Get Tough Like Me.
"In this life you've got to hope for the best, prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends." This quote by L.M. Montgomery sums up The Outsiders in one sentence-- a person never knows what will happen, but when it does, he must be ready, similar to the characters in the story. With light-brown, almost-red hair, greenish-gray eyes, and excelling in the academic and athletic field, the only thing fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis lacked was common sense. Pony was an outcast, seen as "just a kid" by others because of his age, however, through every encounter, death, and complication, he matures and gradually gets over his tendency to be prejudice towards others.
As an outsider in his own gang, Ponyboy often likes to be by himself to think or to read. Also, he enjoys going to the movies alone. "I'm not like them," Pony says. "And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do.
For awhile, I thought I was the only person in the world that did. So I loned it" (Hinton 10). In addition, Pony is a grade ahead in high school, whereas some greasers could be lucky to barely pass. He works hard in school so he can rise above being a Greaser and make something of himself.
Unlike most of the Greasers, Pony is a sensitive or "soft" greaser, meaning he isn't as ruthless, and stays out of trouble. For example, "Soda fought for fun, Steve for hatred, Darry fro pride, and Two-Bit for conformity⦠Why does (Ponyboy) fight? (He) thought, and couldn't think of any real good reason. There isn't any real good reason for fighting except self-defense" (Hinton 145). In addition, when the Socs were trying to Jump Two-Bit, Johnny, and Pony, Two-Bit handed Pony a...