Why does Ponyboy call Cherry a traitor?

Ponyboy calls Cherry a traitor in The Outsiders because she is helping the greasers but refuses to visit Johnny in the hospital after Johnny killed Bob, Cherry’s boyfriend.

At this point in the novel, Ponyboy is angry and hurt. Cherry has been acting as a spy for the greasers, telling them about the Socs’ plans for the rumble and helping support the truth that Johnny acted in self-defense. Ponyboy therefore wants her loyalty to be complete. When she says she cannot face Johnny because he killed Bob, Ponyboy sees that as betrayal, especially because Johnny is badly injured after helping save children from the burning church.

But Cherry’s position is complicated. She is a Soc, Bob’s girlfriend, and someone grieving a person she loved. Ponyboy briefly forgets the lesson Cherry had already tried to teach him: “Things are rough all over.” She has helped Ponyboy see that Socs have pain too, and in this moment she forces him to see that Bob was also a real person to someone, even if he attacked Johnny and Ponyboy.

Ponyboy’s anger fades when Cherry explains how hard Bob’s death has been for her and describes his good qualities. His question about the sunset becomes his way of apologizing and reconnecting with her. He asks, “Can you see the sunset real good from the West Side?” And when Cherry replies yes, he says, “You can see it good from the East Side, too,” making her smile.

Ponyboy calls Cherry a traitor because, for a moment, he judges her by gang loyalty alone. Their conflict shows how hard it is for either side to escape the Soc-greaser divide, even when individual people on both sides understand and care about each other.