Ponyboy Curtis From The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

It takes a lot in a person to be the glue that holds the gang together. Ponyboy Curtis from The Outsiders by S.E Hinton is a big asset to the gang he is in, Greasers because he is very intelligent. Ponyboy lives with his two brothers Darrel and Sodapop Curtis after their parents had died in a car crash years before. Ponyboy is very anxious sometimes but he is also very overconfident because he only worries about himself unless there is a reason to worry about his brothers or gang. First, Ponyboy is intelligent. He was the brains of his gang because he “makes good grades and has a high IQ”(4), making him knowingly smarter than the rest. He was 14 but in grade 10 because he “got put up a year in grade school”(23). He always had the most common sense in the gang. He puts a lot of time and motivation into his schooling. Ponyboy did not sit around much. He was always out or working on school. He is not “the kind that can lie around looking at the ceiling”(161). Ponyboy is a great asset to the Greasers even though he is one of the youngest, he is a massive help to his brothers.

He knows he is smart and that he is popular because “he has quite a few friends at school”(23). Ponyboy only really thinks about himself because he “realized he has never paid much attention to Soda’s problems. He just took it for granted that he didn’t have any”(174). He also knows he is tough because he grew up hearing, “If you got tough, you didn’t get hurt”(171). The Greasers think if they are not strong “nothing can touch you”(171). Him being tough helps Ponyboy and his brothers be