"The Outsiders" Reflection

           In the book, "The Outsiders", Ponyboy Curtis is a significant character in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton because, he is in the book a lot (Being the main character) and is the most interesting character out of all of the Greasers because he is different from them emotionally and physically. He's a dreamer and very smart. Ponyboy has light-brown,with almost red greased up hair and greenish-gray eyes but now has bleached, slicked back hair. Ponyboy Curtis belongs to a lower-class  group in Oklahoma who call themselves “greasers” because of their greasy long hair. Walking home from a movie, Ponyboy's attacked by a group of Socs, the greasers rivals, who are upper-class youths from the West Side of town. The Socs, short for Socials, gang up on Ponyboy and threaten to slot his throat. A group of greasers comes and chases the bullies away, saving Ponyboy. Ponyboy's rescuers include his brother Sodapop, a charming, handsome high-school dropout, and Darry, Ponyboy’s oldest brother. The rest of the greasers who come to Ponyboy’s rescue are Johnny, a sensitive sixteen-year-old, Dally, a hardened street hood with a long criminal record, Steve, Sodapop’s best friend, and Two-Bit, the oldest and funniest group member. Ponyboy talks slang sometimes, like how everyone spoke with ease, but still talks proper English. He says, “ain't,” a lot. What motivates Ponyboy is to be able to see the sunsets almost everyday and be able to complete his present to future goals. What Ponyboy says often about other characters, who are Darry, Sodapop, Dally, and two-Bi, is that, “Dally reminds me of one of the gallant Southern  gentlemen from the civil war.” “Sodapop, Darry, and Two-Bit remind me more of heroes than Dally does.” When Ponyboy physically prefers that if he was to fight somebody in a rumble, it will be in self-defense since he is more modern and less wild than his friends/brothers, “The Greasers”. Ponyboy enjoys going to the movies and watching action and he's also gentle but tries to be brave as good as he can. In the book, Ponyboy believes that Darry thinks that he lacks common sense even though he is really smart at school compared to the rest of the greasers. But sometimes he doesn't think when making choices or doing actions. Doing this, sometimes, he could get in trouble and face problems he could normally avoid. The reason why Darry expects so much from Ponyboy is because he doesn't want his brother to turn out to be a dropout like Sodapop is. He believes that with his goals and smarts, he can be totally different from the others and actually have a future to look forward to. At the middle to the end of the book, Ponyboy changes because he struggles in his mind and he tries to pressure himself into thinking that he killed Bob, "The Socs,". The struggle Ponyboy deals with in reality is that, he tries to hind from the police along with Johnnycake. What I like most about Ponyboy Curtis is that he has so many people to go to even though he is a little bit more positivly better than his friends/brothers. I also like that how Ponyboy cares about his family and the gang so much that he'd do anything to make things right or to clear up a situation.

           A poem I think that really describes Ponyboy's background and story from in the book is, "What Are You Afraid Of" by Jon Jorgenson. I think this poem describes his background and story of his life because it talks/asks what are you afraid of throughout time when you realize you have so many supporters, hope, and overcomed adversities throughout life. Basically saying what room does fear have when you have all what you need to fix a problem in your life. In the book he Ponyboy used to be afraid about getting into trouble with the Socs, and having problems from two of his friends death because of a previous mureder which caused them in the end. But I think when Ponyboy realizes just of who he is, who he is around, and what he has been through at such a young age he can use to help him over come adversities throughout his life.