Memories of my younger years…

The first time I read The Outsiders, I was in fifth grade. I felt like such a grown up being able to read a young adult novel with gang violence and “inappropriate language”, that I only looked at what the text provided on the surface. Here I am an entire decade later and with my teenage years now behind me, I cannot help but see this novel in a completely different light. I think the part that hit me the hardest comes in chapter 5, where Pony boy and Johnny are having a conversation and Pony boy recites the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”by Robert Frost. The poem states the following…

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. 

Pony boy recites this poem as he and Johnny discuss the beauty of the valley covered in mist as the sun rose and how quickly it disappears. After reciting the poem Pony boy acknowledges that the poem has a deeper meaning but that he is not clear as to what that meaning is. Come to think of it, the first time I read this poem, and keep in mind I was only about 2-3 years younger than Pony boy at the time, I did not think much of the poem nor did I suspect a deeper meaning beyond describing nature. Ten years have passed since that first reading and I think I understand S.E. Hinton’s intent behind placing that poem in this novel. The description of nature provided is symbolic of youth and combined with how quickly the beauty of the mist and sunset fade away, this scene provides commentary on just how quickly youth does the same. I don’t think that Pony boy realizes this because he is still at a place where “growing up” still feels a bit far away. Or maybe I’m wrong? Maybe all that he has been through has stripped him of his youth so early on that he was never allowed the opportunity to acknowledge it’s existence. Regardless of what the true answer is, I believe that S.E. Hinton placed this poem in the novel as a way of showing how quickly our youth comes and goes and as I sit here writing this, I can’t help but think, man, she was right.