Why The Outsiders Hate Ponyboy

In S. E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, the main character, Ponyboy, is forced to overcome many obstacles. His parents died, so he lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop. Darry is the oldest and pushes Ponyboy to excel in school, he also works two jobs to keep his brothers alive. Sodapop dropped out of high school and got a job at a gas station. His heart broke after the love of his life left town because she didn’t love him. Ponyboy is a part of a poor gang, along with his brothers. In the gang with them are Johnny, Dally, Two-Bit, and Steve. They are practically family, each coming from a rough home life, but the gang is a nice fix. With Ponyboy growing up around violence and poverty, obstacles are part of his everyday life.

The Socs think that they are better than the Greasers, so “[Greasers] get jumped by the Socs” (Hinton 2). The Greasers cannot walk anywhere alone, because it is unsafe due to the Socs attacking the lonely Greasers. Some muggings are worse than others. One time Johnny got jumped horribly. The Socs left him practically dead in the empty lot on Ponyboy’s gang’s territory. The rest of the gang found Johnny with his face “...cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone” (32). The Socs attacking the Greasers was just an everyday obstacle Ponyboy and the rest of the gang had to face.

Johnny killed a Soc was the same night that Darry hit Ponyboy. Johnny and Ponyboy had planned to run away, but decided to go to the park to cool off. At the park, Johnny and Ponyboy run into the some troublemaking Socs. The Socs begin to drown Ponyboy in the pool. The Socs “...shoved [Ponyboy’s] face into the fountain...A red haze filled my mind and I slowly relaxed” (56). The Socs would’ve killed Ponyboy, if Johnny was not there. Johnny killed one of the Socs that tried to drown Ponyboy. Johnny had to kill one of the Soc to keep Ponyboy alive, that is an obstacle few can

Johnny ran into a burning building to save little children that were about to burn with the church, when a wooden beam fell across his back, burning and paralyzing him. He died due to the injuries he sustained in the fire. Dally was so hurt over the loss of a brother-like-friend, he threatened the police with an bullet-less gun and the police shot and killed him. Ponyboy was only fourteen years old and forced to overcome the death of two close friends in one day. Johnny left Ponyboy a note in the book that they read together in the church. Part of the note read, “Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for for” (178). Johnny told Ponyboy before that he didn’t want to die, but just before he did, he wrote this letter to Ponyboy. Also in this letter, Johnny told Ponyboy to tell Dally several things. The saddest part is, Dally was already dead by the time Johnny read this letter. Ponyboy overcame the obstacle of having his best friend dead and not being able to fulfill Johnny’s dying