The Outsiders Relates to Nothing Gold Can Stay

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

If only perfect things could last. In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, she includes a poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost, that relates to Johnny’s and Ponyboy’s situations in life. For example, “Then leaf subsides to leaf” (5) connects to when Johnny is slowly dying. He is dying due to saving kids from a burning church, and a piece of flaming timber fell on his back. Additionally, “So Eden sank to grief” (6) relates to how Johnny felt when he found out his parents were not concerned about him when he ran away. He felt crushed when Dally informed him that his parents did not ask about him because he was hoping that they were not upset with him. Lastly, “Nothing gold can stay” (8) interprets how Ponyboy and Sodapop might be put in a boys’ home despite that Ponyboy was a hero. “Nothing gold can stay” means that anything pure and sensitive cannot last long, so if Ponyboy and Sodapop are going to be put in a boys’ home then Ponyboy, a pure and sensitive being, cannot stay for long. Everything would be better if gold could last forever. All positive things come to an end. The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost, was featured in the novel, by S.E Hinton-, The Outsiders. The poem relates to the novel in multiple ways; including how the Greasers felt after numerous incidents. For example, “So Eden sank to grief…” (6) demonstrates how they handled Johnny’s death. All the Greasers were majorly affected, since Johnny was considered family to all of them. As a result Dally broke and committed suicide by cop. When “Eden sank to grief”(6), it was similar to Dally breaking and killing himself. The Greasers lifestyle was always on the edge: “So dawn goes down to day” (7). Robbing gas stations, getting jumped, and fighting rumbles could only last so long with no consequences. It was nothing new to them for a bad occurrence to take place, it was expected to happen at one point. After all, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”(8) meaning even after Ponyboy and Johnny were praised for saving the children in the burning church, Johnny still got severely injured. Being known as heros was the “gold” of the situation, but it did not last long knowing that Johnny’s injury caused him to die. All in all, the Greasers know what it is like for their gold to come to an end.

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