The Outsiders Group
Question:
jennie03
Student
High School - 9th Grade
After the rumble, why did everything taste like baloney to Ponyboy in "The Outsiders"?
Even when Darry and Soda were serving Ponyboy different food, why did eveything taste like baloney to Ponyboy?
Answers:
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Posted by dymatsuoka on Tuesday May 20, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Baloney was what Ponyboy and Johnny lived on the whole time they were hiding out on the mountain. In Chapter 5, Ponyboy says, "by the fifth day I was so tired of baloney I nearly got sick every time I looked at it". After the traumatic events leading up to Johnny's death, the rumble, and Dally's shooting, Ponyboy was understandably "pretty racked up mentally and emotionally" (Chapter 11). The fact that he stopped eating afterward because he "wasn't hungry...everything tasted like baloney" (Chapter 12) symbolizes Ponyboy's inability to let go of the past and take an interest in life again. Ponyboy said "I wish I could say that everything went back to normal, but it didn't...especially me" (Chapter 12). In his mind he was stuck in the upheaval of the past weeks; like the nagging taste of baloney, it would take awhile before he would be able to come to terms with what happened and go on.
