Stage Of Grief In Hinton's The Outsiders

Ponyboy deals with Johnny passing away through denial. During the denial stage of grief the person dealing with the grief will “deny the reality of the situation” (Axelrod 1). This stage of grief happens to Ponyboy in The Outsiders he tried telling himself that “Johnny is not dead . . . and I believed it too” (Hinton 151). When Ponyboy says he believes it too it means that he really can’t say that Johnny is dead, this is denial. This stage of grief is not going to hurt Ponyboy but it will make him become angry when people talk about Johnny in past tense because he is dead and since Ponyboy can’t admit that Johnny is dead this could possibly hurt him in the future. In conclusion, Ponyboy is going through the denial stage of grief because he