Question

How did Johnny's message affect Ponyboy in The Outsiders?

Accepted Answer

Johnny's message affects Ponyboy by inspiring him to write The Outsiders. The message explains Robert Frost's poem regarding the transitory nature of life and fragility of innocence and encourages Pony to metaphorically stay gold. Johnny tells Pony to share the same positive message with Dally. Although Pony realizes it is too late to save Dally, he is motivated to help the thousands of other juveniles in similar situations by sharing his group's story.

Answer

Johnny and Ponyboy are as close as brothers for most of the novel. They dream together, survive together, and become unlikely heroes together. While they are hidden away at the church, they awaken to watch a sunrise one morning. Johnny comments on how beautiful the scene is, and Pony offhandedly tells him, "Nothing gold can stay." He then recites the Robert Frost poem by that name to Johnny, and the two of them discuss the poem; Pony is certain that he isn't analyzing it to Frost's full intentions.
Johnny tells Pony that until they met, he'd never really noticed clouds and colors, but Pony kept bringing them up to him. Pony responds that Johnny isn't like the rest of the gang, either. He would never talk about the sunrise or clouds with the rest of the gang, but he does with Johnny.
After being injured in the church fire, Johnny hangs on for a while in the hospital. As his death becomes certain, he waits for Pony to arrive. His final message to Pony—and his last spoken words—are telling Pony to "stay gold."
Johnny has realized that Pony has an uncommon quality, one that values beauty and goodness and nature. He also knows that this type of personality is "golden" and can be robbed or sullied by a life of gangs, crime, and violence. In his final words, he is telling Pony to hang on to beauty and to avoid becoming hardened by the conflicts in life.
Pony does struggle after his friend's death. In fact, he goes through a period when he refuses to acknowledge that Johnny has died at all. Thankfully, with good support, Pony finds his way back to the truth and finds a way to create something beautiful out of the ashes of Johnny's life. Telling his story and realizing that life can be more than a constant class struggle allows Pony to honor Johnny and to create something golden out of the life that has been lost.

Answer

While Johnny and Ponyboy are hiding out in the abandoned church on Jay Mountain, the boys watch a beautiful sunrise, which reminds Pony of Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Pony recites the poem but mentions that he never understood its true meaning. Later in the story, Johnny is severely injured in the church fire and placed in critical condition. Pony and Dally visit Johnny moments before he passes away and his final message to Pony is to "Stay gold," which is taken from the Robert Frost poem. Immediately after Johnny passes away, Dally bolts out of the hospital and is gunned down by police in front of his friends later that evening. Pony is traumatized after witnessing his close friends die and struggles to cope with the tragic situation.
Towards the end of the story, Pony opens the novel Gone with the Wind and discovers a handwritten note from Johnny before he passed away. In the note, Johnny is at peace with dying and believes that it was worth saving those kids. Johnny then comments on the Robert Frost poem and interprets its meaning by explaining that gold is associated with innocence and nature's first green hue. Johnny encourages Pony to metaphorically maintain his innocence by staying gold. He also instructs Pony to share the message with Dally and encourage him to look at a sunset. After reading Johnny's letter, Pony recognizes that it is too late to share the message with Dally but pictures the "hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities" in similar situations. Johnny's letter motivates Pony to share their experience in hopes of helping other adolescents going through the same struggles. Pony believes that sharing their story will shed light on their situation and help other adolescents cope with similar issues. After reading Johnny's letter, Pony reacts by calling his English teacher and writing the story The Outsiders.

Answer

When he is dying in the hospital, Johnny tells Ponyboy to “stay gold.”  He is reminding him about a conversation they had about a Robert Frost poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”  The poem is about how things start out young and fresh, but wither in time.  Metaphorically, it means that people cannot maintain their innocence as they age.  Johnny feels that Ponyboy is still innocent, and he wants him to remain so.  He does not want him to follow the other greasers into gang life.
Pony doesn’t understand that Johnny means at first.  Johnny left a copy of Gone with the Wind for Pony, because they were reading it while hiding out.  It takes him awhile to finally take a look at it, because he doesn’t want to acknowledge that Johnny is actually dead.  In the note, Johnny says that he accepts that he is dying, and it was worth it to save those kids in the fire.

When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep that way, it's a good way to be. … And don't be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There's still lots of good in the world. (Ch. 12)

Pony feels sad all over again when he reads the note, because it tells him to tell Dally to look at a sunset, so he can see that there is good in the world.  Dally is dead, robbing a store and then running at the police in his grief over Johnny’s death.  Johnny would not have wanted that, Pony knows. 
Pony decides that he, Johnny, and Dally are not the only ones in this situation.

It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing. There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn't be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore. (Ch. 12)

Pony calls his English teacher to ask how long his paper can be.  Then he writes the story of what happened to Johnny. It is more than just a homework assignment.  It is Pony’s acknowledgement that he will make something of himself, and honor Johnny’s memory.

The Outsiders

How did Johnny's message affect Ponyboy in The Outsiders?

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