In The Outsiders, why does Ponyboy remind Cherry about watching the same sunsets?

Ponyboy says that sunset line to Cherry in chapter 3.  Cherry is about to leave with a group of Soc boys in order to prevent a fight from breaking out in front of her. Just as she turns to leave, Ponyboy says,

"Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too."

His comment is meant remind Cherry that Socs and Greasers aren't so different from each other. Taking this quote out of context as just a single line, though, does the quote a disservice. The sunset concept is not first introduced to readers by Ponyboy at this point in the story. About five pages earlier, Cherry intuited that Ponyboy watched sunsets, and she admitted to watching them as well.

"I could just tell. I'll bet you watch sunsets, too." She was quiet for a minute after I nodded. "I used to watch them, too, before I got so busy . . ."

Cherry admitted this similarity to Ponyboy, and it struck him as unique and important. It's another instance when Cherry forces Ponyboy to consider the idea that Socs and Greasers are more alike than different. They both have struggles, and they both have similar loves.

I shook my head. It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.

This is part of what makes Cherry such a great character. She is capable of getting Ponyboy to see a bigger picture, and she first begins doing this following the flashback story in chapter 2. She tells Ponyboy that stereotyping all Socs and Greasers is not fair. More importantly, she tells Ponyboy to consider the fact that the Socs don't have it as good as it initially appears.

"I'll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. We have troubles you've never even heard of. You want to know something?" She looked me straight in the eye. "Things are rough all over."

"I believe you," I said.

In The Outsiders, why does Ponyboy remind Cherry about watching the same sunsets?

Ponyboys wants to tell Cherry that they're not so different.  He may live on "the wrong side of the tracks" and she may be a rich Soc, but they're both teenagers who see the same sunset.  They live in the same town and are separated by social class, but Ponyboys wants her to know that that in itself doesn't make them totally different. 

On the way home from the movies at the Nightly Double, Pony and Cherry talk a lot and reveal things about themselves that they probably never would have imagined telling a "Soc" or a "greaser" in another situation.  They realized how much they had in common, but as soon as Bob pulled up, things had to go back to the way they'd been before.

Later in the book, Pony reminds Cherry that they both see the same sunset. 

In The Outsiders, why does Ponyboy remind Cherry about watching the same sunsets?

The ability to see and marvel at the beauty in sunsets is shown to be a symbol of humanity and the capacity to live a life that is not defined by the narrow segregation of Socs and Greasers that seems to split so many young people from each other. When Cherry and Ponyboy have their conversation about sunsets, what it represents and demonstrates is that Cherry, just like Ponyboy, is human too, and they have the same joys and pleasures. The sunset motif is used throughout the novel at various stages to represent this shared humanity. Note, for example, how when Randy meets with Ponyboy before the rumble to tell him that he is not going to participate in the fight, how Ponyboy sees him as less of a Soc and more of a fellow human, as the following quote explores:

Cherry had said her friends were too cool to feel anything, and yet she could remember watching sunsets. Randy was supposed to be too cool to feel anything, and yet there was pain in his eyes.

The mention of sunsets probes the difference between appearances and reality as these young people invest so much time and energy in presenting themselves as being so hard and "too cool to feel anything," whereas actually in reality they are just the same, whether they are Socs or Greasers. The capacity to feel and be human in all its fullness is therefore symbolised in the ability to watch sunsets and enjoy them. This is why Johnny writes in his last letter that Ponyboy should tell Dally to "look at" a sunset.  

Why were sunsets significant to Ponyboy and Johnny in The Outsiders?

Sunsets symbolically represent the goodness, hope, and innocence that remain in the world and is something that both Pony and Johnny understand and appreciate. Pony and Johnny are depicted as sensitive, compassionate boys, who both enjoy and appreciate the natural environment. Pony references sunsets early in the novel during a conversation with Cherry Valance. Both characters are relatively innocent individuals, who connect over their love for watching beautiful sunsets. Later on, Johnny and Pony skip town and hide out in an abandoned church in Windrixville, where they share their love for nature by watching the sunrise. Pony and Johnny bond over their appreciation for nature and Pony recites a famous Robert Frost poem that explores the transience of the natural world and life in general. Towards the end of the novel, Pony discovers a letter that Johnny wrote before his death, where he encourages him to stay gold and tell Dally to look at sunsets. Johnny's descriptive words regarding sunsets underscore the symbolic significance of sunsets, which represent the goodness, innocence, and hope that remains in the world.

What does Pony mean when he tells Cherry "some of us watch sunsets too" in The Outsiders?

Earlier in their conversation, Cherry and Ponyboy both discover that they are extremely like-minded and share the commonality of enjoying sunsets.  Despite all of this, Cherry confesses at the end of their conversation that she probably will not be able to acknowledge their new friendship in the halls at school because of their socio-economic differences. 

Ponyboy validates Cherry's concern, not wanting to cause any more difficulty for her socially, but his final statement of "Just don't forget some of us watch sunsets too" reminds Cherry that greasers are not all that different from the Socs; rich or poor, both can see the sun set from their side of town.  Even though they may not be able to be openly friendly at school, Ponyboy and Cherry can remain friends through their shared love of sunsets.

In The Outsiders, what symbolic meaning might Pony and Johnny's inability to watch the sunset at the church have?

Sunsets are extremely important throughout The Outsiders as a representation of unity as well as innocence. Ponyboy often uses sunsets as a reference point for the idea that Greasers and Socs are the same, as they both experience the same sunset.

Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.

Another representation goes back to when Ponyboy quotes the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. Many believe the poem to represent innocence that is lost with the passage of time. Johnny makes the parallel between the two in his final letter, stating,

He meant your gold when you’re a kid, like green. 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.

There are two possible interpretations as to why Pony and Johnny can only see the light across the fields rather than the entire sunset. When Pony and Johnny are hiding at the church, they are trying to separate themselves from the outside world. Not being able to see the sunset breaks the unity they have with everyone else—setting themselves apart as well as hiding them. Secondly, it represents a loss of innocence. After killing Bob, Johnny has lost that part of himself in the same way that Eden sinks to grief, having lost its gold, in Frost's poem. This could also be a bit a foreshadowing of Johnny’s fate at the end of the book.

In The Outsiders, what symbolic meaning might Pony and Johnny's inability to watch the sunset at the church have?

While walking home after the movie, Ponyboy admits to Cherry that he likes to watch sunsets. He says:

It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.

After this realization, Ponyboy starts to think that maybe Greasers aren't such outsiders at all. They are separate but still equal. Not being able to see the sunset from the church can be symbolic of the boys being outcasts.

Did Cherry's assistance to Ponyboy relate to sunsets in The Outsiders?

Ponyboy likes Cherry, and feels that they have a true connection, but also feels separate from her because of their social class difference, and the fact that there is an ongoing rivalry in their school between Greasers and Socs. Since the novel is written in the first person, we learn that he thinks she must see the same sunset he does every night. In the film version made by Francis Ford Coppola, the scene is played out with dialogue between the two characters. Ponyboy asks her if she can see the sunset from the side of town where she lives, and she says yes, pretty good. He says he can see it from his house too. She smiles and realizes he is saying that nothing really separates them after all, that it would be possible for them to be friends. Later in the film, Ponyboy is angry when he thinks Cherry is behaving charitably towards him out of pity. She says she wasn't trying to give him charity; that she likes him, and thinks fondly of him when remembering how they talked.

Sunsets are also a theme in the novel of things that connect everyone regardless of imagined or artificial differences like class. Sunsets occur every day, moving time forward predictably; they are a constant in a world where many people think that change is within their grasp. In this way sunsets can be seen both as a symbol of hope and change, but also of sameness and repetition, a reminder that nothing ever changes. Ponyboy looks at the sunset and thinks of "hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better."