the book he finds the answer by realizing that

Ponyboy Curtis is the famous character in S.E Hinton's novel “The Outsiders”. Ponyboy Curtis is academically smart, enjoys reading books watching movies, daydreaming and watching sunsets. Since both his parents have passed away, Ponyboy is under the authority of his older brother Darry who is twenty years of age along with his other brother Sodapop who is seventeen. There are other people in Ponyboy's life that he cares about too.

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

One of the themes in The Outsiders is that loyalty between people can keep each other from getting hurt. Loyalty between people can keep each other from getting in the wrong situations, from injury, but they also make sure they are always okay. It can keep each other from getting into trouble as well. During the story, Ponyboy, a Greaser, gets caught up with the Socs and gets beat up. Soon his brother and his friends find him and help him out. “‘I’m okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I’m okay.’ He stopped instantly. ‘I’m sorry.’” (Hinton, 6) Ponyboy was jumped by the Soc’s and Darry came right to his side and was helping him. Later, after Pony and Johnny ran away some Socs caught them and were beating them up. Johnny was

Ponyboy Curtis probably changes more throughout the course of The Outsiders than any other character. His loss of innocence is a major theme of the novel. Pony is a good student at the start of the story, and he is a member of the track team. Aside from the death of his parents, Pony has suffered less than most of the characters. His older brother, Darry, tries to protect him from the gang violence that

Ponyboy does not know where he wants to go with his life. At first he thinks he could never hurt anyone physically. He was once handed a broken bottle to defend himself but did not have too and later he states “I never could have used it anyway”. As the story progresses he losses his close friends. Later after losing them he breaks a bottle and threatens some Socs at a gas station. After they leave he picks up the broken glass so no one gets a flat tire. He does not know whether he should follow Johnny’s advice and stay golden or take Dally’s and toughen up so he wont get hurt anymore. However, he realizes that he needs to follow Johnny’s advice and learn for these mistakes and share with everyone what really happened and let it better him not tear him apart. Ponyboy’s feelings are not strange or rare. Tennagers all over have difficulty figuring out who they are in this world. Everyone has second thoughts on what to do next and how to do it. As kids grow up and realize how they want to live their lives they change. Something they may have done one month ago they would never do

Ponyboy was always the odd one out, he’s not like the other Greasers. In the novel, after losing several of his dearest friends, Ponyboy’s whole life turned upside down. In the story, many events of violence of loss happened, everything around Ponyboy is just so violent, even he started to be affected by it. “You're the guy that killed Bob Sheldon. […] And he was a friend of ours. We don't like nobody killing our friends, especially greasers."(Hinton 171) Ponyboy’s response to such violent behavior was to face it with more violence. Indignantly, busting off a bottle, Ponyboy threatened the Soc to beat him up, which was not like what he used to do, when he still retained his sanity. Now, Ponyboy is starting to accept violence and is slowly becoming conformity as the others, a cruel and delirious “Greaser”. The transformation is deadly and can ruin his whole life because of this chaotic behavior. Besides Ponyboy’s chaotic behavior, he is starting to fail at daily

First ponyboys looks change when johnny (ponyboy’s friend) and ponyboy go up to the church. Johnny and ponyboy went up to the church be cause johnny killed a socs (The greasers rivals) by accident. Johnny and ponyboy wanted to make sure they didn’t get caught by the police so the went to a far away church. As for ponyboys looks changing, in the book it says, “We're going to cut our hair, and you’re gonna bleach yours… They have our descriptions in the paper, we cant fit em.” This shows that to change ponyboys identity he had to change his look. He had to change his look because if the police found him and he didn’t match the description he would get arrested. Ponyboys personality changed when he saved many little kids from a burning church. In the novel it says, “ I’ll get them dont worry! I started a dead run for the church, the man cauhgt my arm. I’ll get the. You kids stay out. I jerked loose and ran on. All i was thinking was we started it. I through a big rock though the window. 91

He is himself, and this allows him to be special. In one instance, Ponyboy causes some Soc’s to retreat by brandishing a broken piece of glass at them and threatens to split them if they don't leave. This is found in chapter 12 page 171 in the book. We can also recall how he responded to when faced with having to rescue the children from the burning church. While some might see this as an extraordinary act of bravery, especially considering Ponyboy's injuries, he is humble about the act.

“Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us only get to stay together only as long as we behave. So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can (15).” In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, loyalty is a big deal, but family loyalty the biggest deal of all. The Curtis brothers are apart of a special gang called the Greasers. They all stick together. Ponyboy has developed a personal identity towards other people and how they see him. Ponyboy responds to his identity in the gang by doing what is expected as seen in his thoughts, feelings, and actions.

He goes through a hard and rough experience with his best friend Johnny Cade at the fountain where Bob the Soc’s death took place. This is a serious changing point in the book as it sends Ponyboy and his best friend Johnny into a state of life they have never experienced. “ Johnny” I managed to say fighting the dizziness”. “ I think I’m going to be sick.” Ponyboy is now caught up in the deep life of a greaser and continues his next few decisions as a greaser would. He ran away from his family which made him more vulnerable and fearless, therefore, he became more responsible and faced his own trouble as there was now no one present in his family protect him from danger. It was not the sort of Ponyboy we witnessed at the beginning. S.E Hinton had this in the book to emphasize that Ponyboy isn’t used to the life of a Greaser and that he had the mindset to change his appearance in the

In the beginning it was really Ponyboy’s fault that he did not get along with his oldest brother Darius. He said Darius does not like him, when in reality Darius was probably just being a little over protective and a little stressed he had to take care of him and his other brother after their parents died when a train hit their car. They have to come together and figure out how they will beat the soc’s in the big fight. They realize they need to fight in one big family for Johnny. They do this and win the fight.