Ponyboy and the greasers pride themselves on their long hair, because it is their identity and you can identify what characters are greasers by their haircut. In contrast to Ponyboy and Soda, Darry keeps his hair short. It shows his resentment of his role as a Greaser -- as if he doesn't belong in that place in society.

Ponyboy judges people on the appearance of their eyes. He says he doesn't like most guys with green eyes. He also describes Darry's eyes as "He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice." He judges people by the appearance of their eyes all throughout the book.