Ponyboy's Personality in The Outsiders

     Coming of age is the transition from childhood to adulthood. A variety of factors can affects a character’s coming of age. This affects a characters personality and morals. In The Outsiders by S.C Hinton, the main character, Ponyboy, has changed a lot from the beginning of the book to the end. His coming of age changed his personality drastically.

     In the beginning of the book, Ponyboy is quiet and weak. He admits, “I’m quiet around people, even the gang”(pg. 12). He doesn’t even like to talk when he’s with his Greaser friends. He is also very different than the usual Greaser. Greasers were seen as uneducated hoodlums who are rough and tough. Ponyboy is smart, scoring consistent A’s and B’s. He is a pacifist, not wanting to fight the Socs. In a confrontation with a group of Socs, he refused to fight and drops the weapon that was given to him. He says, “ I couldn’t use this” and then said, “I couldn’t ever cut anyone.”(pg. 45).  He relies on his friends to protect him. In the first few pages of the book, he is assaulted by a group of Socs. When he is about to get kill he starts “ screaming for Soda, Darry, anyone.”(pg. 5). An event in his life will cause his personality to change.

     The murder of the Soc, Bob, caused Ponyboy to change in personality. Ponyboy’s friend, Johnny, killed Bob. Johnny killed Bob because he was trying to kill Ponyboy. After this event, Ponyboy realized that in order to live in this society; he has to become more courageous and daring. Shortly after this event, him and Johnny run away to an abandon church. A few days later, the church caught fire, At the time of the fire, several kids were inside the church. Ponyboy was outside of the church with Jonhny, Ponyboy decides that he has to save those kids and rushes inside the church. He does not take his own well being into consideration. This shows Ponyboy’s change in personality. He is willing to save those kids, who he didn’t even know, from a fire. Ponyboy will continue to change in the book.

      The death of Johnny and Dally causes Ponyboy to have a drastic change in character. The death of his two friends causes him to become aggressive. During the fire in the church, Johnny went into the church to help Ponyboy rescue the children trapped inside. After all the chidren were rescued, the church collapses with Johnny inside. He suffers fatal injuries from the crash of the church. Ponyboy blames the Socs for the injuries Johnny suffered. When he is going to go fight in a rumble, he says he wants to win for Johnny. After the rumble, Ponyboy and his friends go to the hospital to see Johnny and tell him about their victory. They get to the hospital and see Johnny die. To pour salt on the wound, Ponyboy’s friend Dally has an emotional breakdown. He robs a grocery store and gets chased by the police. In the end, Dally is shoot to death. After these events, Ponyboy displays more Greaser like traits. He becomes violent. A group of Socs threaten Ponyboy, he retaliates by picking up a pop bottle, breaking it, and threatens the Socs. He starts to do badly in school, from getting A’s in his English class to being lucky if he gets a D. Ponyboy changed a lot from the beginning of the book.

     I realized that coming of age is difficult for some people, Ponyboy for example. The ongoing feud between the Socs and the Greasers caused Ponyboy to grow up in dangerous conditions. These conditions caused Ponyboy to have to adapt, and the adaptions that Ponyboy went through weren’t exactly good. But Ponyboy has gone through a lot and his personality has as well.