Johnny's Innocence In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

One's innocence is something that one should treasure for as long as possible. In The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, the novel focuses on the protagonist, Ponyboy, and his life as a member of The Greasers, a poor, underprivileged gang. When Ponyboy and Johnny, a fellow member of the greasers, get into a brawl with some of the members of The Socs, the Greasers wealthy rivals, that results in the death of Soc Bob, Johnny and Ponyboy are forced to go into hiding at an abandoned church. After Johnny decides that he is going to turn himself in to the police, a fire starts in the church, and Johnny and Ponyboy rush into the church to save a school group that is trapped inside. Ponyboy barely manages to escape, but a piece of timber falls on Johnny, resulting in a

Johnny comments on how he had never acknowledged sunrises until Ponyboy mentioned them. “I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before." (62). Johnny’s innocence had been taken away from him early, due to his abusive parents, and an earlier encounter with the Socs that had traumatized him. Johnny’s oblivion towards the beauty of sunrises and nature and how he is as never able to truly appreciate them symbolizes how quickly Johnny’s childlike innocence faded, and his newfound realization of sunrises and nature causes him to encourage Ponyboy to keep up his love for sunsets and sunrises, and to preserve his innocence. Johnny’s appreciation for Pony’s love for sunsets shows that Johnny believes that it is important for Ponyboy to stay virtuous and wholesome. Sunsets are blissful and pure, but they do not last long, much like a person’s innocence. Johnny is trying to teach Ponyboy that is it crucial for him to keep his childlike innocence, and to keep admiring the purity and blissfulness that is represented by a sunset or