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Characters In The Outsiders

Decent Essays

How could two, completely different characters have similarities? Dally Winston and Johnny Cade are from the same gang, but have different ethics and personalities. They do, however, have a similar, neglectful homelife and place little value on their lives. On the other hand, Johnny is the most law abiding person there is, while Dally is the least. Also, they both give Ponyboy different advice before they die. In S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, she writes two characters, Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston, who are very different from each other, but also have similarities. Johnny and Dally’s neglectful, abusive homelife show one similarity between the two very different characters. Dally never mentions his mother throughout the story, and only mentions his father to say something bad about him. Johnny often stays at a vacant lot or with the Curtis’ brothers for the night when his parents are fighting. While Ponyboy is describing the gang, he recalls that, “Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten” (10). Dally had gone all the way to New York and spent 3 years there, and gotten arrested at the young age of ten. This clearly shows that his parents are neglectful of him. Ponyboy then describes Johnny as, “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). Johnny always had a neglectful and

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