Similarities between Greg Heffley and Pony-Boy Curtis

By:Aaron Vukelic

Pony-Boy and Greg Heffley are two very different people. Pony-Boy comes from a place where poverty and crime are common in daily life. Greg Heffley comes from an ideal family with caring parents who love him dearly. Even though they are two different people they do share some similarities. One of their similarities is that they are both “Dreamers”. Greg Heffley wants to be the most popular kid in his school and Pony-Boy really wants to have an ideal family.


Pony-Boy and Greg are very similar in the way that they both get bullied. Pony-Boy is bullied by the “Socs”. The “Socs” are always looking for “Greasers” to jump. Pony-Boy is jumped a couple of times throughout the book . The “Socs” are bullies for Pony-Boy because they are a gang that rides around in Mustang’s and “Tuff” cars and find the “Greasers”. Usually by themselves” and usually the “Greasers” loses because they are heavily outnumbered. Greg Heffley is bullied by his older brother Rodrick who is a teenager who picks on Greg because he is his sibling. I think Rodrick picks on Greg because he failed mostly throughout Middle-School and is not very smart and he doesn't want Greg to exceed him in life. Greg is also bullied at school by a girl named Patty ,she bullies Greg because he made fun of her in kindergarten and she never let that go. She is scorning him and trying to make his life as bad as possible during his years of Middle-School. Greg is also bullied by a couple of older guys because he provoked them by saying he would call the police on them. Greg also ruined the paint job on their truck with a weed-whacker by accident.


Pony-Boy and Greg Heffley are both just trying to fit in. Pony-Boy acts like a “Greaser” to fit in with his brothers he slicks his long greasy hair back. Greg Heffley is trying to fit in at school but it does not work out. He becomes one of the least popular kids in school because of his actions. Greg is a bad friend to his friend Rowley and his actions cost him in Middle-School. Both Pony-Boy and Greg try to fit in but things do not work out. Pony-Boy gets jumped and ends up getting beat up a lot. Greg does not become the most popular kid, in fact he become one of the least, but in the end he realizes what a good friend is and Greg and Rowley become the greatest of friends again.


I’ve noticed that neither Pony-Boy or Greg Heffley use their heads, they both do not think before they act. Pony-Boy cannot think straight in tight situations and Greg does not think before he acts. Pony-Boy can’t think straight when he is being mugged by the “Socs” or when he is trying to get away. Greg does not think when he decides to throw a football at Rowley while he is riding a tricycle or ignoring Rowly and hanging out with a boy named Freggly. Greg doesn’t realize what he is doing to Rowley is hurting him. Neither Greg or Pony-Boy think before they act and they both end up paying for it in the end.


Even though Greg Heffley comes from a friendly town and Pony-Boy comes from a more dangerous part of the city they are very similar in the way that they are both bullied from where they are from. They both try hard to fit in, Pony-Boy with his buddies and Greg with his schoolmates. The boys really want a better life for themselves and seem to go about it the wrong way. They both seem very insecure about the things that are going in their lives.