Is it possible for two people to be extremely different, yet so similar at the same time? While thinking about this question, two characters come to mind. Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston from the story The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. These two characters are very much alike at times but also very different at other moments. At some points they act like they are the same person, but at other moments it seems like they might as well live on two completely different planets.
Johnny and Dally show lots of care and love for one another and each other’s safety. Most people think that they do not love anybody, but in reality they love each other. Dallas Winston is very closed off and people think that he only loves himself. When Ponyboy realizes that
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Dally is extremely straightforward. He is not afraid to speak his mind to anybody. If Dallas has a problem with you, he will not keep it to himself. He is even aggressive at points and quite a scary person. Dallas Winston fits the “greaser” stereotype perfectly. Most people are afraid of Dally, rightfully so. He comes across to people as a young, mean, criminal. He is extremely harsh and very hard to get used to, but the gang has and have learned to like him. While first meeting someone, he will be extremely rude and not very easy-going. This personality pushes many people away. A good way to describe Dallas Winston is, “Dally didn't give a yankee dime about anyone but himself, and he was cold and hard and mean.” (90) Someone who is extremely shy and easy-going is Johnny Cade. He is extremely quiet around new people and does not like to speak unless approached. He comes across as as a small boy. He will never be rude to someone he just met and he very nice. Not only is Johnny shy, he is also extremely sensitive. The smallest things hurt Johnny Cade’s feelings so the boys have to be extremely careful with what they say around him. They do not want to hurt his feelings. Johnny personality is explained well by Ponyboy, “he was sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser.” (88) Johnny has a very “quiet” personality. Johnny and Dally come across as two extremely different people and they have very different
Hinton shows two characters, Dally and Johnny, who are alike in significant ways, but they also have extreme differences. They both have abusive and neglectful parents, and know what it is like to feel unloved. Also, Dally and Johnny both care about each other in similar ways, and want the best for one another. One of the biggest differences Dally and Johnny face is following the law. Dally lives his life looking for trouble and purposely doing illegal things. Where as, Johnny follows rules and is the most law abiding in the gang. Another difference Dally and Johnny have is how they are viewed in death. Dally dies a criminal, with a brutal death from a gun. Contrary to Johnny, who dies as an honored savior and a hero. Two similar characters can have vast
How can two people who are so different have so much in common? How can a kid who went to jail at the age of ten have anything in common with some kid that does not have a record with the police. However, in S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders there are two such characters. Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston are similar because there parents do not pay attention to them and the gang is their family. Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston are different because Dally likes fighting and Johnny does not. They are also different because Dally is the follows the laws the least and Johnny follows them the most. Therefore, Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston have similarities in their life but have a lot of differences.
Dally breaks every law possible, while Johnny is very yielding of the law. Dally thinks he is above law, he goes around looking for trouble. For example, breaking Tim Shepard’s tires or sneaking into the drive-in when he has enough money to pay emission. He just wants to look cool, like the police and law do not own him. Ponyboy describes him as “Dally hated to do things the legal way. He liked to show that he didn’t care whether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws” (20). He even has a gun with him always unloaded of course, but he would only use it to scare people off. However, Johnny does not break the law as much as Dally. He only just started carrying a switchblade because he got beaten up badly. The rest of the gang has carried switchblades for a while. Ponyboy even says how Johnny is the most law following of them all “ Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us” (34). Johnny, unlike Dally, does not talk back to cops. Johnny and Dally are very different people because of how they act to look cool and their ability to follow the
In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, there are many different people with different personalities. There are Greasers and Socs. If you to see a Greaser you would think that they are mean cold hearted people, and if you are to see a Soc you would think that they are nice loving people. That is not entirely true. Everyone has a sweet spot. Dally is the tuffist greaser but is also gallant and loyal.
How can two different people be so much alike? How can one man who lives in a poor environment and neighborhood have so much in common with a man that lives in a rich neighborhood? But, in S.E. Hintons novel The Outsiders, these two characters do indeed exist. Dally Winston and Johnny Cade are very similar because they each have abusive and neglectful parents and they both care about each other. Besides the similarities, Dally and Johnny have much different advice for they friend Ponyboy Curtis and they each die with a different story, Johnny dying a hero and Dally dying a hoodlum. In addition to Dally Winston and Johnny Cade having huge differences they also have some important similarities that
..., even by Ponyboy, who is the youngest of the group and two years younger than Johnny. Dally, the toughest and the meanest guy in The Greasers, is Johnny’s idol and seeing how he acts in situations probably influenced Johnny’s choice of action. Watching these bigger guys close in on him and Ponyboy being drowned, he was probably thinking, ‘what would Dally do what would Dally do?’ So he did what he thought Dally would do he pulled out the knife and stabbed Bob Sheldon so he would have extra hands helping him to fight off the rest of the guys, but that did not happen because they ran off in fear of Johnny.
A juvenile delinquent, Dally was put in jail when he was only ten years old. This probably is the outcome of him having a lack of a guardian when he was a youth. In addition, while on Jay Mountain, Johnny asks Dally whether his parents wanted to know about him. Dally replies saying “‘... They didn’t. Blast it Johnny, what do they matter? Shoot my old man don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don’t bother me none’”(88). This is the only time Dally mentions his father in the novel and his tone suggests his disdain. Dally’s insolent behavior has to be because of his inadequate parents. Likewise, Johnny is also a victim of bad parenting due to his abusive mother and father. In The Outsiders the narrator, Ponyboy, describes Johnny’s personality and family atmosphere in the exposition. Ponyboy states about Johnny: “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house”(12). Pony’s statement shows how Johnny Cade has a difficult life at him and so he relies on the Greasers for family. This evidence leads to the conclusion that Johnny and Dally both have neglectful parents causing them to rely on their gang for family
Johnny and Dallas are two very similar characters. For example, they both have neglectful parents. Dally was jailed at the age of ten and spent three years on the deleterious side of New York.He became hard and cold, with a hatred of the world, all because he didn’t get the proper attention. Dally himself mentions, "Blast it, Johnny, what do they matter? Shoot, my old man don't give a hang whether I'm in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don't bother me none." Dally is spitting out evidence of his dad’s negligence and shows the irresponsible personality of him. If Dally had been given affection, maybe he would not have been jailed, start gangs, accost others, and be a delinquent. ...
How can two people, who have countless differences, still have similarities? This is true of two characters, Dally Winston and Johnny Cade, in the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Johnny and Dally are similar because they both have neglectful parents and place little value on their own lives. In contrast, Johnny is the most law-abiding and Dally is the least. Also, Dally likes to fight, but Johnny does not. Therefore, Dally and Johnny have different personalities, but similar problems.
Throughout the book, Dally does not care for his life too much, due to him constantly committing crimes and such. “I knew he would be dead, because Dallas Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted”(154). Finally, Dally has gotten what he wanted his whole life. The only view of life that he has, due to him thinking that he is not worth being alive. Dally does not see life as a good thing, but a dread similarly to Johnny’s thoughts on life. Johnny has wanted to die for most of his life. “‘I’ll kill myself or something’”(47). He believes life is not worth it for himself. Johnny thought that life does not matter and that if he kills himself then everything would be better. If Johnny lives in a better home, then he may not want to kill himself. Unlike before, Johnny and Dally are bonded by their
...inks he is more important than anything else and will not even think about going out of his way to do anything nice for anyone or anything. Both Johnny and Dally’s similarities and differences balance each other out.
Dally was a very reliable person to the greasers. When Ponyboy and Johnny were running away, it was Dally who gave them the supplies they needed. Page 61 is where Dally helps them.
Johnny and Dally are both very contrasting characters in the book; however they do have their similarities. Also, they both look up to each other. In the novel, Johnny is the character that reflects sensitivity and weakness. Johnny is constantly beaten by his father and is ignored by his mother. He has lost many things in life that others may take for granted. A quote from the novel describes Johnny as a “dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers” on page fourteen. Johnny’s soft and delicate personality is evident in that statement, especially when he is referred to a “puppy”. The image of a puppy implies vulnerability, a reflection on Johnny’s personality. Whereas Johnny is the vulnerable spot in the Greasers, Dally is on the other hand, the exact opposite. Dally is cold-hearted and hard, and plays the character of the devil in the novel. A quote from the book describes Dally’s eyes as “blue, blazing ice, cold with the hatred of the whole world” on page fourteen. This quote describes Dally as a cold character, and refers to the fact that Dally has seen many more hardships in his life than happiness. You can see that Johnny and Dally are both very different. However...
When we first introduced to Dally by Hinton we learn that as a youth he served time in a New York for a murder charge. This made Dally the most paradoxical person in the story, you never knew if Dally would snap and beat you senseless or if he would protect you. But we soon learn that after witnessing Johnny’s death in the hospital Dally turned out more psychologically unstable. Thus, Dally chose suicide-by-cop. This was because Dally felt responsible for not protecting Johnny in life and felt that perhaps he could protect him in death. Both young men felt hero-worship for each other. Johnny looking to Dally for his devil-may-care attitude and Dally looks up to Johnny for his individuality and
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.