Top 4 The Outsiders quotes
“I’m not saying that either Socs or greasers are better; that’s just the way things are.”
The narrator, Chapter 1
Ponyboy Curtis seems to have a more mature understanding of the social labels placed on individuals by society. Even as he discusses the differences between the two social groups, he does not assign a moral high ground to any one group. It may be that Ponyboy understands this social identity is fluid, and that these labels are liable to change throughout one’s life.
“Soda’s enough, and I’d have him until I got out of school. I don’t care about Darry. But I was still lying and I knew it.”
The narrator, Chapter 1
Ponyboy is revealed to be quite mature for his age, but his relationship with Darry helps the reader identify him as a teenager. Ponyboy can’t help but feel like his brother’s scolding comes from a place of dislike, even though everyone around him disputes that opinion. In turn, he tries to nurture an aloof attitude towards him, but he fails to fully embrace the narrative of his dislike for his brother.
“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.”
The narrator, Chapter 5
Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” is featured during one of the most emotionally tumultuous times in Ponyboy’s life. He recites the poem for Johnny while watching a sunrise when they are hiding in an abandoned church after Johnny has killed Bob. Johnny takes the words of the poem to heart, and he shares his interpretation of the poem with Ponyboy in a letter that Ponyboy finds after Johnny’s death. Johnny believes that the poem refers to childhood and its innocence as Nature’s first green. He encourages Ponyboy to protect the child in him as he asks to remain golden.
“‘Greaser’ didn’t have anything to do with it. My buddy over there wouldn’t have done it. Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn’t have. It’s the individual.”
The narrator, Chapter 7
In his discussion with Randy, the readers glimpse yet again Ponyboy’s seeming innate understanding of the hollowness in Societal labels. He seems to understand that there were people among his group who wouldn’t have saved the children, just as he understands that there would be some among the Socs who would have done so. This is the key takeaway for Ponyboy through the ordeal of Johnny and Dally’s death. He becomes certain that individuals could not be defined merely through the social groups to which they belonged.
