Johnny's dying words, 'stay gold,' also touch on this theme by referencing the Robert Frost poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay.' While the poem's message-that all beautiful things fade with the passage of time-forces the two boys to realize that they can't hide from the realities of growing up, Johnny's call for Ponyboy and the greasers to 'stay gold' is also a call for them to preserve the hope and optimism of childhood no matter what the world throws at them. Johnny represents the hope that Dally has lost, and Dally strives to protect Johnny from the forces that threaten to pull him into the cycle of violence that has enveloped Dally. But Dally has a soft spot too-his love for Johnny. Dally's rough youth has made him tough and fearsome, and he seems not to care about anything. Amy There's someone coming down the road' 'You-oh, you think the talk is all.

But never uses his head, and On like the Flash he runs, Youth is on his side -Cayla N. The heart's gone out of it: why keep it up. Ponyboy’s pride and joy is his hair, Only fourteen years old, Never turns downs a coca-cola, and smokes like a blazing fire. Oh, I won't, I won't' 'There, you have said it all and you feel better. It also shows the tragic results of this process. I won't have grief so If I can change it. Primarily through the characters of Dally and Johnny, the novel also shows how easily experience can harden people and cause them to lose these youthful traits.

They also allow him to see beyond the shallow hatred between the Socs and greasers.

These traits show that Ponyboy, unlike the other boys, still has preserved some of his childhood innocence. Ponyboy's daydreams about the country, his appreciation of sunrises and sunsets, and his rescue of the children from the burning church distinguish him from other characters in the novel. The Outsiders shows the importance of preserving the hope, open-mindedness, and appreciation of beauty that are characteristic of childhood.

Poems from the outsiders