Parenting In The Outsiders

Making a difficult decision can affect a person’s life entirely. It could affect them immensely in their life, and in the future. In the book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy’s brother Darry, becomes his new guardian after their parents die in a tragic accident. Darry, who is hard, firm and never grins at all, has a different idea of what good parenting is when it comes to Ponyboy. Many people believe, that Ponyboy, should go to the system, because his brother Darry has risked and has influenced him in bad ways. Darry, has influenced and risked Ponyboy, by letting him go out to the movies without any supervision, leaving the door wide open at their house for unwelcome and dangerous visitors, and putting him in hazardous situations, so that they gang

In a passage in the story, it says ‘“Let me fight Darry…” said Ponyboy. “Well”-Darry gave in- “ I guess you can”’ (Hinton 135). As a matter of fact, Pony shouldn’t be fighting at all, because it’s a precarious activity. Darry is encouraging violence to him, and that shouldn’t be acceptable on his behalf, because he should be a good influence on him, not a bad one. Darry is putting Pony’s life at risk when he doesn’t think about the decisions he has made thoroughly, like when he says in the story, ‘“Listen, Soda , you and Ponyboy” Darry said as we strode down the street, “if the fuzz show, you two beat it out of there, The rest of us can get jailed”’ (Hinton 137). Furthermore, this shows that Darry is putting Pony in more danger than he ever has, because he is not only letting him go to fight at the rumble against the Socs, but is telling them to run if the police shows up. Which would put him into a far more terrible situation, because he would be out in the world without any help and he would have to fend for himself and shows that Darry doesn’t know how to make a wise decision like a