Explain how Ponyboy grows and matures by referring to his change in views of the Greasers and Socs as well as his changing perceptions of his brother Darry.

Ponyboy is different than the other Greasers, and the other Greasers know this. It's why Johnny tells him to "stay gold" and Two-Bit doesn't want him to "get tough."

"Ponyboy, listen, don't get tough. You're not like the rest of us and don't try to be..."

With that said, it still takes readers much of the novel to fully understand what it is that makes Ponyboy so different. When we first meet Ponyboy, he seems like a typical Greaser to us. He speaks negatively about the Socs in the same way that all of the other Greasers talk about them. He thinks that the Socs have it so much easier than the Greasers.

I really couldn't see what Socs would have to sweat about—good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs—Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I'd consider myself lucky.

Ponyboy and his opinion of the Greasers starts to change in chapter 2. This is when he meets Cherry, and she is incredibly pivotal to Pony's changing opinion. Cherry is the character that makes Ponyboy believe that the Socs have problems that are equal in difficulty as compared to Greaser problems.

"Things are rough all over."
"I believe you," I said. "We'd better get back out there with the popcorn or Two-Bit'll think I ran off with his money."

By the novel's end, Ponyboy is able to look at a Soc as a person and not a rival gang member, and this is why Ponyboy tells Two-Bit that Randy isn't a Soc.

"What'd he want?" Two-Bit asked. "What'd Mr. Super-Soc have to say?"
"He ain't a Soc," I said, "he's just a guy. He just wanted to talk."

As for Ponyboy's opinion of his brother, by the novel's end Ponyboy realizes that Darry loves him deeply. Ponyboy doubted it because Darry was always so hard on Pony, but Ponyboy comes to realize that is because Darry wants to protect Ponyboy and see him succeed. Darry didn't have the luxury of learning to be a parent. He was thrown into the situation, and he struggles with how to show love to Ponyboy while being a parent and brother at the same time.

In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me. When he yelled "Pony, where have you been all this time?" he meant "Pony, you've scared me to death. Please be careful, because I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you."