The Interpretation and Significance of “Stay Gold” As Johnny’s crippled body lay still, like a dead, lifeless body, his mouth was the only thing moving. Fighting was useless and solves nothing, he would say. Mere moments from death, Johnny Cade breathed his last words to Ponyboy telling him to, “Stay gold. Stay gold.” This quote is reference from a Robert Frost poem and its meaning gives depth to The Outsiders. One interpretation of the quote “Stay Gold” is to stay innocent or be pristine. Johnny tells Ponyboy to “Stay Gold” because Pony is different from the Greasers because (from Johnny’s letter in Chapter 12) of the way Pony “digs sunsets”. Greasers don’t really enjoy sunsets, like Dally, which sets Pony apart from the other hoodlums.
