OSC// Stay Gold, Ponyboy

As a kid in middle school we were tasked with reading The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. My friends know I wasnt the biggest fan of school but something struck me about this title. The final scene between Johnny and Ponyboy had a lasting effect on me. It mightve been the way that my teacher explained it - the depth and gravity of the conversation in juxtaposition to the socio-economic state my family and I were at during that time made it much more intense for me. “Stay gold, Ponyboy” to a kid who’s come from where I come from hits a tad different. For lack of a better explanation — suggesting one stay on the positive side of life and not chase the dark just because it’s what one is used to is very powerful. Fast forward years later, Im able to commemorate the phrase in my artwork to spread and share with the world.

S. E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders” is a book written for the adolescent demograph that unabashedly refers to the contrast between the upper and lower class. The story follows Ponyboy Curtis who ends up constantly in the middle of fights between the impoverished “Greasers” and the upper class “Socs”. Through Ponyboy’s harsh reality surrounded by profanity, drugs, alcohol, and run-ins with law enforcement — it’s the dying words of his best friend, Johnny, who tells him to “stay gold, Ponyboy”. A statement that implies that even though he struggles with fitting in with both society and with his own immediate group of friends— the things that make him odd are the very same qualities that make him unique, and he should never try to change that.

Shop and view “Stay Gold”: _Here.