Before we can look at if it is possible to stay gold, we must first decide what it is to stay gold. Is staying gold the same as staying young?... Is it just another way to say that someone is a great person, and that they should stay that way? Or does it mean something entirely different?
According to Johnny Cade, staying gold means to stay pure, innocent, uncorrupted and unblemished. In this particular instance Johnny means for Ponyboy to be true to himself and his believes, and to stay innocent in the way that he hasn’t yet hurt or killed anyone, and to keep digging the sunsets like he does.
Even though Ponyboy has been through a lot, for a 14-year-old, he still manages to stay gold through his innocent, childlike view of the world, and his childish actions. Both Johnny and Ponyboy are “innocent” until the moment they get jumped and Johnny is forced to become impure. That is the point from which Johnny is no longer pure and uncorrupted. He has hurt, and he has killed to protect himself and Ponyboy.
A lot of people interpret Robert Frosts poem as spring being a child, and that being innocent, like a child, is what it means to stay gold. If this is what we define as staying gold, then Johnny asks Ponyboy to do the impossible. To stay a child. To be innocent all his life, and to not hurt anyone.
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