Character Analysis of Ponyboy in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Ponyboy was walking home from another movie. That’s when he saw the blue mustang following him. Not long after, the same mustang pulled up next to him and four guys got out. These four guys happened to be Socs, Ponyboy’s foes. Ponyboy Curtis is part of the Greasers, a rival to the Socs. Then those four guys were very pugnacious, and jumped Ponyboy. Ponyboy is from the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. I chose to write about Ponyboy because he is the youngest in the gang and also the youngest of his family; he’s 14. His one brother, Sodapop Curtis, is 16. And his other brother, Darry Curtis, is 20, and is always saying, “You never use your head,” like when they found him after the Socs jumped him. I like Ponyboy because he never gives up. Someone I think is similar to Ponyboy is me. I’m adventurous like him and I don’t give up easily.
Although Ponyboy doesn’t give up easily at the beginning of the book he is kind of modest. He is very book smart and likes to read. He does well in school too. “You always have your nose in a book” is one thing Darry tells him sometimes. One thing he’s not is street smart. He never carries a knife, even when he’s walking, alone. And when your part of the Greasers, it’s a good thing to carry a knife. These examples show that Ponyboy is a smart kid, but not always.
Ponyboy is not always smart because at the end of the book Ponyboy does worse in school and is acting like Johnny never died. Ponyboy keeps telling himself that Johnny never died and that he killed the Soc, not Johnny. He keeps telling himself this because he thinks that if he keeps repeating it, he will actually think it’s real. This change is important because in the court he says what he thinks, not the truth, and the grades he gets in school almost get him held back. Another reason this change is important is because he starts “living in a bubble.”
At the end of the book Ponyboy “lives in a bubble” Darry says. Ponyboy changed because of Johnny’s and Dally’s deaths. After they die he just “stops living.” Ponyboy’s change is for the worse of him. After all he goes through Darry still yells at him at the end. The rest of the gang got through the two deaths but Ponyboy was the only one that wasn’t.
Finally, I think that if the book continued that Ponyboy would write the theme and he would start doing better in school. I think that he would accept the fact that Johnny and Dally were dead and just keep living his life. I think this because he knew the whole time that Johnny was dead even though he told himself that he wasn’t. Also at the end of the book he thinks of Johnny and says that this time it doesn’t hurt. Then he just thinks and finally starts the theme.
