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What is the significance of the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" in The Outsiders?

In "Nothing Gold Can Stay," Frost suggests that while gold is the most precious of materials, it is so valuable that it cannot "stay," or remain in its pure form because it is subject to theft, alteration, and even damage. Frost's poem relates to Johnny because the gang tries to keep him "pure" and out of trouble, but he becomes caught in conflict and danger.


In Frost's poem, the controlling idea is that purity, beauty, and...

In "Nothing Gold Can Stay," Frost suggests that while gold is the most precious of materials, it is so valuable that it cannot "stay," or remain in its pure form because it is subject to theft, alteration, and even damage. Frost's poem relates to Johnny because the gang tries to keep him "pure" and out of trouble, but he becomes caught in conflict and danger.


In Frost's poem, the controlling idea is that purity, beauty, and innocence cannot endure. "So Eden sank to grief," Frost writes. That is, the evil that exists in the world alters the purity of innocence whenever it makes contact with such goodness. With this realization of life's threats to the pure and innocent, the boys drive to the hospital to visit Johnny, discussing how they should have let Johnny become more hardened to the world and not kept him so untouched. As they near the hospital, Dally tells Ponyboy,



"I was crazy, you know that, kid? Crazy for wantin' Johnny to stay outa trouble, for not wantin' him to get hard. If he'd been like me he'd never have been in this mess. If he'd got smart like me he'd never have run into that church." 



Further, the boys have tried to keep Johnny outside their conflicts and bad behavior because he has been their treasure, someone to protect. Johnny has provided the gang what they have felt is a worthy sense of purpose, a purpose more valuable than their poverty and social disadvantages.
Sadly, Ponyboy only realizes this as Johnny dies--nothing gold can stay.

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