What is hope? Hope is the feeling of desire for a certain thing to happen. Hope is something that even when everything goes wrong you still believe that there is still good somewhere. Hope is something that even the toughest people will feel. Hope relates to the theme in S.E Hinton’s, The Outsiders. The theme of this story, is just because something bad happens, that doesn’t mean that you can’t stop living life to the fullest, and even when the going gets tough you still have to have hope that it will get better. This story inspires hope because even though, Johnny and Dally die, Ponyboy still moves on with his life. Johnny died while saving children from a burning building where, Dally died while died because he couldn’t handle Johnny’s death.“Try …show more content…
He has no hope that his situation will get better, so he decides that he will just get used to living with Johnny and Dally’s death. He knows that if you get tough you don’t get hurt. “I knew well as he did that if you got tough you didn’t get hurt. Get smart and nothing can touch you.” (171) Ponyboy is trying to be more like the other boys by getting tougher and not feeling anything, but living like that is just going through the motions. “You’re living in a vacuum, Pony, and you’re going to have to cut it out.” (173) His family and friends try to tell him that he isn’t living. Since Ponyboy has stopped living life to the fullest he isn’t as happy. And if he isn’t as happy he isn’t honoring his friends memory enough. Not only is Ponyboy just going through the motions, he has stopped caring about grades. This is almost the opposite of having hope, because as soon as you give up thinking it will get better, it never will, and that is giving up hope. “What’s the sweat about my school work?”(173) Darry could have gone to college, he could have been someone, but he didn’t go so he could support his family, and when Ponyboy has stopped caring about grades his brothers efforts are in vain. Ponyboy is smart, he used to get good grades, he could make it out of that town, but to do that he would have to go to
He is smart, and gets good grades in school. This is purposefully mentioned several times within the story, and people tend to be surprised to learn that he is a Greaser. In addition, some Greasers are nicer than people tend to think. When the church burned down, Ponyboy and Johnny run in to save the children without a second thought. They acted with selflessness, putting the safety of the children above their own. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Ponyboy is asked if he and Johnny are "professional heroes". He responds by telling the entire story of how they're Greasers and Johnny is wanted for murder, shocking the man in the ambulance. It is difficult for him to believe that a group of Greasers would do something so heroic. Johnny dies as a direct result of their actions, but neither Ponyboy nor Johnny regretted what they
This started to happen when he was in the church trying to hide away from the police because of the murder of one of the Soc’s. “I was trembling, and it wasn’t all from cold” (Hilton p.57). This shows that Ponyboy was scared, starting to break, and noticed that maybe this “hard bad boy” life isn't for him. Ponyboy put more and more thought about what it takes to be a greaser, which made him realize that maybe the gang life wasn’t good for him. “We were good fighters and could play cool, but we were sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser” (Hinton, p.88). Ponyboy is expressing that it is hard to be as strong as the other boys and sometimes he just couldn't or he couldn't be ok with what they were doing. “It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, ‘cause I’m supposed to be smart’ I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head” (Hinton, p.4). Ponyboy knows he has the potential to be something else and while being in hiding in the church it helps him realize that if he really wanted to he could be whatever he puts his mind
Ponyboy was a bad kid, he fought against Socs and he even smoked a weed, which is a cigarette. Later on he got into worse trouble and had to hide. He wanted to change and be a different person. While he hid he was scared and frightened and was beginning to think of how he was doing in life, and his thoughts were not very well. After the church incident, he began to change a little.
Many would say that the character Ponyboy should be the main hero of our story, but that’s just not the case. Ponyboy was easily pushed down, letting things get to him and letting his emotions take complete control. One push or slap from his brother and he runs away, like a cowardly lion scrambling into the tall grass of the savannah. Johnny, on the other hand, is forced against abuse that no one should be able to put through. Yet he stands on his ground.
His parents died when he was young. He was nurtured by his older brothers. Pony has to struggle at the bottom of the social ladder. Like the people around him, he has to fight, steal and scare little kids. However, Pony remained a pure heart, a golden heart. He only fights when he has to defend himself. He kept his heart of sympathy, understanding of others and think for the others. Like in when the church was burned, he understands the situation of the teacher and children. So he risked his life to safe the kids. The most straight forward example and conclusion of Pony’s good heart is the word of Johnny, “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold…” Moreover, Ponyboy is a thinker. He can think for the opposite side of his gang, the Socs. Although the Socs almost drowned him, he can still understand the Socs and didn’t be blinded by the hate. He in the chaos and impulsive world can see through the surface of the conflict and see the core of the world that people are the same. That is really amazing and Ponyboy does have the board mind of a hero.
In the book, Johnny saves several characters from death. In the book, Ponyboy evolves into a hero which will be shown in the evidence. He is more than a friend to Johnny and saves a couple of children’s lives. Dally may not care about strangers, but he cares about his friends. Dally goes into the burning church for Ponyboy and Johnny. Ponyboy’s jacket is on fire and Dally put out, which saves him from a bad burn and possibly saves his life. Ponyboy isn’t the one saves. Dally goes into the burning and crumbling church to save Johnny, risking his life. The Outsiders proves that anybody can be a hero, no matter his/her
He knows that Ponyboy has a chance because he is very smart. How they both reacted to not having parents shaped and effected who they are. “Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time(2).” This explains how Johnny was effected by his parents. His parents constantly fighting and beating him made him who he was. A part of him was effected by all the chaos and pain he had to go through every day. “We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. I don't mean I do things like that. Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police.” Social roles are a part of self-image that makes a person who they are. In the novel Ponyboy explains the groups that the Greasers and Sochs were split into. This
One example of Ponyboy being sensitive would be when he picks up the pieces of the broken glass so that no one would get a flat tire. This character can also be described as smart when Darry tells him how intelligent he is and that he has the brains to get a scholarship and go to college. Finally, this character can be considered brave when he risks his life to save the children stuck in the burning church. In this book, Ponyboy learns to deal with the right and wrong of society. He grows up and was judged by his appearance and social status, but at the end of the book, the two gangs overcome their differences to realize they are more alike than they
After the church fire Ponyboy comes to the realization of many things. Two-Bit and Ponyboy are eating at a restaurant known as Tasty Freeze when Randy asks to speak with him. Ponyboy tells Randy, ¨Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn’t have. It’s the individual¨(115). He finds out that you cannot define someone based on of they are part of the Socs or the greasers. Furthermore, he finds out that every one is a individual and that means that just because he is a part of a certain group it does not mean that they are all going to react or perceive a situation in the same exact way. In addition, he say this to Randy because when there was a fire in the church Dally was not willing to risk his life to save someone else's when Johnny and Ponyboy were more than willing to help the kids. This shows event shows how all Greasers and Socs are not the same. In the beginning of the novel Ponyboy believed Darry disliked him and thought he was a nuisance. However, later on at the hospital Ponyboy tells Darry, “I’m sorry” (98). Ponyboy’s words expose how he feels bad for thinking Darry disliked him all along when in truth he loved him more than words could describe. He realizes that Darry fears losing another family member that is why he is so overprotective of Ponyboy. Hence, proving Ponyboy is clearly a dynamic character.
Ponyboy and others know subconsciously that they need to hammer away. Through dreadful living conditions, family issues, and the deaths of friends, they just chip away until they can’t no more. When the end is there in the distance they all lean on each other and support the others. Ponyboy and his family endure through the thick and the thin. S.E. Hinton shows this so perfectly and inspires the rest of the world to do so. At the end of the day, the reader can understand how important it is to persevere through
First, at one point in life you will come across a time where you will feel angry and have the need to express that anger in words or actions like when having a discussion with someone. In other times you may make horrible and devastating decisions that can hurt you or another person. No one can remain pure of heart and gold forever, it does not matter how hard you try. In Ponyboy’s case, I don’t believe he will stay gold like Johnny advised him to before his death. Since, the fact that he still has to support Darry and be aware of Socs can really influence anger and sadness. For example on page 173 Ponyboy says “It used to be that I’d just stand there and let Darry yell at me, but lately I’d be yelling right back.” This is letting you know Ponyboy is commencing to stand up for himself. But this will only lead to more fights between Pony and Darry and wrong decisions. Once this occurs, unfortunately Pony will end up having his ‘gold’ depleted. I do not believe that Ponyboy will remain gold just like Johnny told him to for this
“Hope is defined as the action of wishing or desiring that something will occur.” Hope helps people move forward in life to see what’s coming next for them. For example, “I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel, “Night”.) This quote explains the effects of hope in a pitiful situation. Eliezer Wiesel and his father were torn apart, mentally and physically from everything they
Ponyboy doesn’t act like any regular greaser who is tough and likes to pick fights. Ponyboy cares about other people and will do things to benefit others. “I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I just went on picking up the glass from the bottle end and put it in the trash can. I didn’t want anyone to get a flat tire.” (pg. 172) Instead of leaving the
Dally did something to save one of his gang members too. It was Dally who pulled Johnny out from the burning church. Johnny would have died instantly if Dally did not get Johnny out of the church. When Dally was shot, Ponyboy remembered the things Dally had done for them.
Hope what is? Hope can be many things and many forms. Hope is something that people can’t race around its not a real thing. People today has forgotten what hope is our straight don’t right beeline in it. But hope is something that people grapes on to when times are hard. a particular instance of this feeling that someone get when everything is lost. When there is no sight of relive. There now means to and end that where hope comes in. but then again hope can be bad thing. If there is no much hope and then fail. The after effect will hurt so much harder than when it didn’t believe. Hope is a wonderfully thing and people need to get back the feeling of hope because of the day it will always be there somewhere. Just need to find it.