Ponyboy Curtis
Quote 13
"You know what a Soc is? I said, my voice trembling with rage. "White trash with Mustangs and madras." And then, because I couldn't think of anything bad enough to call them, I spit at them. (4.16)
If Pony had chosen not to provoke the Socs with his words, could the tragedy have been avoided? It's hard to say. Likely, nothing Pony could have said would've stopped these guys. After all, they were already angry that Johnny and Pony were with Marcia and Cherry earlier that day.