Last Words In The Outsiders, By S. E. Hinton

Over the years, billions of people have died. With that has come various last words, some ordinary such as "I love you", and some random and plain out dumb such as "I did not get my Spaghetti-Os". When Johnny Cade laid out, in agony and distress on his death bed, he muttered the last words "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold..." (page 157). If one who hasn't read the novel "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, they can assume these last words mean nothing, or that Johnny was delirious. However, when you think about and interpret these words, they have a very deep meaning. When Johnny says these words, he is referencing a Robert Frost poem named "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
A description of the sunset is given on page 85, when the text states "All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thick golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold. There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful." After this, Ponyboy is struck by the memory of this poem, and recites and shares it with Johnny. So, when Johnny tells Ponyboy to "stay gold", he is referencing this poem's central idea- that noting gold will stay, so make the most of it while you can. This gold is referring to is life and kindness, so when Johnny tells Ponyboy to stay gold, he is telling him to life life to the fullest and continue to be himself, because things like life only stay for so long. Johnny did not share this with Dally as it was a reference only Ponyboy could understand. Dally wasn't up on Jay Mountain with them, and didn't see the sunset. More importantly, he didn't even know the poem. So, if this was also shared with Dally, Dally wouldn't really understand and it would make it less meaningful. One day, all of us