4/27/22 - 6/23/22

Overview

Sodapop Patrick Curtis' character reminds me of myself in many ways, but he also reminds me of someone who takes everyone's problems without expecting anything in return. He worries about everyone. Every time he's shown in the book, you can feel the powerful emotions through his actions and words. He's a strong, handsome, mischievous character who pushes through most of his problems and doesn't let them stop him.

Sodapop is a greaser determined to live life the way he wants to. He lives with his two brothers, Ponyboy and Darrel. He's a dropout in high school and enjoys his life without it while working at the DX gas station. He's reckless and lives life with a smile no matter what happens. Even when life hits him dead in the chest, he tries to keep a smile and stays positive for everyone's sake.

When Ponyboy tells you about Sodapop, you find Sodapop is a reckless, sensitive boy who is thoughtful. He can be considerate and caring the next second but be defensive and angry the next moment. According to Ponyboy, "He gets drunk on just plain living," which I assume means that he's always starry and easy-headed like someone drunk. He works at the DX to help his brother Darrel pay the bills after their parents passed away.

When Ponyboy and Sodapop are in their bed, Sodapop tries to defend Darry, who had earlier scolded Ponyboy for going to the movies alone. Afterwards, Sodapop tells Ponyboy that he's planning to marry his girlfriend, Sandy, after getting a better job so he can continue to help Darry with the bills and she gets out of school. In Chapter 3, when Ponyboy gets home late at night, Darry yells at him and scolds him. Sodapop tries to defend Ponyboy, but Darrel yells at him. Ponyboy shouts back to support Sodapop, only to be slapped by Darry, and then Ponyboy runs away.

In chapter 5, Sodapop drops by Buck's to get something but finds Ponyboy's sweatshirt. Dallas lies to Soda, saying he didn't know where Ponyboy was, but Sodapop wasn't taking any of that. Soda gave Dally a letter and half his paycheck to give to Ponyboy. In the letter, Sodapop explains that he and Darry were scared and worried after all that happened. Darry isn't taking Ponyboy missing well, and Sodapop hopes that Ponyboy and Johnny could turn themselves in, but he knows they probably can't because Johnny might get hurt. Soda calls Ponyboy and Johnny famous because they have a paragraph in the papers and tells Ponyboy to say hi to Johnny for them.

After the church fire in Chapter 6, Sodapop and Darrel reunite with Ponyboy, and they're all together again. Sodapop hugged Ponyboy tightly, glad to see his little brother safe and sound after he had run away. The only thing that mattered to him was his brothers. After losing his parents, he could only look toward seeing his brothers, and he couldn't afford to lose them.

In Chapter 7, Sodaop says that after the greasers win the rumble, he and Steve are throwing a big party. Pony asks Soda if he'll take Sandy to the party, and Soda says Sandy moved to Florida. Steve yells at Ponyboy that there was only the choice of getting married to Sodapop or moving to Florida, and Sandy's parents would never let her marry Soda, who is 16 at the time.

In Chapter 12, at the end of the book, Sodapop comes home from work, but things are different that day. Pony recounts how events usually go when Soda gets home from work, but Soda goes to the bedroom and smokes a cigarette. Pony thinks something is wrong with Sodapop, so he asks if something is wrong, but Soda shakes his head. Pony notices other differences like Sodapop not speaking or eating even though he's usually a chatterbox and an endless pit.

After dinner, Ponyboy and Darrel get into an argument. Ponyboy yells, saying that there's no need to say he needs to do his schoolwork. Pony has to get a job when the school year is finished. Darry then mentions Johnny and Dallas, and Pony snaps saying that if Darrel didn't want him there, he should say it, he asks for support from Sodapop, but Sodapop runs out of the house.

Darry explains to Ponyboy that Sandy didn't love Sodapop the way he did her, but he still wanted to marry her, but Sandy left for Florida. Sodapop had written her a letter, but he had gotten it back unopened, meaning she never read it. Pony finally realizes that Soda listened to everyone's problems no matter what Sodapop was doing, but Ponyboy or Darrel never did the same because they didn't think Soda had many issues due to his upbeat attitude. Darrel then explains that Sandy left him during the week that Ponyboy was gone in Windriville and Sodapop cried every night for the entire week because he couldn't handle losing Pony and Sandy in the same week.

Once they catch up to Sodapop, he explains that he can't stand Ponyboy and Darrel fighting. Pony and Darry always try to drag him into the fighting to support their claims, and Sodapop feels like he's in a game of tug and war. He doesn't want to pick a side because he understands and sees from both perspectives.

Sodapop tells Ponyboy that he doesn't understand how much Darrel is giving up to try and give him the opportunity he lost once their parents died. He tells Ponyboy that he's happy working at the DX Gas Station, and he knows that Ponyboy wouldn't be optimistic about working at a job like that. Soda tells Darrel that he needs to stop being so strict on Ponyboy and stop yelling at him for every little thing he does because he reacts to things differently than Darry does.

Soda begs them to stop fighting because they're all they have left. He says that if they don't have each other, they'll end up like Dallas before he died, alone with nobody to be there for him. Darry tells Sodapop that he and Ponyboy won't fight anymore, and Ponyboy knows now that instead of him and Darrel tearing Soda apart, Soda will bring them together.

Relationships

Sodapop has a close relationship with his brother Ponyboy Curtis. He and Pony usually tell each other everything. He usually sticks up for Ponyboy whenever Darrel yells at him, but Soda also sticks up for Darrel, saying he's more stressed than most people his age because he's the head of the house. Sodapop knew he could never tell Darrel his plans for the future, especially since he wanted to marry Sandy after she got out of school.

Sodapop can't always calm down Darrel when he's yelling at Ponyboy. Darrel will sometimes snap at him for defending Ponyboy. He cried for nights because Sandy had left him the same week Ponyboy ran away. Sodapop needed his brother that week, and Soda couldn't handle two people being gone. When he saw the sweatshirt at Buck's, he begged Dallas to give Ponyboy a letter and half of his paycheck. When he saw Ponyboy, he felt a wave of relief. He finally knew that Ponyboy was safe and they won't be apart again.

When it comes to Darrel, he has a standard brotherly relationship with him. He understands that Darry is overwhelmed with caring for two younger brothers all by himself. He tries to get Darrel to understand that Ponyboy is still growing up, and he doesn't have to be so strict and angry at him all the time. Darry usually scolds him, too, for always taking Ponyboy's side on things. Soda knows Darry is taking a tough-love approach and still cares about him and Ponyboy.

Whenever Darrel and Ponyboy fight, Sodapop can't stand the fighting. They both try to make him take their side, but Soda sees it from both sides and can't pick one side. He tells his brothers they need to stop fighting because if they leave each other, they'll end up alone and with no one to count on, like Dallas before he died.

Steve Randle is Sodapop's best friend. They're always hanging around each other and are there for each other when needed. They work together at the DX Gas Station and are experts in mechanics. It was one of the only classes Sodapop passed in school. Through the book, you see how their friendship helps them overcome terrible times, and they always try to lift each other's spirits.

Connection

Sodapop's character hit me hard at the end of the book. At first, I wasn't all connected to him, but the ending made me real emotional about him. He's an orphan who works at a gas station to help Darrel make ends meet, and he tries his hardest to stay out of trouble for fear of being torn away from his family. He was in a committed relationship and was so in love that he planned to marry her once she got out of school.

He had to live in the world in the working lower middle class. Socs looked down at him, and Soda had to be careful of his surroundings for fear of being jumped. Soda has to worry about Ponyboy getting into nonsense and defends him against Darrel while trying to back up Darry's claims. He's the middle man of the house and tries to keep them all together.

In Chapter 7, Ponyboy reads a letter from Sodapop. Soda explains that Darrel is worried sick and doesn't know where Ponyboy is. They were all scared after ob was found dead in the park, and none of the gang believed that Johnny could do something like that. He begs Ponyboy to come home, but he knows they probably can't because Johnny would get hurt. I understand how it feels to have someone you love missing, and you don't know where they are. You feel lost, and all the anxiety keeps making up awful scenarios in your head.

In Chapter 12, Sodapop finally snapped after Ponyboy and Darrel got into another fight and ran out of the house. When Pony and Darry catch up to Soda, Sodapop finally tells them how he feels about everything. He states, "Sometimes...I just have to get out or...it's like I'm the middleman in a tug o' war and I'm being split in half".

This paragraph shook me, and it made me very emotional. I felt terrible and sympathetic because I know how it feels to be in that situation. When your family members fight and pull you into the middle of it, you get stressed out. You don't want to betray one person, but you agree with both on different arguments. It makes you feel small-headed, and you begin not wanting to say anything around them for fear of making things worse. Sometimes what you say makes the fighting worse, which doesn't help, especially when you're already going through a lot.

Sodapop went through a breakup, then a terrible scare from Ponyboy running away. He must not be in a great mindset and close to breaking. That fight was the last thing he could take, and he snapped. Personally, that hit worse since I had just gone through a breakup, and the fighting of being a middle man didn't help. Of course, I couldn't just run out of the house because I probably would've been yelled at more. Sometimes, I wish I could run out of the house because I can't handle it anymore.

Sodapop is part of that best friend duo in the friend group. The optimistic one who has some situation, but is always positive. They're usually one of the older kids in the group who try to make things okay for the younger ones. Most people wish they were their older sibling or a family member. Usually, the Sodas in the group are more connected to some people than others. In Sodapop's case, it's Ponyboy, Darrel, and Steve.

In the span of a week, Sodapop's life showed him the true cruelty of the world. He only knew cruelty from the Socs constantly jumping him and the others, but now he has to deal with some people being cut out of his life forever. Of course, Soda knows how it feels to lose someone important because his parents died. He found someone he could keep around, and she left him too.

Yes, I take the role of both Dallas and Johnny in my group, though, in my home, I'm a Sodapop. I'm such a strong yet shy individual. I defend my friends and the ones closest to me while defending the attacker's actions in the situation. It's hard because sometimes they won't agree with you and don't listen to any reasoning on why someone did something.

When you're Sodapop, everyone thinks you understand everything they're saying and will always be with them without having to give something back in return. You want somebody to listen to you and understand you though nobody thinks about that and ignores you half the time. You could vent out your feelings thinking that somebody is listening, but nobody is listening to you.

You're a firm but sensitive individual who won't take anything from anyone. A middle ground between the debate, but being indecisive about whom you support because you can't decide which is better to choose. The most important thing for you is to make sure it benefits the people closest to you and stick with whom you have left.

Conclusion

Sodapop Patrick Curtis is a character whose sensitive, thoughtful, defensive, and has an optimistic worldview. Throughout his life, Soda was always there for everyone and was a happy-go-lucky person. When the world starts to close around him in his relationships, he begins to crack because he can't afford to lose anyone. He's a strong boy who lives in a cold world that tries to do nothing but destroy him.

He's a 16-year-old whose life has been hard work to stay together with his family. He had to drop out of high school to help support his family and had significant parts of his life taken away. Sodapop has to live through this while knowing he lost his lover, two friends, and nearly his brother in the same week. Even though it was out of his control, it would change nothing. After everything he's been through in one week, he realized that his relationships are the most significant thing in his life. He could keep his cool and stay calm as long as he had his family.