Ponyboy In John Hinton's The Outsiders

Change. That is what happened to Ponyboy throughout the book, The Outsiders. He changed along with all of the other characters in the novel. Many may wonder, what is the book The Outsiders and who Ponyboy is? Well, The Outsiders is a book about two gangs, The Greasers and the Socs who have very different ways of life and they always fight. The Greasers have well-oiled hair and live on the more sketchy side of town, while the Socs are rich, all have madras shirts and drive around in Mustangs. Ponyboy you may ask, is the protagonist of the book and his personality changes throughout the story in many ways. Johnny is Ponyboy’s best friend and he makes many choices that affect Pony’s life. He is 16 years old and he as been through a lot only being that age like his parents not caring for him. Johnny is also very brave
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The book states that Johnny said, “‘I killed him. I killed that boy.’ Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there in the moonlight, doubled up are still” (51). This quote shows how Johnny killed Bob while Pony was almost getting drowned to death by the other Socs. The two boys then had to go and hide somewhere since they had just committed murder. This heroic action changes the way he views Johnny because he used to see him just as a friend, while now he was a lifesaver to Ponyboy. The quote impacts Pony because in the end, when Johnny dies and he will always remember him for saving his life. Another way that Johnny changes Pony is when he tells Pony to stay gold when he was dying. RIght as Johnny was about to die, Johnny said, “‘Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…’ The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died” (130). Johnny jumped into a burning church to save 5 children from burning to death or smoke inhalation and this was his punishment for being a hero. He opened up Pony’s perspective to what a hero really was, and even if it meant dying to save