The zebra storyteller

I must say that I never really appreciated reading The Outsiders in high school as I did reading it again this time around. Ponyboy's narrative is such and up and down read that its exactly as if i were speaking to my younger bother except for the gang fights and people dying. Ponyboy’s understanding of the way social groups function and the way each of the group members play such a huge role are way beyond that of a 14 year old. The distorting effects of hatred and rivalry make the reading less then objective. Its a clear cut read that tries to bride a gap between rich and poor, the honored and the treacherousness, all the while having a child grow up before his time and making sense of the senseless.
The author has a constant motifs playing throughout the book. From the beginning Ponyboy compares himself to Pip from a Dickens novel, then again refers to a Frost poem “Nothing Gold can Stay. I think referencing to this identity of confusion and trying to make sense of a world that often times presents itself in to simplistic of a way. The story divides two gangs apart just by social class but the way Ponyboy see’s it everyone has the same struggles at the end of the day.
Also keeping with motif, the author empathizes on the details of character eyes. Ice blue being heartless and invulnerable while another guys eyes were black as if blocked from feelings and always on the ready.
I cant help but relate this book to the West Side Story. It was a movie that came out some time The outsiders but they both touch on that coming of age story between two gangs trying ot prove themselves. One touched on love yes, but isn't that in some way what Ponyboy was doing with his brothers. He never really thought that Darry loved him and the only person he thought really loved him was Soda. Westside Story also touches on a need to find love and the differences between social classes.
All three of the brothers stories play out through Ponyboys eyes. Soda’s love leaving him