Academic: The Loss and Preservation of Innocence in The Outsiders

Published on 5th November 2019

The idea of innocence is not one that restricts itself to any one particular age. Likewise, the loss of such innocence and idealisms shows no mercy in regards to the person it seeks to seal from, be it adult or child. The idea of the preservation of youth in these hard times is a common theme within The Outsiders as various characters are pitted against that which might seek to diminish their idealism and extinguish their hopes. Time and time again the characters within The Outsiders are forced to consider their stances on their lives and that of those around them, choosing what level of hope and open-minded-ness they might choose to have in an otherwise shallow world steeped in hatred. The Outsiders addresses the heavy ideas of preservation and loss of innocence through its depiction of lost childhood by Ponyboy and his friends through varying events as well as addressing common ideas and perceptions by characters as they grow through such loss.

As the narrator of the story, the reader tends to learn a great deal about Ponyboy, if not the most about any character. Ponyboy did not start out life on the easiest of tracks. From an early age, he was subjected to losses of innocence not many children his age are aware of. Because of this, Ponyboy was faced with the dilemma of having to grow up fairly early on, yet perhaps not as fast as he might have thought. Despite the losses he had faced early in his life, Ponyboy had still managed to retain some levels of childish innocence in his persona throughout the story, only to slowly live and learn as this preservation began to come to an end in favor of understanding. Acting as an important beginning milestone for his journey, Ponyboy lost his parents at a very early age, being left with only his brothers to care for him, Darry taking on a stern fatherly role and Sodapop turning into a motherly figure for the young boy. However, despite losing his parents, Ponyboy still found himself confounded by the actions of his brothers at times, particularly Darry, and his attempts to protect Ponyboy. Ponyboy saw Darry as treating him like a child, and, because of his beliefs that he had already faced a great deal in his life, Ponyboy certainly did not appreciate this about his brother, viewing Darry as more of a dictator and uptight for being so strict with him, going as far as to believe Darry was not actually very fond of him at all, assuring that “Me and Darry just didn’t dig each other,” (Hinton 13). However, this view reflects a level of preserved innocence in Ponyboy despite these alleged trials he had suffered. As Dan Shi writes, “He has high hopes for Ponyboy whom he believes will never fail to live up to his expectation, which is beyond Ponyboy’s understanding. Darrel’s stern attitude towards him and requirement of him are other kinds of deep love, care and affection,” (Shi). Darry acts as strict as he does in order to protect Ponyboy, not wanting him to have to worry about issues in the “adult world” such as financial problems, or even having to face the brutality of the world around him. Because of this, Ponyboy does not rightfully understand the complex issues the others of his family and the rest of the world face, and lies ignorant as a result. He does, however, come to understand this love, realizing “ Darry did care about me…and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me,” (Hinton 98). It is this influence that allows Ponyboy to retain levels of his evident idealism at the cost of his like of Darry. Such levels of preserved innocence are a vital step in Ponyboy’s journey through the world, especially as he attempts to navigate life faced with perpetual violence and hatred.

Because of his status as a greaser, Ponyboy was also often faced with a great deal of prejudices in his and his gangs constant battle with the Socs, consistently at risk of coming to harm in various manners and even being attacked as early as the first chapter of the novel. Still, despite the violence and hatred Ponyboy is constantly faced with, belonging specifically to one side of a two sided “war”, he retains a very open minded look on the world due to the way he was raised. When speaking to Cherry for the first time, he makes it evident that he does not truly believe that Socs have issues they face, remaining more privileged and, in turn, happier than the greasers could ever be. He asserts that “It ain't fair!" I cried passionately. "It ain't fair that we have all the rough breaks!"(Hinton 43). However, Cherry makes a point to explain just how untrue this really is, assuring Ponyboy that, just as any human, Socs have issues they face every day as well. Despite not initially believing her at first, Ponyboy comes to have an open mind about the idea, seeming to realize that no one person’s life is completely perfect. It is this same mind that sees Ponyboy believing that there was hope for the greasers and Socs to one day get along.

Ponyboy maintains a very open mindset not shared by many of the other characters that allows him to live off of hopes, childish they may seem, that there can be peace in their world. Ponyboy does not see barriers blocking his way to interaction with others outside his own initial social circle. He does not see members of an enemy group as evil beings, but as people with qualities that make them good and bad themselves. Howard S. Becker explains that “the person who is thus labeled an outsider may have a different view of the matter. He may not accept the rule by which he is being judged and may not regard those who judge him as either competent or legitimately entitled to do so,” (Becker 2) Applying this concept to Ponyboy, one might find in him an inability to accept the conformity of outsiders thrust upon not just him but everyone. He sees people as they are: people. This outlook is the perfect representation of the idealism and hope that Ponyboy had retained despite the things in life he had been confronted with. Ponyboy is not stupid or ignorant, but rather idealistic where such things should have been snuffed out years ago, and the people around him believe powerfully that such views should be preserved, especially those such as Darry and Johnny, who want to protect Ponyboy’s outlooks on life. However, while Darry and Johnny would seek to protect Ponyboy from “reality”, Ponyboy is able to prove his idealistic views to be just that, especially when reflecting upon his encounter with the burning church.

During a climactic moment of the novel, Ponyboy and Johnny risk life and limb to save children from a burning church, just like heroes out of the stories they so revel. If a person were to consider the social stigma attached to greasers at this time, this might be placed as out of character. However, given that the reader has a better perspective, they would know Ponyboy better than this at this point. Ponyboy does not hesitate to go in after the children. He does not stop to consider who they are, what their purpose in life is, who they would side with in a gang war. He sees these children as exactly what they are: people in need of help. This point later comes up in his conversation with the Soc Randy as Randy questions Ponyboy’s motives, assuring him that if he were in the same situation, he would not have acted so valiantly and he could hardly view a greaser as acting in such a way. Ponyboy assures Randy that “ 'Greaser' didn't have anything to do with it. My buddy over there wouldn't have done it. Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn't have. It's the individual," (Hinton 115). Ponyboy contests in his explination that sterotype has nthing to do with the issue, applying to Hazel Rochman’s idea that “once you see someone as a person-their meanness and their courage-then you've reached beyond stereotype" (Rochman). Ponyboy is expressing that which he as preserved despite the losses he has faced. Ponyboy lost a great deal of innocence after his encounter with death, being forced to face reality where it stood. However, in doing this, he also opened his mind to the world, realizing that people may divide themselves, yet they are just that in the long run – people, mortal and alive. Where Ponyboy once believed that Socs could never have issues, he soon came to learn though understanding, experience and loss that everyone has issues, no matter who they are. He thinks to himself “Socs were just guys after all. Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too,” (Hinton 118). In facing these realizations, Ponyboy loses innocence in the form of ignorance, but gains an understanding of the world around him, sacrificing this innocence for greater realizations. However, not even Ponyboy can retain such “gold” forever.

Despite the innocence’s preserved in Ponyboy, such things could not last forever. Many things led up to Ponyboy’s understanding and rationalization that life is not fair, just as many as that which kept his mind wide open. One major piece of symbolism lies in Ponyboy’s cutting of his hair, symbolizing his cutting from his past and evolution in understanding of the reality of his world. It is here, in part, he sacrifices some of the idealism he had in the world and replaces it with fear and acknowledgment. He sacrifices a trademark of his identity, something he found himself proud of, in order to confront the situation before him, forcing himself to deal with the reality at hand. Such an action is a small one, but becomes a catalyst for Ponyboy as he deals in the idea that life is not fair. This is an outlook he had held long before this moment, yet previously found it in ignorance, rather seeing it as a childish complaint about his life as he thought on his relationship with Darry and belief that his brother must have hated him, something he later realized was far from true, or perhaps the social barriers he and others found themselves forced to be confined within in order to navigate the world around them. Facing true realities such as the killing of Bob opened the door for Ponyboy to realize there is more to life than fair and unfair, and allows him to understand that such things in life are a matter of perspective at the sacrifice of some of his idealism and ignorance. Further still, Ponyboy is also forced to face the reality of the situations faced by Johnny the subsequent death of his friend.

Johnny, as a member of the same gang and as a close friend, was someone very important to Ponyboy, this much is made very evident by his own words and by their interactions. Johnny is also described as “If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny.” (Hinton) Johnny relates to Ponyboy in his dislike for outright violence in a world of nothing but, and maintains a similar sensitive attitude in the story. What separates Johnny, however, is the brutal loss of innocence he had suffered prior to Ponyboy’s own. Having been beaten by the Socs in a brutal assault, tied in with the constant physical and emotional turmoil he suffered though at home, Johnny went from “the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade,” (Hinton). This transition is a rather heavy and somewhat blatant one, yet remains important to Johnny’s character and how he perceives others, Ponyboy included. Johnny sees the innocence he himself lost in Ponyboy, and desperately wishes for him to keep what he could not, even if his friend is somewhat ignorant or idealistic at times. Johnny contrasts Ponyboy’s views in the world heavily, despite similar compassions and beliefs that life is not fair. Where Ponyboy sees fit to try and make change, Johnny sees a loss of hope, yet holds onto it though Ponyboy. This is shown to be especially true though Johnny’s last words to Ponyboy, “Stay gold.” It is this phrase that helps to both break Ponyboy’s own innocence while curing him of ignorance. A reference to the Robert Frost poem “Nothing gold Can Stay,” Johnny uses this poem to entertain the hope that Ponyboy would, in fact, be able to remain himself even in the face of tragedy. Unfortunately, it is not so simple for Ponyboy at first as he struggles to cope with the reality of the world for one of the first true times.

Early on in the story, Cherry theorizes that Ponyboy likely enjoys watching sunsets, same as her before she became busy. Ponyboy reflects on this statement, letting his mind wander as he thinks “It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset,” (Hinton). This simple idea plays a heavy role in the rest of the story, as the sun sets on a chapter in Ponyboy’s life to give breath to a new day. There is darkness, before the Dawn, however, and Ponyboy is forced to navigate it rather haphazardly. Ponyboy, at this point, after and even slightly before the deaths of Johnny and Dally, has lost a great deal of his childhood innocence. He lived in denial of his friend’s passing for a long time, unable to admit to their deaths in attempts to preserve what was already lost before finally forcing himself to come to terms. In coming to terms, however, Ponyboy must finally accept that he too has lost a great deal in his life as a result. He struggle’s in life and school, becomes increasingly more aggressive. At one point, Ponyboy even threatens some Socs who dare approach him in his frustrated state, breaking a bottle and claiming “I’ve had about all I can take from you guys,” (Hinton). This display, compared to Ponyboy’s earlier mentions of hope and idealisms, speaks to his fall from innocence and grants him a perspective on the “reality” everyone else seemed to view. However, it is in this moment that it is wise to remember the idea that it is always darkest before the dawn. Not long after this incident, Ponyboy comes into possession of a note from Johnny, analyzing the ideas presented by the aforementioned poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” Johnny writes to his friend

I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep that way, it's a good way to be...And don't be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself what you want. There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don't think he knows. Your buddy, Johnny. (Hinton)

It is here that Ponyboy makes a revelation of sorts, one that stirs him to continue on. He knows that life is not fair, yet that does not mean he is invalid in any way. In particular, a reference to the lines “So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay,” (Frost) plays a heavy role in these final words as the sun moves on from the world of innocence, the sunset Ponyboy values, and dawns a new day where Ponyboy must come to accept his new lot in life. Johnny would see that Ponyboy does well to realize that Ponyboy has something to remember, something to realize, that something equating to“Ponyboy admits he wants ‘‘to tell people’’ what he has discovered. That central lesson is crystallized for him by his sacrificial friend Johnny, who admonishes Ponyboy in a deathbed letter to ‘‘stay gold.’’ For Johnny, to ‘‘stay gold’’ signifies remaining innocent and childlike.” (Tribunella) Ponyboy takes this as a sign, realizing he has no need to justify himself, as he exists already, and seeks to grant purpose to the deaths he had born witness to the passing weeks. What makes this moment so important is Ponyboy’s realization that all loss does not have to be for naught. As Sandra Beals points out it, “At the end of the novel, Ponyboy has a moment of critical understanding, a quantum leap in his view of his situation, which allows him to break free of his self-image as a victim and to engage his agency,” (Beals) The deaths of his friends may still have purpose, just as his existence does. More than this, it proves that his loss of innocence, despite his and many others attempts to preserve it, showed purpose. Ponyboy’s loss of innocence was more than simply a loss of childhood but rather proved to be an awakening. This loss paved a path for better understanding as a whole. Ponyboy loses his blind idealism and trades such a thing in for rational yet compassionate thought, still holding onto a candle of hope as he readies for the new days to come on its way, determined to “Stay Gold.”

The Outsiders addresses the heavy ideas of preservation and loss of innocence through its depiction of lost childhood by Ponyboy and his friends through varying events as well as addressing common ideas and perceptions by characters as they grow through such loss. The brutal purpose behind Ponyboy’s story goes to display the idea that children grow too quickly in the days of today, and that society wishes to protect them from this brutality. However, Ponyboy is equally capable to proving that, even if granted loss at an early age, it is not always a bad thing. A great many sufferings were thrust upon Ponyboy, and he lost a great deal because of it. However, even with this loss, he found himself with open eyes and an open mind. Traces of his idealism still manage to peek through in the worst of times, and the growth he experiences allows him to put his rationality to better use. The themes reflected in The Outsiders revolves around the idea of innocence as a whole, including the fact that life is not fair, and the innocence, no matter how desperately preserved, is bound to eventually become lost. What the character loses, exactly, does not always need to stand to be negative in every way, however. Ponyboy’s preservations then subsequent loss of innocence is not only that which reflects all the bad aspects of loss of innocence. Rather, it is one that displays a gaining of understanding. Despite what he had lost, Ponyboy had still gained a great deal, retaining his hopeful nature and ability to view beyond petty rivalries to see the true heart of the issues around him.

Works Cited

Beals, Sandra. “Modeling Liberation: Audience, Ideology, and Critical Consciousness in S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 2, 2018, pp. 183–201. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mlf&AN=2018302781&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: The Free Press

Frost, Robert“Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost - Poems | Academy of American Poets.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 1923, poets.org/poem/nothing-gold-can-stay.

Hinton, S. E. (1967). The Outsiders. New York: Puffin Books.

Rochman, Hazel. "Against Borders." The Horn Book Magazine 71.2 (1995): 144-57.

Shi, Dan. “De-Egocentricity and Socialization: A Study of Hinton’s The Outsiders.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 4, no. 4, 2014, pp. 668–674. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mlf&AN=2015652189&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Tribunella, Eric. “Institutionalizing The Outsiders: YA Literature, Social Class, and the American Faith in Education.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 38, no. 2, June 2007, pp. 87–101. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10583-006-9016-2.