“Greatness is birthed through hardship and testing. It arises choice by choice.” -John Paul Jackson. This quote means that success comes through hard work, trial, and many great and poor choices. Ponyboy encounters many hardships such as stereotyping and Johnny’s, Darry’s, and Ponyboy’s parent’s deaths. However, he makes the choice to still act happy and to not care what other people think. Everyone acquires hardships in life and it’s how you handle them that determines who you are as a person.
“Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold,” is most directly portrayed in Ponyboy. “Her early leaf’s a flower, but only so an hour,” is symbolic of Johnny’s personality. “Then leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief,” displays Dally’s shift of character towards the end of the novel. “So dawn goes down to day, nothing gold can stay,” is a comparison of the amount of innocence the three greasers possess within themselves.
After Johnny had killed Bob, and they ran away, Johnny says something to Ponyboy in the church that surprises him. After Johnny left to get supplies, he says, “We’re gonna cut our hair, and your gonna bleach yours.” (71) Johnny saying this, shows that he is starting to take action after what had happened at the park. It shows that reality is hitting Johnny, and this actually makes him slightly tougher in a way. Johnny, being a shy person usually doesn’t take action to solve the problem at han, but by doing this, it shows he is less soft and more hardy than we thought. After that, Ponyboy finds himself in a situation that he personally can’t back out of. It’s the fire at the church. Ponyboy, starts running in to help save the children, but when he turns around, he sees Johnny. “Hey Ponyboy,” Johnny says. Johnny was following Ponyboy into the fire to help save the kids. These two words that Johnny speaks, says a lot about him. For one, it shows that Johnny, isn’t really “afraid of his own shadow” anymore, like he was in beginning because of everything he has been through in the past week, it has made him tougher, in a way more like Dally. This really shows how Johnny’s personality has
If you killed someone, would you run away? Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis killed someone and ran away in the novel The Outsiders written by S.E. Hinton. Johnny’s choices had the greatest impact of Ponyboy’s life and relationship with others because they had to run away after bob’s murder.
Third, the symbol of ‘Gold’. “‘Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay’” (67) and “‘Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…’” (113). Ponyboy is reciting a poem by Robert Frost. The poem talks about that nothing gold, or good, can stay. Before he dies, Johnny tells Ponyboy to stay gold. He want Ponyboy to stay his good self.
The quote is significant by connecting to an Essential question because in Johnny’s last words he refrences the same Robert Frost poem that Ponyboy repeated outloud when they were sitting on the back porch of the church.
“Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold,” are Johnny Cade’s final words to Ponyboy Curtis before he passes away. What did Johnny mean by this? Surely, he doesn’t literally mean stay gold. The Outsiders, written by S. E. Hinton has many themes, including this hidden one. Throughout the book, the readers will learn more about the deeper meaning of this quote and the reason why Johnny only told this to Ponyboy- he is an innocent youth and is very unique.
This shows how he gained back his self-confidence and his ability to stand up for himself. Johnny finally found his acceptance from Dally when Dally said, “We’re all so proud of you” (148). When Dally said that Ponyboy noticed Johnny’s eyes glowing, “Dally was proud of him...That was all he ever wanted” (148). In the letter he wrote to Ponyboy, “It’s worth saving those kids...He meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like grass...When you’re a kid, everything is new, dawn,” Johnny said,“It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day… Like the way you dig sunsets, that’s gold” (178). This shows how Johnny grasped the concept of life and how his life was fulfilled when he found his true reason to live; to save those children.
He realizes that there is more in life than just the Socs and greasers. Johnny shows that to pony when he says, “ I don’t mind dying now… It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more mine…” (pg.178) He also says that he shouldn’t “…be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want.” Johnny is refereeing to how Ponyboy has a bright future and he can make with his life whatever he pleases. Pony finally understood what Johnny meant when he said, “stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…” He is telling Pony to just enjoy life and to live life to the fullest. Johnny wants Pony to never stop dreaming about the future and to always be
Johnny shows Ponyboy that the world isn’t corrupt with mean people and that it is still full of good. Johnny stated in the note Ponyboy found in the book Gone With The Wild that it is was worth saving the kids even if it meant his life. He also stated that the poem in the book meant “He meant you’re gold when you’re a kid,like green… and don’t get bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world” (Hinton 178-9). This shows to Ponyboy that just because his best friend is dying doesn’t mean he shouldn’t stop living his life too. It also shows that he shouldn 't stop doing good deeds himself. Lastly it shows that just because he lost a friend don’t mean the world has turned rotten and mean on him, it is still the same world, with more love than
One of the most important lessons Ponyboy learns in The Outsiders is to, “Stay gold.” At the end of the novel, just before Johnny Cade dies he tells Ponyboy to “stay gold”, in saying this, he means that he should stay innocent and to not change who he is as a person. This is an important moment as, after Johnny dies, Ponyboy is very distraught and becomes more like the other Greasers. For example, he starts taking out his anger and sadness and hopelessness by fighting in the rumble, his school grades drop rapidly as he loses interest in school and he begins to fight with Darry a lot more. One evening while Ponyboy is in his bedroom looking for something to read, he notices the copy of “Gone With The Wind” that he and Johnny read in Windrixville. To his surprise enclosed is a
You mainly see this in his actions for when he is talking to his brothers. You can see this early on in the book when he is talking about Sodapop’s old horse and wanting to get it back, “I kept saving my money for a year, thinking that someday I could buy Mickey Mouse back for Soda,” (pg. 48). This shows how much he cares for his brother and that he wants him to be happy. He also shows how much he cares about Johnny, especially when they are hiding out in the church, “ ‘Johnny,’ I said tiredly, ‘you can’t wash your hair in this freezing weather. You’ll get a cold,’ ” (pg. 72). Even through this small comment, you can see Ponyboy’s concern for Johnny’s safety. He also shows his worriedness and protectiveness over Johnny on page 102, “Dally’ll be okay I thought. Dallas is always okay. He could take anything. It was Johnny I was worried about.” He knows how frightened and anxious Johnny is after being jumped and how he is not as tough as the rest of the Greasers. Especially without a loving family at home, Johnny only has the gang and is not able to take as much. Throughout the whole novel, Ponyboy expresses how much he cares for others both with Johnny, and his
The “ Outsiders” movie and novel are awkward and interesting. Upon watching both they appeared to be somewhat similar. However, after finishing the movie and having time to reflect they have distinct differences.
The rivalry between the Socs and the Greasers seem to increase as days go by. Could this end in more violence and bloodshed?
This theme “the deepest love is often hidden” is especially influential in the novel because it effects the way the characters handle Johnny’s death and how they act afterward. For example, Johnny tells Ponyboy, “stay gold Ponyboy...stay gold” (148) meaning for him