Gender and Transmasculinity

Ponyboy feels the best when his gender is being affirmed by those around him. The moments where it seems like Ponyboy is acting the most like himself and is acting less self-destructively come when he is spending more time around people that understand his gender and reinforce that they see him like he wants to be seen. This is a large reason why Gabriel entices him so much in the first place. He does not explicitly state to Gabriel that he is a man at first, but Gabriel's interest in exploring his own queerness makes Ponyboy feel more comfortable around him since that means he likely understands what Ponyboy is feeling a bit better than other people in his life, like Baby. The final scenes of the novel, in which Ponyboy goes to meet Toni for a time in Paris, show him at his...