Hero or criminal?

Dear Class,

A sign of a good book is when the characters are complex and hard to classify. Johnny certainly is a difficult character to label. We saw him doing a terrible thing on chapter five and now in chapter six he redeems himself. Based on our reading : Do you think Johnny is a hero?

Let me know!

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Dear Class,

What a book! I think the more we read the more involved we get into the characters and the plot. After the terrible events in chapter four we see Johnny and Ponny Boy taken refuge in an abandoned church. I think one of the most poignant moments of the book is when Ponny Boy reflecting on the past events recite the Robert Frost Poem "Nothing Gold can Stay".

I want to ask you the following: What do you thing is the meaning of this poem? Why do you think Ponny Boy said it? Let me know your thoughts.

Here is a copy of the poem.

"Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay."