Ponyboy's character grows as his perspective changes, and he realizes the many similarities that he and Cherry share. Cherry asks whether he watches sunsets, and Ponyboy answers that he does. She admits that she enjoys watching them, but that she hasn't had much time for it lately. A sunset, which they both can watch from their respective homes, represents their outlooks on life.
To Cherry, a sunset is the fading of daylight, when the sun drops below the horizon. It takes away a day and signals the beginning of another, a fresh start. Cherry has, at this point, apparently given up and accepted the rat race: "We're always going and going and going, and never asking where." She also accepts that she is a Soc ". . . if I see you in the hall at school or someplace and don't say hi, well, it's not personal or anything."
To Pony the sunset signals that everyone now is in the dark, one cannot escape the sunset no matter how rich or poor they may be. It is the great equalizer, and it gives everyone a second chance. Ponyboy realizes that "maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset."
Ponyboy and his gang are not the only outsiders; Cherry is an outsider as well. She feels trapped in her world and from her perspective can only see Ponyboy and his friends as unattainable, a realization that saddens her. Her comments about Dally justify her irrational admiration for him: "I could fall in love with Dallas Winston . . . I hope I never see him again, or I will."
