Ponyboy has matured remarkably over these past chapters, and those around him make progress as well. His interaction with Randy, a Soc who is older than he is, paints Pony as the mature one. Note also that those characters who have had interaction with Ponyboy seem to have matured the most. When someone is struggling to understand life, the people around are often drawn into the analysis. Johnny, in particular, changed after spending five days with Pony. His sensitivity and appreciation for the world around him is markedly heightened.
Every family has their own traditions. Honoring these traditions is often done subconsciously. Traditions can give individuals a sense of security and belonging, and the same is true for the Curtis family. Ponyboy knew that the first one up in the morning was responsible for making breakfast. He feels a sense of responsibility to honor this tradition, and cooking breakfast provides him with the security of belonging. However, traditions are not always good. Steve Randle, Soda's best friend and fellow greaser, is experienced in painful traditions. About once a week, his father orders him to move out of the family home. Steve knew that the next day his father would give him five or six dollars to make up for throwing him out, but the cruelty of his father still hurt. The reader learns in this chapter that the murder victim, Bob, also did not have the best of family traditions. On the surface he appeared to have everything, but his parents allowed him to "run wild" all of the time; he was "spoiled rotten." Their tradition was to set no limits for Bob, and, unfortunately, Bob knew this. Bob also knew that his parents accepted the blame for everything that he did. Bob didn't necessarily want this parent/child relationship, in which he never faced responsibility, but he knew that parenting style was the tradition.
