Johnny And Dally Similarities

Akarsh Aurora
Mr. Allen
Block: F
12/ /17
Similarities and Differences Between Dally and Johnny Can two people be foils to each other but at the same time strikingly similar? In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, Johnny and Dally have very different personalities but share obvious, situational, similarities. Johnny and Dally both have very neglectful parents and they both place very little value on their lives. However, Dally differs from Johnny when it comes to the advice they give to Ponyboy and with what public image they die. Therefore, Johnny and Dally have many similarities and differences. Johnny and Dally have many blaring similarities one of them being how they both place little value on their lives. Dally a tough, mean greaser, commits

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

In Hinton’s novel Johnny’s death impacts Dally heavily. He virtually becomes a ticking time bomb. Pony describes Johnny as the only thing Dally loved and regarded. His reaction to cope with his grief was to commit suicide. Winston pointed an unloaded gun at the police after robbing a convenience store. His action was responded to with fired shots that give him imminent death. After the incident, seeing Dally lain on the hard pavement, Pony states: “And now he was a dead juvenile delinquent and there wouldn’t be any editorials in his favor. Dally didn’t die a hero”(154). Pony communicates how there wouldn’t be any editorials in the newspaper articulating his heroism, this means that in the eyes of the public Dally Winston died a delinquent. Conversely, Johnny Cade dies a commemorated hero for his gallantry at the church in Windrixville. While in Windrixville Johnny suffers severe burns from a fire that cause him to lose his life. To show he is proud of Johnny before his death Dally says: “‘They’re still writing editorials in the paper. For being a hero and all’”(156). After hearing Dally’s commendation and briefly speaking to Ponyboy, Johnny peacefully dies. He was praised for his bold and courageous actions regarding him risking his life to save some children from a church fire. The headline on the newspaper: “Juvenile Delinquents Turn Heroes” is also evidence of