The Outsiders Ponyboy Curtis Quotes

Ponyboy's actual situation isn't that awful, all things considered. He grew up in a loving family and has always had a warm bed. But the Socials are getting away with terrorizing him and the Greasers because they have money for lawyers, etc. This culture of fear intensifies all the economic issues that Pony's family and all of his friends face.

Pony is really bitter here, and still convinced that everything's about money. But, he has a point and maybe a message for his readers – there's a real problem here and he wants real help, not little gestures and pity. But are Cherry's gestures too small? Does she make a difference for him?

Pony realizes something important about himself – the desire to help others is another thing that cuts across social and class divisions.

Ponyboy is speaking out of anger. He's offended that Cherry won't go to see Johnny on account of her loyalty to the memory of Bob. He seems mistrustful of anyone with mixed loyalties or inter-group relationships. Ultimately, Cherry's just trying to make sure nobody on either side gets hurt.

Pony loves Johnny, but he has a temper, too. So he says just about the meanest thing possible. Johnny already believes that his parents abuse him because he's not a valuable person, and Pony knows that.

Basically, Pony seems to be arguing that fair fighting isn't violence but sport, an activity that's beneficial to energetic boys. What do you think? How is "rumbling" similar to or different from sports like football or hockey?

Pony's starting to see a long chain of violent acts stretching out before him. This fear of more violence is a big part of why he and Johnny run.

Pony responds to this threat by breaking a bottle and then threatening the Socs with it. At this point in the story, he's in bad shape and hasn't been able to process any of the recent events. He seems to be changing, looking more to violence as a way to ward off the violence of the Socs.

Ponyboy describes Johnny as totally isolated, like a lost puppy. The puppy in the crowd comparison shows that even though Johnny is surrounded by people, he's still isolated and alone.

Pony understands that Mom and Dad's death isolated him in many ways, but he doesn't quite understand the impact on Darry. He has all the facts – Darry spends all his time working and worrying, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and even ironing. Pony and Soda help, but it's really on Darry – and he has nobody to turn to for the extra support he needs.

Pony is dramatizing Darry's appearance to persuade his audience that Darry is cold and mean. He's also dramatizing it in his own mind because of the pain that Darry's actions have caused him.

As it turns out, Soda doesn't like school, but he does like his work at the gas station. He isn't unintelligent, but his intelligence is different from Pony's. And he simply has other goals and interests. If the Curtis parents hadn't died, do you think that Soda would have stayed in school?

If Pony had chosen not to provoke the Socs with his words, could the tragedy have been avoided? It's hard to say. Likely, nothing Pony could have said would've stopped these guys. After all, they were already angry that Johnny and Pony were with Marcia and Cherry earlier that day.