Conflict In The Outsiders, By S. E. Hinton

In the story”The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, the author describes a conflict between two vastly different groups of students. The point of the climax in the story is when Johnny, the Greaser, stabs Bob the soc. Johnny was the second to youngest besides his best buddy Ponyboy who was with him the night of the murder,Johnny was smaller than the rest of the group and slightly build. He always had a nervous and suspicious look in his eyes. He got beaten by Socs and his dad. The night of the murder Johnny and Ponyboy had went to the park because Ponyboy needed to let off steam because him and his older brother Darry had gotten into a fight, so when the went to the park Bob the soc was there and he was drunk and Bob wasn’t himself when he’s drunk.

When Bob saw Johnny and Ponyboy and Bob and his friends came up to them and was starting trouble and one of his friends named David had gotten Ponyboy and started to drown him and Bob was going to beat up johnny like they did before, “ I had to.

They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade… they were gonna beat me up…”(Hinton,57) one reason why he stabbed him is because he was only protecting him and Ponyboy because Johnny didn’t want to get beat up badly again. He was only protecting Ponyboy and himself.
Moreover Johnny didn’t know what to do because he just killed a man and needed help from somebody who knows what to do so he went to his friend Dally who knows what to do. Dally had gave the a gun,fifty-dollars and told them where they needed to go so the cops wouldn’t find them and went to this town called Windrixville to get away until the heat after a week of being in the church, Dally told them that in a week he’ll be back for them. And when he came back he took the to Dairy Queen and told them that they had a spy and it was Cherry Valence the

Soc.
Also, they had got their faces in the paper.Johnny wanted to turn himself in,”I got a good chance of bein’ let off easy,”(Hinton,60)which means he knows he is innocent it was only out of self-defense. to the Socs point of view he killed Bob when on purpose because the Socs and the Greasers have this rival going and to Ponyboy and Dally Johnny only stabbed Bob because he needed to protect himself and Ponyboy.
In conclusion Johnny’s innocent because it was only out of self-defense and didn’t want to get beat up badly again. He knows he’s not wrong he’s only protecting himself and wasn’t thinking when the Socs had a weapon