What does it mean to be tough? Does it mean having the strength to endure vigorous pain or to stone faced in the presence of danger? In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, the main character Ponyboy explores what it means to be tough, which can be seen through a comparison of how he handles hostile Socs near the beginning of the novel and how he handles hostile Socs near the end of the novel. Both scenes contain a moment where Ponyboy must hold a broken soda bottle, but the shift in responses to the bottle provide detail on what Ponyboy had learned through the course of the novel.

In the first scene, Ponyboy, along with Johnny and Two-Bit, walk two girls Cherry and Marcia back to their homes when they are stopped by Socs in a blue mustang. In this scene Ponyboy shows his immaturity by dropping the bottle given to him by Two-Bit. Hinton writes, “I pulled her to one side. ‘I couldn’t use this,’ I said, dropping the pop bottle. ‘I couldn’t ever cut anyone…” I had to tell her [Cherry] that because I’d seen her eyes when Two-Bit flicked out his switch” (47). Ponyboy’s actions reflect an attempt to preserve the image of goodness Cherry sees in Ponyboy and in Johnny. While it is good that Ponyboy remains non-violent, given that this event occurs in the immature phase of the hero, Hinton is showing the audience that it’s bad since he can’t protect himself from danger .Even though he say “I could never cut anyone,” one should see that over time he at least becomes capable of know he could through observing someone as kind and pure like Johnny kill a Soc.

At a later scene, where Ponyboy is confronted by Socs after Johnny’s death, Ponyboy exhibits a new look on life. In this moment, it is Ponyboy alone fending off Socs and he breaks the bottle rather than receiving it from Two-Bit. Here Ponyboy shows to pull out references to tough people he knew in his life. He says, “I started toward them, holding the bottle the way Tim Shepard holds a switch—out and away from myself, in a loose but firm hold” (171). He also says the phrase “Get smart and nothing can touch you” (171), words taken from his late friend Dally, described as being one in the same as Shepard in the novel. Ponyboy, by making reference from them, see value in who they are as characters. Dally was a character born without a parents love and raised partly on the streets of New York and what Ponyboy derives from Dally is getting stronger than the world can hit you. This kind of toughness is exhibited in the same scene as Ponyboy says, “I didn’t feel anything—scared, mad, or anything. Just zero (171).” Ponyboy learns that toughness is a hard acceptance of your reality, not a perpetuation of an ignorance to one’s conditions.

After the Socs back away from Ponyboy, he shows that he hasn’t turned completely into Dally by his action of picking up the broken pieces, saying that he “didn’t want anyone to get a flat tire” (172).  Ponyboy exhibits here the goodness that distinguished him from other greasers as described by Cherry.

From these two scenes, Hinton shows the audience Ponyboy’s transformation and hope. Ponyboy like the pop bottle was broken after being subjected to incredible conflicts, but that experience made him jagged to defend himself without breaking him completely.