Darry is the hard-working oldest brother of the Curtis
family, forced to accept the responsibility as head of the household after his parents
are killed in an automobile accident. Darry is forced to put aside his dreams of playing
college football to take care of Soda and Pony, and he works two jobs in order to
support them. He is particularly hard on Pony, since he sees a bit of himself in his
younger brother. He knows that Pony has a chance to succeed in school, go to college,
and get out of the dead-end world of the greasers. Darry acts out of love, although Pony
rarely understands this. Darry treats Soda differently, partly because he is older, but
also because he realizes the happy-go-lucky Soda will not be able to succeed in the way
Pony may.
According to Pony, Darry's "hard and firm and
rarely grins at all... (he's) grown up too fast." He "works too long and hard to be
interested in a story or drawing a picture." When Pony doesn't "use my head... It drives
my brother Darry nuts." But there is no doubt that Darry loves and cares about Ponyboy.
When Darry and Soda come to the hospital following the fire at the church, Pony saw
the
...
tall, broad-shouldered Darry... his eyes were pleading... Suddenly, I realized that
Darry was crying. He didn't make a sound, but tears were running down his cheeks. I
hadn't seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had
been killed...
That was his silent fear then--of losing another person he
loved... and I wondered how I could have ever thought him hard and
unfeeling.
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