Analysis Of S. E. Hinton's Poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'

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In this essay I will discuss how S.E. Hinton feels about innocence, and whether she agrees with William Blake’s poem: The Lily, or Robert Frost’s poem: Nothing Gold Can Stay. My thesis is; “S.E. Hinton feels that it is very easy to lose your innocence as you grow older.” My three topic sentences are; “With losing your innocence comes experience of the world around you”, “No can retain their innocence as they grow older”, and “The way that you are raised affects your innocence to different extents.” “With losing your innocence comes experience of the world around you”. This means that when you experience something bad, or when you lose your innocence you become more wary of your surroundings. You also become less trusting of people, even people…show more content…
S.E. Hinton agrees with Nothing Gold Can Stay because her book, The Outsiders, and Nothing Gold Can Stay both imply that innocence cannot be retained. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” means that no one can keep their innocence. In The Outsiders, all the characters lose their innocence in some way. Dally lost his innocence at the age of 10 when he killed a man, and Johnny lost his innocence at the age of 16 when he killed Bob Sheldon. “I killed him. I killed that boy”, Johnny Cade. Sometimes, people don’t even have to do something wrong to lose their innocence, they just have to witness something of wrongdoing to lose their innocence. Ponyboy just had to see Johnny kill Bob and that was enough to make him lose his innocence. People like Randy and Steve just resent and hate the world so much that that would cause them to lose their innocence as well. Someone could lose their innocence just by thinking bad thoughts. S.E. Hinton definitely does not agree with William Blake’s poem: The Lily because in The Lily, William Blake is saying that innocence cannot be abolished or destroyed. “Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright”, The Lily. In the poem, beauty bright means innocence. The only people that can retain their innocence are people that have serious mental disabilities like Alzheimer’s disease. They don’t register their actions and would feel no guilt in…show more content…
If you are raised with neglectful parents, you wouldn’t have a proper mentor to tell you what’s right and wrong, so that could cause you to do bad things and lose your innocence. Also, if you are raised with abusive and drunk parents, it could cause you to resent and hate them. An example of someone like that would be Johnny; he hates his parents so much that he refused his mother to let her see him in the hospital. “I've got a RIGHT to see him! He's my son! He'd rather see these no-good punks than his own mother? You scum…” Mrs. Cade. The reason for his low self-esteem and him losing his innocence by killing Bob is because he has to deal with lack of parental love. The extent of your loss of innocence also depends on the environment you are raised in. If you are raised in a high-end, safe, and wealthy neighborhood, with responsible parents, you are less likely to lose your innocence at a young age, and if you do it wouldn’t be as serious as committing or witnessing a murder. But, if you are raised in a poor and bad neighborhood, with little or no parental guidance, you could lose your innocence at a very young age and be exposed to acts of wrong-doing. An example of someone like that is Dallas Winston, he grew up on the harsh streets of New York, he’s witnessed muggings, murders, and at the age of 10, he’s

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