Comparing and Contrasting Jonathan and Ponyboy

Authors Note: this essay was written to explain the similarities and differences between the character ponyboy from the outsiders and Jonathan from the fighting ground.

Have you ever thought about that fact that people almost two thousand years could be alike? This essay was written to compare and contrast a greaser ponyboy from the 1950s and Jonathan one of the rebels from the revolutionary war in 1776.

             In the first place one of the biggest things to compare is that they have both lost somebody closer to them. Pony lost a lot more people that he was close to than Jonathan. Death is something that could bring you together or tear you apart in pony’s case it tore him apart because he lost his parents and Johnny which were like family but he also lost dally who he was somewhat close to but not nearly as close to him as his parents. Jonathan had only lost somebody not too close to him which was his dad’s friend. The man watched his back but didn’t really talk to him whom I partially think he did that because he knew his father wouldn’t have wanted him to join but he did.

            Second they also had a couple other bigger similarities but not as big as losing someone close. I honestly think there second biggest similarity is that they both experienced the loss of innocence. Jonathan started by going against his father’s word and joining the military and next he thought about killing the Germans in their sleep. One of the other big ways he lost was by waking up the Germans and telling them American soldiers were there. Ponyboy lost it by being in the scene when bob was killed although he didn’t do much, in ways he was an accomplice. The smallest similarity is that they both always had somebody watching their back. For pony it was his gang of greasers. For Jonathan it was the rebels who he was fighting with.

            Although they have such major similarities they also haves some big differences. One of the most obvious but biggest one was Jonathan lives in 1776 and pony lives in the 1950’s. With that huge times difference there is also a difference in lifestyle. Like the way they dressed and the fact that the greasers had cars and the rebels had to walk. Another thing that really does separate them is that Jonathan had a normal family life with parents and all. But pony had a way different family life because his parents died in a car accident so all he has is his brothers which all take care of each other. Although they both have someone watching their back Jonathan has basically an army where pony just has a group of greasers who are kind of the outcasts.  Another small difference but important role in these stories is that the soc’s pony’s enemy would beat them up whenever they got the chance but jonathans enemy treated Jonathan very well when they captured him leading him to think he was on their side.           

            Although Jonathan and pony had their differences there were enough similarities to bring them together which almost makes me think that if they ever met each other they probably would be friends.