Stay Gold In The Outsiders

“What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is a reputation for being a hood, and greasy hair.” (Hinton p. 132) This is just a piece of evidence from one of the many important themes of The Outsiders. This book is still relevant to today because it is showing the conflict between two “social classes” as they go through tough times. There are still situations of this happening today. You think you have it bad, maybe you should read this book too. Three of the major themes of The Outsiders are Stay Gold, forced to grow up, and loss.

One of the themes of the book is stay gold. In the novel, stay gold came from a Robert Frost poem that the characters read together. It could be interpreted that nothing good can last. As the novel developed, stay gold became applicable to the characters staying good. “Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be” (Hinton p.178 ). This reveals that our main character, Ponyboy, enjoys the simple and beautiful things in life. His friend, Johnny, writes a final letter to Pony. His letter implies that Pony is still an innocent and gold. Johnny encourages his friend to be true to the person he is and not become hardened by life.

In fact the theme forced to grow up is crucial to this book because it is showing how all these characters don’t really have parents that care for them, so they have to make their own “good” decisions to survive in life. “Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights you want to see.” (Hinton p. 118) From this evidence, I can conclude that when you live on the streets you need to grow up faster by learning the basic needs to survive. If you don’t it will be a lot harder to live your life because you can’t take in any of the things life throws at