Who is Mickey Mouse and what is his significance to Sodapop in The Outsiders?
Mickey Mouse is a horse. Sodapop really loves him, but since he is poor he does not have the money to keep him.
Ponyboy says the topic of Soda’s horse is “personal” but he tells Cherry anyway. Soda used to work at the horse stables when Ponyboy was ten. He was “horse crazy.” Mickey Mouse is a horse that Soda seems to develop a strong bond with, but the horse wasn’t his.
He'd come when Soda called him. He wouldn't come for anyone else. That horse loved Soda. He'd stand there and chew on Soda's sleeve or collar. Gosh, but Sodapop was crazy about that horse. He went down to see him every day. (ch 3, p. 39)
However, one day the horse was just sold. He was a really valuable horse, “pure quarter” and also mean. Soda had “had bawled all night long after they came to get Mickey...
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Mouse” but Ponyboy did not tell Cherry this.
The story of Mickey Mouse is a good example of how Soda’s social class affected his life. He wanted a horse from working at the stables, and the horse loved him as much as he loved it. However, since he was poor the rich man who owned the horse could sell him for any reason, and Soda lost his horse.
By sharing this story with Cherry, a Soc, Pony is describing the life of a Greaser.
In The Outsiders, where is the horse Mickey Mouse mentioned?
When Ponyboy meets Cherry and Marcia at the movies theater, he and Cherry form a quick friendship. This is unusual, as they are from extremely different backgrounds, but that is one of the points the author makes about their relationship. After the movie, Two-Bit and Ponyboy offer to walk the girls to Two-Bit’s car to drive them home because it is late.
During the walk, Ponyboy talks about Mickey Mouse. He and Cherry are walking alongside one another, while the other two are engaged in their own discussion. Ponyboy makes a mental comparison of Cherry to his favorite brother Soda, thinking that up until this point, only Soda could draw him out in conversation, but Cherry seems to be able to, as well. She knows who Soda is and says that she has seen him around the rodeos. Soda loves horses and the rodeos and that sparks the discussion of the horse Mickey Mouse.
Ponyboy tells her that Soda “had this buckskin horse” that was not really his. It belonged to someone else, but Soda took care of it. Ponyboy says that even though Soda did not actually own the horse, “Mickey Mouse was Soda's horse” nevertheless because Soda and Mickey had formed a strong bond.
In fact, on the very first day that Soda saw Mickey Mouse, he said, "There's my horse." Ponyboy goes on to say that Sodapop is “horse crazy” and
“always hanging around stables and rodeos, hopping on a horse every time he gets a chance.”
At one point, Ponyboy even thought that Mickey Mouse and Soda looked alike. Mickey Mouse is described as an ornery horse, but he used to come when Soda called him even though he would not come for anyone else. To Ponyboy, this is a clear sign that Mickey Mouse loved Soda. Finally, Ponyboy says about Mickey Mouse,
“He may have belonged to another guy, but he was Soda's horse.”
What is the name of Sodapop's horse in The Outsiders?
In Chapter 3, Ponyboy tells Cherry about Sodapop's horse, Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse was a mean, dark-gold buckskin horse who was very valuable. He mentions that Mickey Mouse didn't actually belong to Soda, but belonged to a guy who kept him at the stables where Sodapop worked. Pony says, "He may have belonged to another guy, but he was Soda's horse" (Hinton 35). Ponyboy continues to tell Cherry about Sodapop's infatuation with Mickey Mouse and mentions that Soda was "horsecrazy." Pony even says that he thought Sodapop and Mickey Mouse looked alike and mentions that even though Mickey Mouse was ornery, he would come when Sodapop called him. Pony tells Cherry that Soda would visit the horse every day until Mickey Mouse was eventually sold at a high price. However, Ponyboy chooses not to tell Cherry that Sodapop bawled all night after Mickey Mouse was sold and that Soda didn't tell his parents about his feelings because he knew they did not have enough money to buy Mickey Mouse.
Sodapop Patrick Curtis named his horse Mickey Mouse. See the links below for more information, especially the marsonfire.livejournal.com page. It is a journal dedicated to everything to do with The Outsiders. It has all sorts of information about each character and the actors who performed in the movie. It is a very interesting site.