Compare and contrast Ponyboy and Sodapop in The Outsiders.

Ponyboy is a thinker and more introverted, while Sodapop is less pondering and perpetually optimistic; Sodapop seems to get along with everyone. Both boys are athletic and intelligent (as is their older brother, Darry), but Soda drops out of high school to work at a gas station so that Pony will be able to go to college. This sometimes demeans him in the eyes of others, a fact that gnaws at Ponyboy. "'Dropout' made me think of some poor dumb-looking hoodlum wandering the streets breaking out lights—it didn't fit my happy-go-lucky brother at all," Pony muses.

Pony and Soda are brothers and confidants. Pony sees Soda as a firewall against Darry, whom Pony thinks resents him for having to go to work and care for his younger brothers after the sudden death of their parents. Soda understands that Darry truly loves Pony, and he walks a tightrope between his two brothers, often hiding his true thoughts beneath a laid-back facade. His frustration finally spills out during a particularly vicious argument between Darry and Pony: "I mean I can't take sides. It'd be a lot easier if I could. I see both sides," he says. Soda goes on to reveal another key difference between him and Pony: "I can't stand to hear y'all fight . . . It's like a middleman in a tug o' war and I'm being split in half . . . We're all we've got left. We ought to be able to stick together against anything. If we don't have each other, we don't have anything."

Soda, like Darry, values family and thinks of the three brothers as a family unit. Pony, through his resentment of Darry, does not share that sentiment to same degree. He sees himself perhaps as apart from his brothers, since he is on track for college and does not understand that Darry is tough on him out of love. Once Pony understands this, it bonds the three brothers closer than ever.

Describe Ponyboy's relationship with Sodapop in The Outsiders.

Unlike his relationship with his oldest brother Darry, Ponyboy is very close with his other brother, Sodapop. Soda is Pony's happy-go-lucky older brother who works at the local gas station. Ponyboy gets along with Soda because Soda is very supportive of him. Soda acts as the mediator between Ponyboy and Darry when the two boys begin to argue. There are several scenes throughout the novel that depict Soda defending Ponyboy in front of Darry. Pony also mentions that Soda understands him and says that he loves Soda more than anyone in the world. Despite Soda's easy-going, supportive personality, Ponyboy is ashamed of the fact that Soda dropped out of school. Pony comments that Soda's reputation as a "dropout" doesn't fit with his fun-loving personality. Although Soda seems to understand Pony's struggles, Pony fails to realize that Soda has personal issues as well. At the end of the novel, Soda is heartbroken over his ex-girlfriend and runs out of the house in the middle of another argument between Pony and Darry. Darry explains Soda's situation to Pony and Ponyboy finally realizes that he needs to attempt to understand Soda the way Soda understands him.