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In Chapter 3, when the Socs stop the boys with Cherry and Marcia, "Two-bit took a long drag on his cigarette, Johnny slouched and hooked his thumbs in his pockets, and I stiffened." Ponyboy notes that, "We can look meaner than anything when we want to - looking tough comes in handy." For example, in Chapter 1, when the Socs start to surround him, he "automatically hitched my thumbs in my jeans and slouched" to appear tougher. It is clear in his descriptions of people as a narrator, but also in his interactions with the world. Ponyboy is very conscious of the way he and others look. The difference between his mother and him is clear to Ponyboy because of their eyes: "Johnnycake's eyes were fearful and sensitive hers were cheap and hard." Appearances
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Johnny's eyes in particular are used to reflect his emotions for instance, when the Socs approach, his terror is always apparent in his eyes. he would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold." Darry's eyes reflect Ponyboy's view of his oldest brother as "hardly human." In contrast, Sodapop's eyes are "dark brown - lively, dancing, recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next."
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They've got a determined set to them, like the rest of him. He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice. Ponyboy's view of other characters is often tied to his interpretation of their eyes for example, he says that "Darry's eyes are his own. EyesĬharacters' eyes are used to demonstrate their emotions, and Ponyboy frequently draws attention to them. It is a demonstration of his resentment of his role as a Greaser - as if he doesn't belong in that place in society. In contrast to Ponyboy and Soda, Darry keeps his hair short. Maybe we couldn't have Corvairs or madras shirts, but we could have hair." Our hair labeled us greasers, too - it was our trademark. Our hair was tuff - we didn't have to use much grease on it. It was long and silky, just like Soda's only a little redder. When Johnny reveals his plan to cut it, Ponyboy narrates, "It was my pride. His hair is his pride and joy, and it is a painful identity change for him to cut it off when he and Johnny try to disguise themselves. longer than a lot of boys wear theirs, squared off in back and long at the front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut." In the first paragraph of Chapter 1, he says, "I have light-brown, almost-red hair. Ponyboy demonstrates his belief in hair's importance by including it in his character descriptions. The Greasers' hairstyle is what distinguishes them as hoods, and part of the appearance that keeps them relegated to the margins of society. Ponyboy realizes that the reason the Socs never get blamed for causing trouble is because "We look hoody and they look decent." Although most of the Greasers are "pretty decent guys underneath all that grease," and the Socs are "just cold-blooded mean," it doesn't matter because "people usually go by looks." Hair The theme of appearances is linked to the conflict between the Socs and the Greasers, and its importance is underlined when the Socs arrive at the rumble in Chapter 9. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs." We'll forget it if you win, or if you don't. So it doesn't do any good, the fighting and the killing. And we'll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. You'll still be where you were before - at the bottom. In Chapter 7, as he explains why he is leaving town instead of attending the rumble, Randy explains the lose-lose situation to Ponyboy: Nothing is real with us." And Ponyboy agrees that "It's not money, it's feeling - you don't feel anything and we feel too violently." We're sophisticated - cool to the point of not feeling anything. Cherry says, "You greasers have a different set of values. In Chapter 3, a conversation between Ponyboy and Cherry defines a distinction between the two groups that goes beyond money. almost like hoods we steal things and rive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while." In contrast, the Socs are "the jet set, the West-side rich kids," who "jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next." The Greasers are "poorer than the Socs and the middle class. The conflict between Socs and Greasers is introduced in Chapter 1, and escalates throughout the book.