The main idea of The Outsiders

(Author’s Note: This piece is about what I think the main idea is in this book)

            The Outsiders is about a kid who grows up in a gang, but as the reader goes on, he realizes that this book is more than that. It proves that innocence can be lost in an instant. We can never keep it forever, we all lose it someday. The book sets this tone by reciting a poem by Robert Frost.

“Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay,”

            This poem is the key part to this story. Gold represents the innocence that Johnny lost. The first and second lines state that everyone is born with innocence, but it is difficult to keep it. The third line compares early innocence to a flower, but in the fourth line, it tells that its time is limited. The fourth, fifth, and sixth lines show how after you lose your innocence, paradise is lost. The last line is the most memorable. “Nothing gold can stay.” It summarizes the entire book. Innocence isn’t forever.

            Johnny, on his deathbed told Ponyboy to stay gold. He means to tell him to keep his innocence. Johnny lost his the moment he killed the soc. He’s begging Ponyboy to never surrender his purity, even when times are tough. Most of the characters in the story already lost theirs. Dally on one hand, lost his on the streets in New York. Ponyboy, however needs to grant Johnny his last wish, to be innocent.