Innocence Can Kill
Does innocents keep us from finding the truth? Do our opinions change as a result of violence in our lives? Although Ponyboys perception of the world was innocent he came of age due to all the dramatic events in his life. It will be shown that innocence can keep one from understanding the truth and the identity of other people.
At the beginning of The Outsiders Ponyboy is walking home and thinking about two things which is Paul Newman and a ride home. He suddenly gets jumped by his arch enemies the Socs. Eventually his fellow Greasers come and chase them away. Although the audience sees the injustice of this event the Greasers do not worry about the Socs and instead worry about their brother. Ponyboy’s brother Soda tells him, “Soda just put his hand on my shoulder and said its ok Ponyboy they ain’t gonna hurt you know more,” ( Hinton 7 ). This statement and action proves that Ponies brothers care for him and will comfort him in his problems. This also shows that Pony is not a very experienced person with combat and doesn’t know how to protect himself. He is innocent and is a young 14 year old that didn’t understand what was happening.
Overtime Ponyboy began to change because he became more courageous. For example the church fire in Windrixville showed a sign of courage when he ran into the burning building to go save innocent little children. While trying to save these children his best pal Johnny was hit by a piece of wood and fell. Johnny was then pulled
Ponyboy had many different characteristics that separated him from the rest of the characters such as his greenish grey eyes.
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
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
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
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
In The Outsiders, Ponyboy is stereotyped as a violent, stupid greaser. Greasers are stereotyped as delinquents, getting their name from the amount of hair oil in their hair. You're automatically a thug if you wear leather jackets, are rather greasy, and live in a poor neighborhood, according to his society. Greasers are teased and looked down upon by the socs, who are rich spoiled kids. When somebody sees a greaser, they run the other way. But Pony is so much more than all of that. He is a poetic, thoughtful boy. He doesn’t let anything get him down. He is trying his best to get good grades and be able to go to college, which is something most
In the story, The Outsiders, the main character Ponyboy is either to be sentenced to a boys home or to stay with his brother Darry. Ponyboy shouldn’t be thrown into a boys home, but to stay with Darry because he is such a hardworking and caring guy.
There are two major themes in The Outsiders. One of the themes is fitting in. This is what Ponyboy struggles with. He struggles with this because he isn’t really a Soc or a Greaser. He is more of a middle class than anything else. Also the other theme is equality. It takes a while for characters to realize this. Near the end of the book and movie Ponyboy ask Cherry if she can see the sun set on the Eastside/Westside good too. This is basically saying that rich or poor, Soc or Greaser you are still a human and that we are all equal. These two themes are expressed in a very interesting way.
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
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
“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 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.
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.
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 the novel The Outsiders, written by S.E Hinton a major change that one of the characters go through is the change of Ponyboy. His change slowly progresses throughout the novel. He goes through many events at the start, middle and end of the novel. At the start of the novel Ponyboy is just a kid being brought up in the greaser neighbourhood. By the end he is a changed man. The middle has some key events that make him change his personality and opinion on life. The reader learns that his personality and opinion changes because of the dramatic events he goes through and be the end of the novel the reader should be able to tell that he is a changed man because of the