This book report was done for S.E. Hinton’s novel, THE OUTSIDERS. In my essay, I explore the quote, “stay gold” and it’s meaning. I used a poem that was in the novel to express this topic (the poem is by Robert Frost). What it basically is about is the cycle of life.
I have just recently completed reading S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders. The author raises many topics faced by the teenagers of her time. Issues such as peer pressure, violence and family problems faced by the youngsters still apply to the teenagers of today. In the book, Johnny, one of the central characters draws the reader’s attention to a poem. In a letter written by the dying Johnny to Ponyboy, he advises his friend to continue to (pg 154)”…dig sunsets… That’s gold. Keep that way. it’s a good way to be…” In this essay, I will be concentrating on the quote “stay gold” and its meaning.
This quote was taken from a poem written by Robert Frost which Ponyboy had trouble figuring out its meaning. To me, the poem appears to be comparing our youthful years as being as valuable as gold. We are to enjoy our time when we are young for it is the “…hardest hue to hold…” on to. It is also saying that our childhood years are very short and feels like “…but only so an hour…” As we grow older, our garden of “…Eden sank to grief…” The beginning of our life will quickly end as “…dawn goes down to day…” So in the end “…nothing gold can stay…” which refers to the end of our innocence. (All quotes taken from pg69)
In the book Johnny also comes up with his interpretation of the poem. “…you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day…”(pg154) The way that Johnny saw it was that being a kid was something that he really missed out on and that it was the one thing that he would have really enjoyed. Despite of their situation in life, Johnny attempts to encourage Pony by telling him that, “… there’s still lots of good in the world…”(pg155).
How do you stay gold? This is question that you may be asking yourself right now. Although Ponyboy had a difficult childhood, unlike Dally, he had found a way to “stay gold”. Dally is another character in the novel who is a juvenile delinquent that gets into trouble frequently. The author compares both boys from disadvantaged backgrounds and yet they turn out to be so different from each other. Ponyboy liked to watch sunsets and go to movies like any other kid. Staying gold does not necessarily mean that you have to be physically young, it is more like being mentally young. I think that almost anyone who can do something a little childish once in a while will be able to stay gold.
The poem is all about the cycle of life and about how short the best part of it is. Being a child is one of the only times in life where you get to try so many new things in such a short period of time. So staying gold means just being young at heart.
