Darry is the oldest of the three Curtis brothers, and he takes responsibility for the family when their parents die. Pony’s conflicts with Darry usually revolve around the fact that he feels that Darry is too tough on him and does not really care about him. Pony is closer to his other brother Sodapop, the middle brother.
Pony says that Darry always works hard, and he is always “hard and firm and rarely grins at all.”
Soda tries to understand, at least, which is more than Darry does. But then, Soda is different from anybody; he understands everything, almost. Like he's never hollering at me all the time the way Darry is, or treating me as if I was six instead of fourteen. (Ch. 1)
Only twenty years old, Darry has to hold down a job and be a guardian to his two younger brothers. He is strict with Pony because he is desperate to keep him out of trouble. They are greasers, and live in a tough neighborhood. They are also constantly under threat by the Socs.
Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police. Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave. So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can, and we're careful not to get caught when we can't. (Ch. 1)
Things come to a head when Pony accidentally falls asleep in a vacant lot and comes home late. Darry is angry, they argue, and Darry hits Pony. Pony runs off, and that is the night when he gets into the fight with Randy and Bob in the park. The two Socs attack Johnny and Pony, and Johnny ends up killing Bob because he was trying to drown Pony in the fountain.
The relationship between Darry and Pony improves after he returns from the hospital. Darry is shaken by Pony's injuries, and Pony realizes that his brother really does care about him. He is tough on him because he cares.
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