shut the hell

All throughout that fateful night and its many cataclysmic events - the drive in, the lot, the slap, the jumping, the stabbing, running to Dally - there’s the through-line that it’s cold outside and Ponyboy didn’t think to wear a jacket, so he’s walking around freezing in a sleeveless sweatshirt the entire night.

He’s exposed, unprotected, unprepared. He’s in over his head.

He’s a child. He hasn’t mastered the basics of taking care of himself. Forgetting to wear a coat when it’s cold is classic shorthand for “child.” He’s about to go through things that would break an adult, and he’s just a child who can’t even remember to wear a coat when it’s cold outside.

He tries to look tougher than he is, like he doesn’t need protection. He tries to look invincible but he just looks vulnerable; in fact all the more vulnerable for trying so hard to look tough. Everyone tries to tell him that he’s not taking care of himself properly, but he won’t listen.

The way a different character, specifically a different member of his family/his gang, comments on it at every juncture. At each point in the night, at each different location - first Darry at home, then Johnny in the park, then Dally at Buck’s - all comment on Pony’s insufficient outfit. A demonstration of how Ponyboy brings out everyone’s big brother instincts. Everyone speaking as portents of fate, like the three witches in The Scottish Play, prophetically warning the protagonist of cold and “freezing to death” and “pneumonia”: of the looming danger and death and illness and tragedy.

It makes his circumstances that much worse. Sleeping in the lot, running out after Darry slaps him, getting drowned in the fountain, he’s that much colder.

It’s a sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. It’s a shirt that was made with sleeves, that’s supposed to have sleeves, but doesn’t. They don’t have the things they’re supposed to have. Money. Safety. Parents. Anything they do have is defined by the absence of its complete function. Whatever resources they have are sparse, ripped up, insufficient imitations of what they’re supposed to be.

It’s a background detail of discomfort throughout the whole saga, seemingly mundane but vital. It doesn’t seem as important as almost drowning, but it exacerbates it. The discomfort the hardship of their environment is always an undercurrent of their more dramatic problems.

It’s Darry’s care and lack of care at the same time. Darry scolds Ponyboy for not wearing a coat, but then hits him which is what drives Ponyboy to run out of the house into the cold, but the cold is part of what makes Ponyboy want to go back home despite everything. It’s all the ways Pony needs Darry to take care of him but doesn’t want it; wants it but won’t admit it. It’s all the ways Darry takes care of him, and all the ways he doesn’t. All the ways Darry tries and all the ways he fails.

It’s Soda’s sweatshirt. It’s a hand me down, as is probably the youngest brother’s entire wardrobe. It’s clothing that’s not his, that he’s tried to customize for himself only to have it end up worse, less suited for its intended purpose. It’s a classic greaser piece of clothing - a ripped up DIY hand-me-down - and Ponyboy isn’t quite suited for Soda’s full fledged greaser uniform just as he’s not quite suited for Soda’s full fledged greaser lifestyle.

It paves the way for Dally to give Pony his jacket at the end of the night, but at the same time doesn’t really, because even if Pony was wearing a jacket, even if it kept him warm all night, it would have ended up soaking wet and useless after the fountain. No matter what superficial protection he has - a jacket, a blade, a busted bottle, a companion - he would end up a target by virtue of who he is and the world he lives in.

It’s the first time Pony notices Dally performing an act of kindness that surprises him. It’s the first time Pony notices Dally’s similarities to Darry as Dally takes on a parallel big brother role: “‘you ought to know better than to run away in just a sweat shirt, and a wet one at that. Don't you ever use your head?’ He sounded so much like Darry that I stared at him.” It’s the parallels between Darry and Dally, the two older characters who seem cold and hard because Pony can’t see the good in them just yet.

He also probably loved showing Darry and Soda anytime he lost a tooth. Like he'd rip out a tooth that wasn't loose enough yet just for the soul purpose of feeling proud when he showed it off to Darry and Soda.

Probably brought Darry or Soda to show n tell days at school because he didn't really have much else. He was probably like, 'these are my super cool older brothers.' And he'd show them off with a beaming smile on his face.

He probably also had a stuffed animal he snuggled with EVERY NIGHT until he lost it or something and then he'd cry until he found it.

Now, I've seen people use Pony being a good liar for chaos reasons, like him starting a gang (on accident), or breaking Darry's rules, or sick fics, but what I really wanna see is how his lying can be incorporated into his canon dynamics with the gang and his family.

Ponyboy thinks throughout the entire book that the gang only tolerates him because he's a Curtis, and because he knows when to keep his mouth shut. Throughout the story, even at the end, Pony is unsure if Darry loves him as much as Soda. That kinda thinking doesn't develop over night. Imagine, 8 year old Pony feigning disinterest when Soda invites him to play with everyone else because he already knows that the older kids will just think of him as an annoyance.

9 year old Pony waking up screaming from a nightmare and telling his parents to go back to bed because 'he was scared but he's okay now,' because he doesn't want his parents to get sick of him the way the other parents in the neighborhood seem to be sick of their kids.

10 year old Pony lying to the cashier about getting cigarettes for his parents because he wants the big kids to take him seriously, and smoking seems like the only way that'll happen.

11 year old Pony lying to his parents about what he ate at school so he can save up the lunch money he gets every day, in hopes that one day he'll be able to support his family.

12 year old Pony acting unaffected when Steve pushes him and yells at him for always chasing after Soda, because he thinks that if he just handles Steve's cruelty he'll one day respect Pony.

13 year old Pony refusing to cry when his parents die, saying 'I'm fine,' in hopes that no one will see how badly the loss actually hurt him.

14 year old Pony telling his brother he's cold after he got jumped because he'd rather die than admit weakness.

14 year old Pony asking Two-Bit not to tell his brothers he's sick because he needs to fight in that rumble, only to end up passing out.

Steve, who was one of the first on scene, running to beat the life out of the socs who jumped Ponyboy, breaking his nose in the process.

Steve, who wants to keep Ponyboy from trouble, as he and Sodapop do reckless things & doesn't want to bring the youngest, vulnerable, and impressionable kid with them to do something like drag racing.

Steve, who is there as soon as Ponyboy comes home.

Steve, despite breaking 3 ribs, immediately looking to the door upon Ponyboy's return.

Steve, who watched in horror as Ponyboy broke that bottle and handled a group of socs on his own because he was scared of Ponyboy, the sweetest greaser, being like him.

Steve never hated Ponyboy, he just couldn't show Ponyboy that he cared. — Steve's character is one that I hold dear, as though his anger speaks volumes his actions speak miles. And though he doesn't have a role in the movie, his role in the book allows Ponyboy to sympathize with Randy.

Sodapop and Steve's friendship is a parallel to Randy and Bob, and without that relationship in the book, Ponyboy wouldn't have related to Randy's perspective.

People glance at Steve's character and only see him as a flat dynamic, however his character has more depth and personality than that, it's just we as the reader are in the same perspective as Pony. His depiction in both the movie and musical, though playing small roles, lets us observe the dynamic between Ponyboy and Steve throughout the book, and we observe Steve genuinely caring for the others in the story in his own way.