“Opposites attract?” Have you ever heard that saying? In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, two characters show many similarities, but also difference. Dally is a hoodlum, that breaks every law and Johnny is afraid of his own shadow, how could they even have one common thing?
DIFFERENCES:
Although Dally and Johnny share some alike traits, they also have many differences. For example, Dally is a tenacious, villainous, and a greaser while Johnny is a polite, perceptive, and craven greaser.
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.
The description befitting Johnny gives out sympathy and empathy, “If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you’ll have Johnny…he had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes…” (11). On the other hand, Dally om the book just makes him seem scarier. “His eyes were blue, blazing ice, cold with the hatred in the whole world…he was tougher than the rest of us (them) tougher, colder, meaner.” (10). It shows the indignant, confident look on Dally’s face. Dally could be compared to a tiger, when Johnny is like a puppy.
Another difference between Dally and Johnny are Dally love to fight and has a huge record with the police, while Johnny hates
While at a movie theater, Dally is antagonizing and annoying several Soc girls. Johnny stands up to Dally, his hero, and states, “‘Leave her alone, Dally.’ ‘Huh?’ Dally was taken off guard. He stared at Johnny in disbelief. Johnny couldn't say ‘Boo’ to a goose. Johnny gulped and got a little pale, but he said, ‘You heard me. Leave her alone’” (24). It took all of Johnny’s bravery to stand up to his absolute idol. He was willing to stand up to a dangerous boy that could easily defeat him in a fight, to save others. Not only this, but when a church is burning down with children inside, Ponyboy states, ”Johnny wasn't behaving at all like his old self. ... he grinned at me. He wasn't scared either. That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes” (92). Johnny gives his own life for kids who have futures. He charges into the church at full speed when necessary. Johnny becomes brave in the middle of the
But once he sees Johnny it gives him something to love and care about. He made sure that Johnny didn’t become violent. He says in the book multiple times he cares about Johnny he said “Johnny…I just don’t want you to get hurt.” A quote also says that “Johnny was the only thing that Dally loved. And now Johnny was gone.” Later in the book Johnny dies and it is too much for Dally and he gets himself killed. Dally was so distraught, he wanted to be dead.
A very important comparison Dally and Johnny have is their parents. Johnny’s parents do not care about him. They either beat him or ignore him completely. “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him” (12). His parents are alcoholics and do not care if he comes home or not. Likewise, Dally parents also do not care about him. If he was put in jail by age ten, then his parents clearly do not care enough to discipline him. He rarely talks about his parents, but when he does, he has nothing nice to say. “‘Shoot, my old man don’t give a hang whether I’m dead in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter’” (88). Dally talks about his father with disgust, like he never did anything for him, which may be true. The way Dally’s parents and Johnny’s parents both do not care about them makes these two characters very similar.
He lacks decent behavior as shown when he smokes (pg. 12), stays up unreasonably late (pg. 58), and even harasses Cherry Valance as his way of “flirting” (pg. 24). His lack of any sense in general even goes as far as not knowing how valuable friendship is. Regardless of whether Dally is indeed a lovable caring person deep down inside, it really does not matter as he does not know how to express it properly towards the people he cares for; especially towards Johnny. Dally could not comprehend how critical Johnny’s condition was and that sometimes, the most important thing in life was actually near him. In Dally’s case it would have been Johnny’s friendship but he missed the opportunity to tell him how much he matters to him and instead says, “We beat the Socs. We stomped them-outta our territory” (pg.148). After Johnny’s death, Dally finally became aware of how meaningless his life has been this whole time after losing his friend, so he commits suicide by his own will by raising an unloaded gun tricking the police into thinking it was actually loaded after chasing him down for robbing a grocery store (pg.154). This fatal end for Dally just proves what a impulsive and thoughtless person he is as he simply just wasted his life. He could have been considered “gallant” if he gained courage and motivation to start his life over after Johnny’s death, but instead blew the
Dally’s weakness stems from the fact he doesn’t like who he is as a person. He’s seen so many bad things, and it makes him upset. This explains why he is so attached to Johnny, who while has seen bad things, he remains kind and strong. His entire relationship with Johnny is desperate. He depends on Johnny so much that when Johnny died, he doesn’t even feel like living without him. While Dally won’t ever admit it, he cares a lot about people more than he lets on. When Johnny tells Dally that he wants to turn himself in, Ponyboy says, “the whole idea was a jolt to Dallas.” (87) Dally is so dependent on Johnny and the idea of Johnny going to jail and becoming like him shakes him up. He even starts chewing on his fake ID. The dependency on Johnny really shows how weak he is when it comes to managing
Doe Zantamata once says, “Differences and similarities are equally as easy to see, it mostly depends on which ones you are seeking to find.” In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton two of the main characters, Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston or Dally, have many similarities and many differences. Johnny and Dally both have bad and abusive parents, and they think of the gang like their family. The differences are, Johnny is not a fighter and does not enjoy fighting like Dally does. Johnny dies a hero and Dally dies a violent hoodlum. If Johnny and Dally are exactly the same or very different, the story would be very different and a lot of key parts in the story would not be the same and as meaningful.
Dally was a hero for his actions and his help. After Johnny killed someone Ponyboy and Johnny went to go see Dally and asked “If he could help them hide so the police wouldn't find us.” Dally told them to “go to the abandoned church up on Jay Mountain.” Before they left he gave Pony a new shirt that was big, a gun to Johnny if he ever needed it, and some cash to buy supplies since they would half to stay there for a while. (Skipping to the part when the church was on fire) Dally also helped Johnny get out of the burning church when the church fell down and heard Johnny's screams. Dally risked his own life for Johnny’s. That's why he’s a
Another difference between Johnny and Dally is that Johnny sees good in the world while Dally does not. Dally thinks that there is no good in the world and if you are a greaser, then you are a hoodlum. In Johnny’s letter, it states, “There’s still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he knows” (152). Johnny is trying to say that Dally should see
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.
Dally and Johnny have one very remarkable similarity and that gang is their family. The one similarity stands out more than others because it describes them both the best. They both have parents who do not give them the right attention like any other child. For instance, Dally was arrested at such a young age. If his parents cared about him, he would not of been running with gangs and he would not of been in jail in the first place. Dally never brings up his mother and he only brings up his father once to say, “‘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). Dally Winston is the real gang member and that is his life. Dally makes
Johnny Cade comes from a broken home, his dad hits him, his mom does not care about Johnny, the only thing he has are his friends, the greasers. Ponyboy, one of his closest friends, is talking about everyone in the gang and when he came to Johnny he said, “Johnny had it awful rough at home”(4). Johnny unlike everyone else in the gang, except Dally, does not have someone in his family that truly cares for him. This affects him because it makes him upset that his parents do not care for him. If Johnny did not have it so hard at home, he would be more content and joyful, and even less scared. Johnny is a little bothered that his parents did not ask about Johnny so Dally goes on and says, “‘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). When Dally is 10, he gets arrested and is on the streets of New York, which shows how little Dally’s father cares about him. Maybe if his father did care, Dally would be more kind and caring, and like Johnny, more joyful. If Dally’s dad cared, he may still be living with his parents and would not be a greaser. Dally and Johnny are
Ponyboy said he would be dead if he didn't have the gang members. Johnny is the youngest in the gang. He was jumped by Socs and was seriously injured that he almost died. He had psychology impact on the Socs, he would shiver and be frighten whenever he sees a Soc. On the day he left with Ponyboy, they met a group of Socs. Since the Soc called Bob almost drowned Ponyboy to death, he killed Bob. Johnny admired Dally a lot. He wishes Dally could be proud of him for even just once. He wanted to be as tough and cool as Dally but he never succeeds. Johnny was kicked out of school and that was how Ponyboy thought he wasn't clever. Sometimes Johnny understood things better than Ponyboy in the book which was called Gone with the Wind. Johnny had the interest and talent in reading books but no one in the gang except Ponyboy was good enough to talk about these. He wasn't really close with Ponyboy before they ran away together so they didn't have a talk. Johnny also loved to watch sunsets and sunrises but no one in the gang could have spared time to watch or even talk about this. All Johnny couldn't express mad him alienated from the gang members. The only one he was close to was Dally. Dally cared for his all time and would risk his life for whatever happens on Johnny. Such as lending a gun or killing a Soc. Dally wouldn't hesitate as long as it was for
Although Dally does not have a perfect home life with his parents, he has everything else. He has an abundance of friends, he always gets what he wants, and everyone is scared of him. Is that not what a Greaser wants? All of Johnny and Dally’s friends wish they lived longer than they did. No matter how hard kids lives are, no one deserves to die that young.
As I stated above, Dally had proven that he cared about Johnny, many times throughout the book. Dally had practically taken Johnny in as his family. He was like a mentor to Johnny, he wanted him to do well and have a better life than him. Johnny was the greasers’ “kid brother,” meaning that everyone cared for him as a younger brother. On page 89, Dally says to Johnny, “Johnny, I ain’t mad at you. I just don’t want you to get hurt,” this tells us that he really cares about his feelings and doesn’t want any harm done to him. He continues with, “You don’t know what a few months in jail can do to you.” He cared about what would happen to Johnny, he didn’t want him to end up like the uncaring side of Dally. Indirectly, he mentioned caring about him, he didn’t want Johnny to end up like him if he turned himself in to the police. This proves that Dally has a caring side to
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