Stay Gold Ponyboy Research Paper

Ponyboy is gold. He is helpful and smart, but he’s a greaser and well that’s fine to some people...to others it’s just not acceptable. Even though Ponyboy and Johnny hit the road after Bob was killed he still deserved better. Ponyboy had potential and he is going places, I can tell. Ponyboy has had many losses in his life, Mom, Dad, Johnny, and Dally, but he is strong. That’s all he is going to need to be.

While at a movie theater, Dally is antagonizing and annoying several Soc girls. Johnny stands up to Dally, his hero, and states, “‘Leave her alone, Dally.’ ‘Huh?’ Dally was taken off guard. He stared at Johnny in disbelief. Johnny couldn't say ‘Boo’ to a goose. Johnny gulped and got a little pale, but he said, ‘You heard me. Leave her alone’” (24). It took all of Johnny’s bravery to stand up to his absolute idol. He was willing to stand up to a dangerous boy that could easily defeat him in a fight, to save others. Not only this, but when a church is burning down with children inside, Ponyboy states, ”Johnny wasn't behaving at all like his old self. ... he grinned at me. He wasn't scared either. That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes” (92). Johnny gives his own life for kids who have futures. He charges into the church at full speed when necessary. Johnny becomes brave in the middle of the

Johnny would do anything to save his friends. After Dally drove Pony and Johnny to eat some much- needed food. They came back to see the church that Johnny and Pony were hiding out in on fire. There was a school having a picnic there. Some of the kids trapped inside the church. Without saying anything, Pony jumped out of the car and ran into the burning church with Johnny behind him. Right after saving the kids, Pony described, ‘‘Johnny shoved me out the window. ‘Get out!’ I leaped out the window and I heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me” (Hinton 97). Instead of saving himself, Johnny pushed Pony out the window and saved him. Johnny puts others before himself and is willing to risk his life for others. This act is truly heroic.

After running for a while they stopped in another parking lot with a fountain in the middle. While in the parking lot a blue mustang that belonged to the Socs that beat up Johnny a long time ago pulled up. They stepped out and started to insult Johnny and Ponyboy, Ponyboy snapped back and they grabbed him and shoved his head in the found as stated, “They grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain. I fought, but the hand at the back of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath. I’m dying, I thought, and wondered what was happening to Johnny.” This showed that those Socs were even going to kill them just because they talked back, but they were also drunk which also shows how dangerous drunk Socs are. To save Ponyboy Johnny had to kill the Soc and afterwards they both had to run out of town to avoid being arrested. This changed Ponyboys identity into a outlaw.

Earlier in the novel Ponyboy talks about a poem with Johnny, but he does not quite understand the meaning of it. Before Johnny passes away he recites the line to Pony in hopes that he can learn something from it. Johnny says to Pony, “Stay gold, Pony. Stay gold…” (148). Johnny writes a letter to Pony and puts it in a book that he gives to him. In the letter Johnny explains that the quote means to stay innocent or free of all the bad things in life--Pony learns that even if the world seems bad, there is always good in it and there will always be. He wants to share this lesson with as many people as possible, so he decides to make that happen by starting with his English teacher. Not only do Johnny's words of wisdom change Pony, but so do all of the other events in his life.

Sometimes, things can be rough. In this fantastic book by S.E. Hinton- The Outsiders, the story starts off with a boy named Ponyboy. WHen his brother gets mad at him, he runs away, expecting to return the next morning. That is all turned upside down when his friend Johnny kills a boy. They run away to Windrixville together. Then, on their way back, they spot a burning church and run inside and save the children trapped in the back. Johnny is seriously injured by a piece of burning wood. Throughout the next chapters, the boys are preparing for the big fight against an enemy gang, the Socs. After the fight, which they win, Pony and his buddy Dallas WInston go and see JOhnny in the hospital one last time before he died. Dallas, who is overrun

There are many things that the word gold can refer to in the novel the outsiders, it can portray Johnny or Pony boy. I say this because a person like Johnny on comes around once in a life time and when you find a friend like that you will want to cherish it forever. For someone like pony boy he was a different type of gold.

Johnny and Ponyboy are two characters in S.E Hinton’s novel ‘The Outsiders.' They both have contrary lives from each other with a few similarities, as well as being two greasers from a second society. Johnny has had a rough life so far since both his parents never cared for him. His mother would abuse him verbally, and his father would abuse him physically and verbally. As for Ponyboy, both of his parents died, leaving him with his two older brothers Sodapop and Darry. Johnny and Ponyboy both read ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ at the ran down church. They didn’t know precisely what the poem meant, but little do they know that the poem would have a significant similarity to them individually. Each line and stanza refer to the experiences that Johnny and Ponyboy have lived through throughout the story.

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

Johnny was a hero too because before Pony and him stayed at the church. The socs came to Pony and Johnny about why were they walking their girlfriends home. Since the socs are very violent they got Ponyboy and tried to drown him in a fountain. Then Johnny killed one of the socs named Bob because if

In contrast to the removed Johnny shown early on, after the realization that he endangered several children, he boldly rushed to assist. After killing Bob in self-defense, Johnny bolts with Ponyboy to an abandoned church in the countryside. However, after presumably dropping a lighted cigarette, the church ignites in a blaze of fumes. Realizing there are children in the flaming church, Johnny and Ponyboy dart to aid. During the calamity, Ponyboy realizes that, “Johnny had been right behind me all the way” as he slips through a broken window and into the fiery church and notes that, “Johnny wasn’t behaving at all like his old self...That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes” (92).

Johnny is ponyboyś best friend who stays with him and sticks up for him no matter what, this portrays loyalty. We see the true extent of Johnnyś loyalty when the group of socs attack Pony and Johnny in the empty lot, as one the of the the boys is drowning Pony in the well Johnny stabbed Bob (the leader of the socs) to death in order to save Ponyboyś life. Johnny is caring for Pony when he talked to Pony in the empty lot after Darry had hit him, even though at home Johnnyś life is much worse, also Johnny showed his caring when he let Pony sleep on his shoulder after he cried himself to sleep in the abandoned church on Jay mountain. We learn alot from Johnnyś very humble actions, we learn to always stick up for your friends no matter what. Johnny is beaten at home and has a rough life, but he doesnt complain he just is an all around good guy. Johnny is very important in Ponyś life because he sticks with him

Towards the middle of the story, a boy named Johnny had killed a Soc that was drowning Ponyboy. He and Ponyboy fled the city to another town, and hid in an abandon church there for a week. When they were going to leave, they realized the church was on fire and there was kids trapped inside. Johnny and Pony were good friends and they decided to go help the children. After they rescued the children, they had to escape the burning, ravaged building. A flaming, steaming hot beam from the ceiling fell on Johnny. After this happened, Pony passed out, “ I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost

Jonny, as Ponyboy, is a legend in his own particular one of a kind way. Johnny is an awesome case of chivalry since he demonstrates that everyone has gallant characteristics of valiance boldness and support within them and all it takes is an occasion to bring the qualities out. One critical illustration is that amid the section when the congregation is ablaze Johnny spares school youngsters as well as spares Ponyboy by driving Ponyboy out of the congregation abandoning him self in awesome threat of being smashed by the building's falling timbers. Ponyboy depicts it like this; "Johnny pushed me in reverse towards the window… [and screamed] get out." This demonstrates Johnny's dauntlessness and bravery on the grounds that the building was caving in and going to pulverize him. Another demonstration of chivalry that Johnny submits is that he stays standing for two young ladies

Ponyboy has experienced many deaths in his life. Johnny is one of the deaths that he has experienced. Dally and Ponyboy run into Johnny’s hospital room thinking he is dead, but he is still alive. They start telling Johnny how they won the rumble. Johnny is still being written about in the newspapers. Ponyboy comes closer to Johnny and he says his last words, “‘Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…,’” (148). Staying gold means when you are young everything goes the way you want it to be but as you grow older not everything is going to go the way you want it to be. You grow older thinking you can do anything you want, but sometimes death can come along, making you reconsider.