Self Defense In The Outsiders

Johnny had to kill Bob to save Ponyboy because there was no other way around. He couldn’t have stopped them because they were drunk and looking for a fight. (pg 44 and 55) He couldn’t have fought them without a weapon because it would have been a one on five.(pg 55) He had to stab Bob to make them stop because they wouldn’t have run away. They would have drowned Ponyboy.(pg 56 and 57) To save himself and his friend, the defendant had to stab Bob. It made them scared and run away because they had the sole thought of harming both of them so Johnny had to act fast before he was going to be killed along with Ponyboy.

Early in the book Johnny shows that he is shy. But also brave and not scared to stick up for his friends. The Socs jumped Johnny and Ponyboy. They started to drown Ponyboy. Johnny defended him by stabbing Bob. Later, Pony discussed with Johnny, “You really killed him, huh Johnny?’ ‘Yeah.’ his voice quavered slightly. ‘I had to they were drowning

I am discussing the book the outsiders by S.E Hinton and analyzing the impact violence has on the main characters. My main aim of this essay is to assess and demonstrating the emotional and physical damage to the characters Johnny, bob and Dally caused by violence.

Fourth, the Socs were responsible for the rumble. The greasers were tired of the Socs fighting for no reason. The greasers just wanted to put an end to the trouble, once and for all. “ Darry turned to see who it was and Paul swung hard right to his jaw.”(Pg 143/ The Outsiders/ Hinton). This quote shows that the Socs swung first therefore they started the rumble, not he greasers. “ ‘We gotta win that fight tonight,’ Dally said. His voice was hard. ‘ We gotta get even with the Socs. For Johnny.’”(Pg 107/ The Outsiders/ Hinton). This quote shows

Then Ponyboy runs out the door, finds Johnny, and goes to the park. There, however, the two young greasers run into randy and bob, with a huge group of their Socs friends. One of the Socs friends hold pony boy’s head under a cold water fountain, and Ponyboy blacks out. When he comes to, he is lying on the ground next to Johnny. The bloody corps of bob is next to them. To save Ponyboy, Johnny had to kill bob.

Johnny has a fear of Socs after getting jumped by them, which led him to kill Bob. He is regularly beaten by his father and emotionally abused by his mother. Ponyboy mentioned a quotation of Johnny   “ I had never been jumped, but I had seen Johnny after four Socs got hold of him, and it wasn’t pretty. Johnny was scared of his own shadow after that.” After Johnny killed Bob trying to protect Ponyboy from drowning he ran away with Ponyboy to an abandoned church in Windrixville. At the time he was afraid of anybody that he thought could hurt him. When the church went up in flames Johnny made the decision to run in with Ponyboy to save the children in the burning building. His gallant actions led to him being paralyzed, but he learned to overcome his fears of easily being frightened. Before that, he always used to think about killing himself because he was scared and hurt, but now knowing that he has something to live for he thought he was too young to die. He said this “you want to know something, Ponyboy? I’m scared stiff. I used to think about killing myself… ”, “ I don't want to die now. It ain’t long enough. Sixteen years ain’t long enough. I wouldn’t mind it so much if there wasn’t so much stuff I ain’t done yet --- and so many things I ain’t seen. It’s not fair. You know what? That time we were in Windrixville was the only time I’ve been away from our neighbourhood.” Thus, adversity can help to overcome the hardships and

To begin, Johnny is innocent for the murder of Bob concidering that Bob was killing Johnny’s third party Ponyboy, leaving Johnny to use self defence. “ ‘I had

The murder of Bob Shelton occurred because earlier that night Johnny Cade and his friends had been flirting with Bob’s and the Socs’ girlfriends. Bob and four of his friends confronted Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis early the next morning around 2:00 am at a park fountain. David, one of the Socs, began to drown Ponyboy Curtis in the fountain. Johnny Cade lost all sanity and knifed Bob Shelton, who was doing no harm to Cade or Curtis, in order to stop David from drowning Ponyboy Curtis. Johnny is not justified in what he did and is guilty because he carried a switchblade with intent to kill whoever jumped him, killed a person who was not attacking his friend, and lastly, fled the scene of the crime with his friend.

The main theme of The Outsiders is violence does not solve social conflict. In the beginning of the book Ponyboy thinks that violence is the solution to the Socs, but later through Johnny stabbing Bob, and finally making amends with Darry, Ponyboy figures out that you can’t solve social conflict with violence. This theme was relevant to the real world in Hinton’s time and still is today.

Stated in Ponyboy´s though, “ Johnny's hand went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade” (Hinton pdf 47). It shows that Johnny had a concealed weapon the whole time. Meaning that he could attack anyone within his reach. Showing that he was liable for any incident to happen where he went. Even though Johnny might have concealed a weapon, he saved Ponyboy's life when one of the Socials tried to drown him before he blacked out. It showed that Johnny was trying to stop the Social and get away from the scene that he did not cause. He and Ponyboy were only trying to walk around the park without trying to cause any trouble. Johnny is innocent due to events that happened, “ ... scared him. … most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade.” (Hinton pdf 30). Therefore it shows that what Bob did to make Johnny scared of his own shadow, take extra precaution. He used his brain to see the possibility that Bob could attack him again. It should not be counted as a murder weapon but as a self-defense as how small Johnny was and how large the chance that Bob might attack him

The Socs, or socials, and the Greasers have been feuding for as long as anyone can remember. In this particular fight, someone ends up dead. Johnny, one of the greasers, has killed Bob Shelly, the leader of the Socs. Johnny is not justified in what he did and is guilty because he had the intent to kill, the Socs didn’t have the intent, and Johnny killed Bob, who didn’t cause any physical harm in the fight.

The socs and the greasers shares a sense of hatred against each other, they fight with each other both verbally and physically. One of the instances that shows their conflict externally was the 'Saturday Night Rumble'. The two gangs " moved in a circle under the light, counter-clockwise, eyeing

The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton, shares moralities that encourage themes of brotherhood and heroism with literary elements - which includes setting, point of view, characterization, conflict, plot, and theme. Each element influences the big idea of flawed heroes and friendships to readers. With her powerful novel, Hinton is able to express the necessity of unity and brotherhood within a community, despite differences in classes, ages, or ideals.

Killing another is nowhere near “justifiable”. Imagine this, someone close to you is framed for a murder they didn’t commit. If your state had the death penalty, they could be punished for nothing. There are many other situations when killing another is unacceptable and wrong. Killing someone takes away the meaning of their life. It will hurt those around them and those close to them. We were all put on this Earth for a reason and everyone should be able to achieve the goals they want to in their life. Whether it’s capital punishment, euthanasia,or the case of George and Lennie, killing others is an unjustifiable act.

The text said: “‘You really killed him, huh, Johnny?’ ‘Yeah’ His voice quavered slightly. ‘I had to. They were drowning you, Pony’” (Hinton 57). When Johnny and Ponyboy sit in the park and see a can is coming, Johnny is very afraid. He also asks Ponyboy what he should do. But when Ponyboy is almost killed by Bob, Johnny overcomes the fear and takes out of his knife, kills Bob, saves Ponyboy’s life. In this quotation, I think Johnny begins to understand and feel love. Although Ponyboy is strong than him, Ponyboy is younger than him. He should do what a brother should do. His choice is to protect Ponyboy from being killed by Bob. In a word, this violence awakened the ability to love deeply rooted in his