Winston for help and he directs them to an abandoned church in the country. While hiding out, the boys demonstrate friendship, practicality, imagination, and great anxiety.

Ponyboy

• Understanding and love - As he sits in the church, Ponyboy realizes that his brother Darry was harsh with him only because of his anxiety about him. 
• Homesick, he thinks often of his brothers Sodapop and Darry.
• Proud of his long, handsome hair, Ponyboy is miserable after having to cut and dye it.
• He is creative and imaginative: "I like my books and clouds and sunsets."
• By having Johnny read Gone with the Wind with him, Pony opens Johnny's mind to the beauty in life.
• He appreciates the beauty of nature; he watches the sun rise. "It was beautiful."
• Poetic and sensitive, Pony recites Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Will Stay."
• Later, when Dally visits them, Ponyboy cannot tell Dally that he hates to shoot things when he mentions that his father took him hunting.
• He is a hero along with Johnny as they rescue children from the burning church.

Johnny

• He is a good friend to Ponyboy, apologizing for having to cut his hair, and he encourages him not to worry: "It will grow back... It's only hair."
• He suffers from great anxiety for the murder of Bob. "I'm just a little bit spooky, I really don't know what's the matter. I'm just mixed up."
• He, too, is homesick.
• He is practical-minded and does not worry about smaller things like their haircuts, a fact that does not matter in this crisis.
• He is perceptive. After he begins to read Gone with the Wind, Johnny analyzes the attributes of the Southern gentleman admiringly.
• He displays his admiration for Dally, comparing him to a Southern gentleman.
• He is frightened about what will happen to him since he has committed murder.
• Through his reading and his conversations with Ponyboy, Johnny becomes more perceptive and appreciates nature for the first time. "I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before."
• He is a good fighter and can "play it cool," but he is really sensitive. "That isn't a good way to be when you're a greaser," Ponyboy observes.
• He wants everyone to get along. "He hated for any one of us to be mad at him," comments Ponyboy.
• He is very emotional.
• Johnny thinks of other people before considering himself. When the church catches fire, he heroically rescues children and suffers such injuries and burns that he dies.

Similarities:

• Social status: Johnny and Ponyboy are both Greasers and live on the East Side.
• Shared experiences in the novel: Both boys befriend the Soc girls, Marcia and Cherry and get targeted by Bob and his friends in the park.  This leads them to run away together to the old church on Jay Mountain in Windrixville.
• Both boys show themselves to be more quiet and thoughtful, like when they discuss sunsets and the Robert Frost poem at the church.
• Age: Both boys are the younger members of the gang. 
• Bullied: Both boys have been jumped by the Socs.  Johnny's beating by the Socs ended much more seriously than Ponyboy's, because the other members of the gang showed up in time to chase away the Socs from Ponyboy.

Differences:

• Home life:  Johnny has a much worse situation than Ponyboy.  Johnny's dad is abusive and drunk and his mother, neglectful.  Ponyboy's parents may be dead, but he has two older brothers who care about him very much.
• Plot:  Johnny dies from his injuries sustained in the church fire, while Ponyboy escapes relatively unscathed.
• Personality: Johnny is much more withdrawn and nervous than Ponyboy. 
• Intelligence: Ponyboy is bright and takes advanced classes at the high school, while Johnny struggles through his basic classes.  Despite his lack of school performance, however, Johnny impresses Ponyboy with his insight as they read Gone with the Wind together:

"Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could--I was supposed to be the deep one" (75).

Ponyboy is the narrator in S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders and he describes how the characters relate to one another as members of the "Greasers," a gang from "the east side" of town quite unlike the "Socs," a rival gang whose members are privileged and wealthy; "the west side rich kids." Ponyboy lives with his two brothers, the eldest of whom, Darryl, or Darry for short, takes care of him although he is only twenty himself. 

Ponyboy is aware of his own shortcomings and in chapter 1, he talks about how everyone says he is "smart. I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything." Ponyboy loves to read and his friend Johnny recognizes qualities in Ponyboy that gang life could spoil and so Johnny, just before he tragically dies, reminds Ponyboy to "stay gold;" hoping that Ponyboy does not become cynical and jaded like the other gang members. This makes Ponyboy very different from Dallas Winston- Dally. 

Dally is "the real character of the gang," and when Ponyboy describes him, he (Ponyboy) recognizes a "hatred of the whole world" in Dally's eyes. Dally is much wilder than the other boys. He is worldly-wise  and very tough and his only competition is the Socs' gang but because they have all the luck, Dally is "bitter." Ponyboy admits that he does not really like Dally but he certainly respects him. He thinks that Dally makes trouble for himself, not liking to do things "the legal way" (chapter 2) and deserves what he gets but later, it is Dally who will help Ponyboy and Johnny when they are in trouble and although Dally is "so real he scared me" (ch 5), because Ponyboy has not had the experiences that Dally has, Ponyboy will recognize other qualities in Dally such as his loyalty and reliability which he would have previously overlooked. The boys are very different in their outlook and education, and they appreciate different things. They also deal with problems very differently. Ponyboy tries to run away from his but Dally is always confrontational and it is this that will ultimately claim his life. 

Throughout the novel, Ponyboy is portrayed as a more confident individual than Johnny. Ponyboy knows his strengths which are in the fields of academics and athletics, while Johnny doesn't have any overt accomplishments or talents that are mentioned. However, Johnny has the unique ability to understand individuals on an emotional level, and has an intrinsic capacity to sympathize with the gang members in a way that Ponyboy cannot. He is a great listener and seems have a more developed perspective than Ponyboy does for the majority of the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Ponyboy fails to understand Darry's situation, Soda's feelings, and Dally's personality. Ponyboy is self-centered and would rather express his opinions, rather than ask about other's feelings. In this sense, Johnny is depicted as a more understanding and selfless character because he seeks to understand the people around him, rather than judging them the way Ponyboy does. While they are reading the novel Gone With the Wind, Ponyboy mentions that Johnny could get more meaning out of the novel than he could. Ponyboy's comment reflects Johnny's developed introspective personality. Although Ponyboy does better in school, it is Johnny who has the ability to grasp abstract concepts and understand the deeper meaning of the text.

Other than their backgrounds, there are a few differences between the two characters.  Ponyboy is definitely a stronger character in terms of the mental anguish that he is able to deal with.  Pony is constantly fighting with his brother; however, it does not affect him the way that Johnny’s relationship with his parents affects him.  This could have to do with the difference in the two relationships but it is a character difference as well – the end of the novel does a great job of showing Ponyboy’s strength.  Johnny is also always nervous while Ponyboy seems to be able to handle situations with ease most of the time.  Finally, Johnny makes rash and impetuous decisions while Ponyboy always seems to think things through before he acts on anything.