Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Johnny’s last words to Ponyboy are interesting, especially considering everything the audience has learned so far about said words: “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…”
Why does he say that when the only time Pony told him about the poem it was about how that’s not possible? “Nothing gold can stay.” He takes the poem and goes against it.
Furthermore, every other “gold” thing has fallen victim to this rule:
- The sunset the two of them had watched ended, as well as the fact that it was the last one that Johnny ever got to see and enjoy.
- Pony’s mother was golden and then both her and his father passed.
- Mickey Mouse (Sodapop’s horse) was a dark gold and then he was sold and taken from Soda.
- Soda’s eyes were described as gold, and one could say that his breakdown at the end of the book was an ending, but that could be stretch. Another thing is that S. E. Hinton herself said that for Soda’s future, she envisioned him getting drafted in the Vietnam war and dying there, which could also symbolize it.
But Ponyboy stays gold.
Even though he’s noticeably tougher and more rough than before, he hasn’t completely hardened himself the way that Dally had. Even though the Ponyboy at the end of the book would threaten some Socs with a broken glass bottle and make good on it if they didn’t run, he still takes the time to pick up the broken glass off the street so that people don’t get flat tires.
That scene is so important to his character because it shows that despite all of the confusion, the stress, and the mental, physical, and emotional toll, on top of the death of not one but TWO of his closest friends, he still isn’t a bad person.
What separates him from Johnny is that he had people there for him in his time of need. Every Single Time. He had a loving home life with his parents and brothers, and even when his parents were gone, he was still close with his brothers and could rely on them. When he got jumped at the beginning of the book he had the gang —especially Darry and Soda— to save him. He had Johnny when Bob and Randy were trying to kill them. He had Dally to go to when they were trying to run away, as well as to protect him during the church fire, both literally and metaphorically. It was Dally’s hand that physically slapped him to get the smoke out of his lungs and it was Dally’s jacket that prevented him from getting the worst of the flames.
There’s also a fundamental difference between him and the other greasers. One that makes him see the beauty in sunsets —something that not even Johnny cared for until Pony pointed them out to him— and prevented him from using a busted up bottle to fight off the Socs at the beginning of the book. His aversion to fighting and his ability to sympathize with the Socs, even the ones who played a huge hand in this entire mess (Randy).
He’s smart as well, which is another thing. Both Pony and Darry are intelligent and athletic, and had a promising future after school. There are many similarities and parallels between the two, but the reason why even if they had gotten the same exact upbringing they wouldn’t be the same is stated right at the beginning of the book in chapter one. “He doesn’t understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But he uses his head.”
When Two-Bit comments on how Darry would be a Soc if it wasn’t for them, he meant it. What separates Darry and Pony —even though they are already different from your average greaser— is that Darry is a greaser only in name and status. Ponyboy has heart— something that is scorned by Darry, at least at the beginning.
Ponyboy has qualities that make him unique from both Greasers and Socs, and even though he’s young and his perception of things is definitely not completely reliable or accurate, he’s still managed to separate himself from everyone else.
Ponyboy is different, but time and time again he is protected and cared for and loved, and that is what I believe separates him from others and allows him to truly “Stay Gold.”