The Outsiders: Ponyboy Curtis Character

The main character of The Outsiders is Ponyboy Curtis. He is 14 years old who lives with his two brothers, Sodapop Curtis and Darry Curtis. His parents sadly died before this book was written, and so he lives with his oldest brother, Darry, who is 20 years old and also Sodapop Curtis. Ponyboy has greenish-gray eyes and light brown hair. This could be shown by the following, “I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes (Hinton 1). One of the most important feature in Ponyboy’s body (as claimed by himself) is his hair.

He describes his hair with the following sentences, “My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear theirs, squared off in back and long at the front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut. Besides, I look better with long hair. (Hinton 1).

His hair is important to him because it is part of his identity as a Greaser, because that is the only thing he has to hold on to (or that is what he thinks). Darry describes Ponyboy as this kid who does not use common sense. He thinks that he Is advanced in his education and literature understanding, but sometimes he just does not think. These occasions usually get Ponyboy in trouble that he could easily avoid. But he changes and evolves as the story progresses. He learns that his behavior affects others, and this discovery leads to him telling us the story of “The Outsiders. Ponyboy’s literary interest and educational accomplishments is the one thing that sets him apart from the Greasers, a tight knit gang that live in the East and poorer side of town. Ponyboy narrates this book and has a subjective point of view.

e perceives people for their appearance rather than their true reality. But he learns that appearances and first impressions are not always the best ones. He also learns that it takes a while to see and learn what a person really is. And that what we learn, is often different than we perceive at first. The most memorable thing about Ponyboy is that he finds a way to live in the world again through writing, self expression, and reaching out to his teachers and peers. In addition, Ponyboy also has a ton of friends. His closest friends are the people in his gang, the Greasers. The gang members represent an extended form of family members. He is able to find a sense of safety and security with his friendships and relationships formed within this group, and they help fill in the loss dealt from his parent’s death. But if I would have to choose his best two friends, it would probably be Johnny Cade and Sodapop Curtis. Johnny Cade is first perceived to be the “gang’s pet and is described as a “lost puppy who has been kicked way too many times (Hinton 11). He has “big black eyes in a dark tanned face (Hinton 11).

He was physically and mentally abused by his parents and Ponyboy claimed that “If it hadn’t been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are. (Hinton 11). But in reality, Johnny is brave because he defended his friends against a group (the Socs) that scarred him for life (since they beat the tar out of him), he saved children from a burning church building, and stood up to one of the fiercest members of the Greasers ( like Dally). The one thing that makes Johnny a memorable character is that his ability to fight any obstacle thrown against him. Starting with the abuse from his parents all the way to having a conscious of killing a person, Johnny has fought it all and still managed to have a genuine smile. Sodapop Curtis is ” movie-star kind of handsome, the kind that people stop on the street to watch go by. (Hinton 8).

He has dark brown eyes and dark-gold hair and is not as tall as Darry. He is idolized by Ponyboy because he is the only (with the exception of Johnny) person that really understands Ponyboy. He is also one of the only “true pieces of family Ponyboy has got left. He is a stable character as the story continues, while Ponyboy is a dynamic character because he changes from start to finish. He dropped out of high school and works at a gas station, but Ponyboy believes that he is smart. Sodapop is memorable because he is the only character that we really follow when it comes to pursuing love. This is because he is in love with Sandy and wants to get married with her, and even though he has the looks and all, she does not get married to him. The one person that challenges Ponyboy in this book is his older brother, Darry. Talk about Darry’s character and how they fight later.

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