What alternative advice could be given to Johnny and Ponyboy in chapter 4 of The Outsiders?

Instead of hiding out at the old church on the mountain as Dally suggested, Ponyboy and Johnny should have returned to Ponyboy's house and informed Darry of the situation.  Level-headed Darry would have helped the boys come up with a viable solution, which more than likely would have been to turn themselves into the police. 

Ponyboy's abrupt departure genuinely worried his two brothers, and he most definitely should have kept them more informed of his current dire situation.  Both Darry and Sodapop would want to help their brother as well as Johnny reach a reasonable response to Bob's murder. 

What advice would you give to Johnny and Ponyboy in The Outsiders?

I would think that my advice would revolve around breaking free from the gang and developing a sense of self.  I think that I would have told the boys to examine Dally and see that he is farther down the path of being unreachable than they were.  There are demons inside him that make him and drive him to do the things he does and act the way he does.  I would stress to Johnny and Ponyboy that these demons are not within them and this might be where the divergence from the group has to happen.  In the final analysis, the wars against the Socs will not result in anything, as the Greasers' empowerment does not increase if the Socs' hold on social status decreases.  I think in stressing to the boys to start living their own life and breaking free from Dally's hold might be the start of my advice to them.  In approaching Dally, they further invest themselves in a gang where there is little, if any, future.

Just to play the devil's advocate here...

Had the two boys turned themselves in, Pony (and possibly Soda) would probably have been taken into custody and removed from the care of Darry. Johnny would probably have been released into the care of his parents, who would have beaten him for causing them trouble. The two boys would have been charged with some form of murder or manslaughter; perhaps this charge would have been overturned if Cherry and/or Randy decided to tell the truth. However, Randy may not have chosen this path if he was immediately questioned by the police; he and Cherry only decided to tell the truth after Pony and Johnny became heroes by saving the children from the church fire.

If they had turned themselves in immediately, Pony and Johnny (and Dallas) wouldn't have become heroes; nor would the kids at the church been in danger since it was Pony and Johnny's carelessness which caused the fire in the first place. Johnny would not have been injured, and Dallas would not have felt the need to choose suicide by cop.

In retrospect, of course the two boys should have turned themselves in, and any responsible adult would have suggested as much. Johnny and Dallas would have lived much longer lives, and Ponyboy would have been much happier living without the additional notoriety.

I guess I probably would have told them to turn themselves in.  After all, I am a grown up and have to tell people to behave responsibly.

I think that my advice would likely be better than Dally's, except for one thing.  The whole thing with them saving the kids at the church made Dally's advice look golden (except for Johnny dying.)

If they had followed Dally's advice and hadn't had the chance to save the kids, they would have been in big trouble.  They would have been in trouble for the killing and also for running away.

With my advice, they probably would have been in trouble unless Cherry testified for them.  If she didn't, no one would have believed them.

So they would have been worse off with my advice than they ended up in the book.  But in the book they have the "luck" of saving the kids and that's what gets Ponyboy out of trouble.

After Johnny stabs and kills Bob Sheldon, he and Pony travel to Buck Merril's place, where they find Dally. Dally listens to their predicament and ends up giving his friends a gun, fifty dollars, and directions to skip town. Dally tells them to take a train to Windrixville and stay in an abandoned church on Jay Mountain until things settle down. Dally is essentially guilty of aiding and abetting two fugitives involved in the murder of Bob Sheldon, which is a serious crime. Taking into consideration Dally's age, upbringing, and criminal background, the fact that he helps Johnny and Pony evade the police is not surprising. Personally, I would suggest that Johnny and Pony turn themselves in and find a lawyer before speaking to the police. I would urge them to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights by not answering any questions and waiting until they meet with their lawyer before speaking to the police. If they do not follow my advice, I would be forced to inform the police of their visit to avoid being complicit in their attempt to elude the authorities.

If they came to me, as I am right now, my advice would not be anything that they would want to hear.  I'm a teacher, parent, and a high school coach.  I would definitely tell Pony and Johnny that they should go to the police and explain exactly what happened.  Running away and hiding makes them look guilty.  Ponyboy and Johnny can claim legitimate self defense, and likely face little to no charges.  Additionally, they are minors, so their punishment would not be as severe.  

Of course, if I was a fellow Greaser, I would likely try and help them avoid being caught at all.  I wouldn't want them found in my house, so I wouldn't offer them a place to stay.  I would give them food and money, and I would probably offer to drive them to some kind of hideout location until everything calmed down.  I guess I wouldn't act that much differently than Dally does. 

Assuming that I was their English teacher (I am a longtime English teacher) and the two boys came to me for help instead of heading to find Dally, I would certainly have advised them to turn themselves in to the police. I would have been happy to accompany them and help explain the situation. Since Johnny had already been assaulted himself and then saw Pony being drowned by the other Socs, his stabbing of Bob would have almost certainly been considered an act of self-defense. With the help of an attorney, the two boys would probably have been exonerated; or, at worst, Johnny would have spent a short stint in juvenile detention. Even in this case, his life would have been no worse than it was at home.

In The Outsiders, what advice does Johnny give to Ponyboy?

Johnny tells Ponyboy to “stay gold” when he dies, which is a result of the poem they read in Chapter 5.

When Johnny dies, he tells Ponyboy to “stay gold.”  What he means is that he wants him to stay good-hearted.  This is because most of the greasers just want to be tough.  In their neighborhood, they have to join the gang to survive.  You are born into a gang. You are either a greaser or a Soc, based on your social class and where you live.  Ponyboy is smart and sensitive though.  He loves books and movies.  He is not like the other greasers.

Johnny says this because he felt guilty about killing Bob and dragging Pony on the run to hide out in the church.  Pony and Johnny had to go on the run after he killed Bob.

"This is my fault," Johnny said in a miserable voice. He had stopped crying when I started. "For bringin' a little thirteen-year-old kid along. You ought to go home. You can't get into any trouble. You didn't kill him." (Ch. 5)

Johnny is upset because Pony does not like cutting and dying his hair.  Hair is like identity for a greaser.  He feels responsible for the situation they are in, even though it was self-defense when he killed Bob.  Pony gets annoyed, telling him that he is fourteen years old, but Johnny sees Pony's innocence.  He still isn't like the other greasers.

Johnny brought back a copy of Gone with the Wind for Pony, knowing he wanted to read it.  It shows his sensitive nature.  Pony shares a Robert Frost poem with him called “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” about how everything in nature starts out fresh and new, but then eventually withers.

Then leaf subsides to leaf

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay." (Ch. 5)

When Johnny dies, he tells Pony to “stay gold” because he wants him to understand that he sees him as the innocent in the poem, and he believes he can buck the trend.  Pony is smart.  He can stay in school, and make something of himself.  He does not need to follow all of the other greasers to a life of crime and jail.  Johnny feels responsible for what happened to Pony, and he is trying to make amends from his deathbed.

Although grieving for Johnny, Pony does get his act together.  He is able to escape the system of jail and get onto an educational track.  We see that in the English teacher who knows he has potential.  Pony is able to realize that Johnny's sacrifice meant something.  He is an inspiration to other Socs and greasers too.  In saving kids from the fire, he made them realize that the world is bigger than petty feuds.