Outsiders Reflection on Sterotypes

The way in which Dally reacts to problems he’s given is weak and reckless. How he reacts to Johnny’s death is perfect example of how Dally can’t deal with any problem headed his way. When Johnny dies, Dally can’t handle his grief, so he attempts to rob a store, leading to his eventual demise. If Dally was strong enough to handle Johnny dying, he never would’ve done something so reckless and get himself killed. Pony boy says that he “knew that was what Dally wanted.” (154) Dally is used to life of a criminal, and he knows better than to do what he did. He made the police believe that he had a loaded gun on purpose, not as a heat of the moment

The 1967 novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton is about the social outcasts; the Greasers and their rivalry against the high class Socs. In the beginning of the book the characters values and attitudes are revealed to the reader through the point of view of Ponyboy. As the book progresses and the lives of the characters take a turn for the worse there is a significant impact on the characters resulting in an alteration of their values and attitudes. Ponyboy, Dally and Johnny experience these changes due to the death of Bob the Soc and the chain of events that follow.

Johnny is scared of his own shadow and Dally does not fear anything. His own gang thinks that Johnny is the gang’s pet and dally is mean. Johnny has never left the greaser neighborhood, when Dally spent three years on the wild side in New York and gets tougher and harder there.

Dally and Johnny may be very different, but they have extremely important similarities. For example, both of these characters place very little value on their lives. Dally is first arrested at the age of ten and he loves to break

The author writes, “Johnny’s eyes glowed. Dally was proud of him. That was all Johnny had ever wanted” (148). Johnny’s reaction is priceless. Out of the entire greaser gang, Johnny and Dally’s relationship is the strongest and most significant. When Johnny needs Dally the most, he is his staunchest supporter. In return, Johnny gives back the same, if not more, amount of affection to Dally. When Dally and Johnny die, Ponyboy makes a list of realizations. Ponyboy thinks, “But I remembered Dally pulling Johnny through the window of the burning church; Dally giving us his gun, although it could mean jail for him; Dally risking his life for us, trying to keep Johnny out of trouble.” (154). It is clearly proven that ‘tough’ Dallas Winston makes a substantial effort to make Johnny’s life better. If Dally would not make the effort for Johnny, then Johnny would have to experience life worse than it already is. Since Dally thinks of Johnny almost like a little brother, it would hurt Dally to see Johnny experience that kind of pain. Dally and Johnny are bonded by these similarities, but they are also bonded through their differences.

Johnny hates fighting most of them all. He will always do the right thing never getting into fights except for when he was jumped. Johnny said to Dally and Pony that fighting is “‘Useless... fighting's no good....”’(148). Johnny was disappointed in them for fighting the soc’s he disagrees with all fighting. Unlike Johnny, Dally loves to fight.Dally is a tough greaser who does not waste anytime creating a problem if he has the opportunity. Dally is always looking to start a problem with the police and other people. The matter of facts, even his friends try their hardest to stay on his friendly side. Ponyboy says of Dallas, “One time, in a dime store, a guy told him to move over at the candy counter. Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose. A complete stranger, too” (24). Dally has a bad temper, and he is not afraid to fight with anyone. Most of the time he will find ways to break laws randomly. Looking up to what I have stated you can tell they are two completely different people at

When Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally were at the drive in, Dally was teasing Cherry. Johnny says, “Leave her alone, Dally.” (24). Johnny stood up to Dally to make him stop annoying Cherry. This surprises the reader because Johnny is traditionally quiet, and Johnny idolizes Dally. However, Johnny did not hesitate to tell Dally to stop. To defend someone he hardly knew, Johnny breaks character and stands up

Johnny and Dally have similarities but they also have differences as Johnny dies a hero Dally dies a hoodlum. Johnny goes into the burning church to save those kids and that is heroic. Johnny also died because he saved those kids and put their lives in front of his. Johnny is a greaser and things don't go his way but he has it in him to save the kids which is a heroic act. Dally says “‘ They’re still writing editorials about you in the

The Outsiders is an action filled novel by S.E. Hinton. The story tells the tragic, beautiful, and confusing life of a greaser named Ponyboy. Ponyboy learns that stereotyping can really hurt people feelings, ruin relationships and can even be deadly. For example Ponyboy’s friend Dally dies because of stereotyping, stereotyping also might have caused Ponyboy to never meet someone who would eventually become a good friend, and Ponyboy could have died because of stereotyping.

Especially Dally looks after Johnny because he loves Johnny. Dally understands the struggle Johnny is going through with his parents, making him connected to Johnny. Dallas is tough and hard, however he takes care of Johnny like he’s his younger brother. When Johnny passes away, Pony realizes, “Johnny was the only thing Dally loved” (152). Pony is surprised that Dally can’t handle Johnny’s death because Dally has been through a lot of hardship and poverty in his life. Dallas is older, wiser, and tougher than Ponyboy, who is fourteen however, Dally only loves Johnny and he can’t accept his death. Likewise, Johnny cares about Dally more than anyone in the group. When they are at the drive in movie, Johnny stands up to Dally while he is harassing Cherry and Marcia. Dally doesn’t hit Johnny, proving he loves him very much. Surprisingly, Johnny talked back to Dally even though Johnny is timid and Dally is his idol. Pony watches in shock and thinks, “Johnny worshiped the ground Dally walked on, and I had never heard Johnny talk back to anyone, much less his hero” (25). Johnny only wants the best for Dally and it is hard for him to see his role model make bad decisions. The two greasers wouldn’t be able to live without each other because they are so attached to each

Johnny and Dally come from a similar background of unloving parents. While The Outsiders novel does not tell the reader that Dally’s parents are not giving dally the attention that is needed, Dally does tell Ponyboy and Johnny, “‘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’”(88). While Dally only talks about his family one time, it allows the reader to infer the kind of childhood Dally had. Johnny also had a poor childhood due to his parents, when the narrator describes why Johnny does not go home with Ponyboy, the narrator states that,“Johnny’s parents didn’t care if he came home or not”(49). Apart from the beatings his parents give him, they also did not care about his well being. But their abusive parents did give Johnny and Dally a similarity, but also shaped the two greasers’ behavior.

Nobody was ever going to jump him like that again. Not over his dead body…” (Hinton 34). When Johnny got jumped by the Socs, he became more aware of himself and his surroundings. Throughout this experience he has become a completely different and mature person. Later on in the book Johnny and Ponyboy are jumped by the same group of Socs and Johnny ended up accidentally killing one of them. In the process of leaving town and trying to get away with murder, Johnny died while saving children in a burning building. Everyone in the gang was affected by this, especially Dally. Dally was notorious for breaking laws, stealing, and acting rude towards everybody. Ponyboy described Dally like an emotionless rock that nobody could break. “Johnny was the only thing Dally ever loved. And now Johnny was gone. ‘So he finally broke.’ Two-Bit spoke everyone’s feelings. ‘So even Dallas has a breaking point’” (Hinton 152). When Johnny died, Dally’s personality changed. At this point in the book it is evident that Dally thought of Johnny less like a friend and more like a son. This could lead one to believe that Dally has become more mature and grew throughout the

While Pony and Johnny are saving the kids from the fire, Dally yells at them to leave the kids in the building and run. Basically, they are saying that Dally does not care for the lives of other people unless they are in the gang. However, Johnny is the last person that Dally loves, basically the only reason he is alive. When Johnny dies, Dally can’t take it and commits suicide. This shows that he wanted Johnny, who he loves, to at least live.

Ponyboy once said, “I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me”. The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton, is an outstanding book, and movie, that tells about the rivalry between the less fortunate people, the Greasers, and the more wealthy people, the Socs. The Greasers are an inseparable group of tuff kids, that have gone through many hard times in their life. The Socs are a group of good looking and smart kids who came from a wealthy background.

”(11) This shows why Dally is much different, he is very cold unlike Johnny who is just experiencing the gang life. Two people can be the best of friends but have many differences and similarities. Dallas and Johnny have similar home lives, but personality wise they are like night and day. Dally is not innocent and Johnny is.