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Character Analysis Of Ponyboy Curtis's Life In 'The Outsiders'

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Ponyboy Curtis a Greaser Life

“Natures first green is gold/Her hardest hue to hold./Her only leaf 's a flower;/ But only so an hour./then leaf subsides to leaf./so Eden sank to grief,/so dawn goes down to day./Nothing gold can stay.” (poem by Robert Frost, Hinton, The Outsiders, pg. #77) Ponyboy Curtis wants everyone and everything to be equal. He is no more than a young greaser boy with no power over anything but himself. Nobody will listen to him, he has no say. Ponyboy is the youngest of three brothers, and their parents were killed in a car accident. He loves reading, and his brother Sodapop whos always on his sided for everything. His oldest brother is Darry. Darry runs the house since their parents died. Ponyboy thought that Darry saw …show more content…

“Darry and me nearly went nuts when you ran out like that. Darry is awful sorry he hit you. You know he didn 't mean it...Darry hasn’t got the slightest notion where you’re at and it is nearly killing him.” (Hinton, pg.# 81)
This letter made Ponyboy realize, Darry does care. Pony left before Darry got a chance to apologize, and he feels horrible. Ponyboy has never thought of Darry as really absolutely caring for him, and he thought that Darry hitting him really sealed that he didn 't care. He is seeing that hes trying to be apologetic.
“Jerry, some of the kids are missing...They’ve been missing for at least a half an hour. I thought they were climbing the hill...Then we all froze. Faintly, just faintly you could hear someone yelling. And it sounded like it was coming from inside the church...All I could think was: We started it. We started it. We started it!” (Hinton, pg.# 91)
Ponyboy and Johnny showed selflessness in going into a burning building to save the kids. They had sacrificed their lives and also were taking responsibility for their actions in a big way. They had started the fire and now were saving kids that got …show more content…

“Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony, thats gold. Keep it that way, its a good way to be...Don’t be bugged over being a greaser...There’s still lots of good in the world.” (pg.# 178, Hinton)
In Johnny 's letter to Ponyboy, he tells him that Pony is still young and everything is “new dawn” in other words, new to him. Stay gold means to stay innocent and precious. Ponyboy is innocent and a very good kid, Johnny wants him to stay that way. Being precious and innocent is good and its hard to do. He also says that Ponyboy shouldn 't be bothered or change just because he’s a greaser. A greaser is who he is. But it also states that “Theres still lots of good in the world.” That meaning Ponyboy can still change and he’s got a lot of time. Pony can still make something more of himself.
At the start of the book I felt sorry for Ponyboy that he wasn’t really listened to and didn 't have a say in most things. At the same time I was disappointed that Ponyboy didn 't realize how lucky he actually was. Darry keeps Ponyboys and Soda’s heads under a roof with food on a plate by working three jobs. He could have just left them on the side of the road after their parents died. He could have went to college. I felt happy and proud for Ponyboy that he’d realized how lucky he really is that Darry had given up so much to take care of him and Soda. He may not be a Soc with a fancy car or heaps of money, but he’s surrounded by people he loves and cares about. He doesn’t

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Since he is not allowed to stay out later than 12 am his brothers were very worried. Darry was very mad so he slapped Ponyboy. Pony was very shocked and ran away. He asked Johnny to run away with him but soon realized that was not logical. They decided to go to the park so Pony could cool down before going home.

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“Stay Gold Ponyboy. Stay Gold.” is a quote that is in the book,”The Outsiders.” The book is shown in the view of a Greaser, the lower class people that are in the book. Ponyboy the main character has a friend that is dying, his name is Johnny Cade.

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Tulsa - During these past few days, Ponyboy has been in contact with one of the bumpiest roads in his life that could ever happen. To be under hiding as wanted by police for the manslaughter of Robert “Bob” Sheldon. Regardless, in recent measures is now being praised as a child savior from a recent fire in Windrixville. Moreover, Ponyboy no longer under the custody of his parents due to a horrific car crash has been living with his older brothers Darry along with Sodapop Curtis. These trio of brothers have been living in desperation as Darry has a life of two different occupations.

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Ponyboy realizes that Darry was hard on him because he didn’t want to see another loved one die. A quote for this is “suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying”(Hinton 98). This quote is important because it proves that Ponyboy was shocked that Darry was crying. Ponyboy has never seen Darry cry, not even at his parent’s funeral, so this shows him that Darry really does

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The Reign of Terror In September 1793 to July 1794, the Reign of Terror killed over 40,000 people in France using the guillotine a machine that made it a simple way to execute a mass amount of people. The Reign of Terror was led by no other than , Robespierre. He was trying to form a new government but instead caused thousands of people to be massacred. Ultimately, The Reign of Terror in France was not justified because the threats did not require it, the methods were too extreme and It did not support the ideals of the revolution.

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In fact, Soda tells Pony “‘you don't realize all Darry's giving up just to give you a chance he missed out on. He could have stuck you in a home somewhere and worked his way through college’” (150). Darry gives up his chance at a bright future so that Ponyboy can live his own successful life. As the captain of the school football team with an athletic scholarship, Darry has his whole life ahead of him, but he gives it all up for his brothers.

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Darry then decided to step up and “come of age” to try to be a father like figure for Ponyboy. Ponyboy doesn’t seem to think that Darry cares for him because of the way Darry treats Ponyboy so Ponyboy turns to Sodapop more, “Sodapop is different from anybody; he understands everything...almost. Like he 's never hollering at me all the time the way Darry is, treating me like I’m six instead of fourteen,” (#2). This shows that Ponyboy is annoyed of Darry 's strict father-like figure because Darry is always telling Ponyboy what to do instead of being their for him. But Darry’s strict Father-like figure isn 't so bad, it did do some good…..

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The narrator of the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy Curtis, is a complicated and emotional character. He goes through numerous changes in the book and you get a good idea of his feelings through actions towards others. He proves to be empathetic, caring, and a dreamer. He shows this during situations with his brothers and even with the other Greasers. During the story, Darry is always telling Ponyboy, although he is a intelligent kid, that he needs to use his head.

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When Darry and Soda find out that Ponyboy has ran away soda writes Ponyboy a letter. In the letter Soda show he cares about Ponyboy by saying " Darry and me nearly went nuts when you ran out like that". That statement indicates that Darry and Soda were worried about Ponyboy. When Ponyboy comes back home after being in the hospital Soda starts to become more cautious about

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In the book, Outsiders, I noticed the most character development in Ponyboy Curtis. Although he didn’t realize many things until the end of the book, I think once everything registered within himself, he took everything that had happened to him in the past couple weeks as a lesson. One thing that Ponyboy finally grasped was that his oldest brother Darry actually cared for him. At first Ponyboy had always thought that Darry didn’t like him and that Darry would rather him be gone. However, after his friends repeatedly reassured Ponyboy that his older brother had been hard on him because he really loved and cared about him, Ponyboy slowly started to realize that, even though the two still fought a bit.

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This shows how he gained back his self-confidence and his ability to stand up for himself. Johnny finally found his acceptance from Dally when Dally said, “We’re all so proud of you” (148). When Dally said that Ponyboy noticed Johnny’s eyes glowing, “Dally was proud of him... That was all he ever wanted” (148). In the letter he wrote to Ponyboy, “It’s worth saving those kids...

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“We’re all we’ve got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don’t have eachother, we don’t have anything.” The quote is significant by connecting to an Essential question because Ponyboy and Darry’s relationship has been strained since their partners died and Darry became responsible for his little

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He also says that he shouldn’t “…be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want.” Johnny is refereeing to how Ponyboy has a bright future and he can make with his life whatever he pleases. Pony finally understood what Johnny meant when he said, “stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…”

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Johnny shows Ponyboy that the world isn’t corrupt with mean people and that it is still full of good. Johnny stated in the note Ponyboy found in the book Gone With The Wild that it is was worth saving the kids even if it meant his life. He also stated that the poem in the book meant “He meant you’re gold when you’re a kid,like green… and don’t get bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world” (Hinton 178-9).

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And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade.” (P.12) Of course Ponyboy does not understand this, he is not mature enough to get Darrel’s true intentions. Ponyboy thinks that Darrel does that because he is not like his brother, but that is not even where Darrel is coming from. “Me and Darry just didn 't dig each other. I never could please him.

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