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The Outsiders Compare And Contrast Essay

Decent Essays

Friendships are like peanut butter and jelly, they are great by themselves, but even better together. If every person had a friend just like them, life would be boring. A friend that is somewhat similar, but also somewhat different is just right. In the novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Johnny and Dally share many similarities and differences. Both Johnny and Dally are similar in the way that they both have a terrible home life. Johnny and Ponyboy are resting in the park when they accidentally fall asleep. Johnny wakes up Ponyboy at two in the morning and tells him to run home fast because Ponyboy’s brothers do care about him unlike Johnny’s parents. “‘I think I’ll stay all night out here.’ Johnny’s parents didn’t care if he came home …show more content…

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.
A distinct difference between the two Greasers are their personalities. Johnny is a very innocent kid. He tries to never break the rules throughout everything he does. “‘Shut up about last night! I killed a kid last night. He couldn’t have been over seventeen or eighteen, and I killed him. How’d you like to live with that?”’(74). Johnny kills Bob Sheldon as an act of self-defense because Bob is drowning Ponyboy. This is Johnny’s first ever crime, he does not have a record with the police and is usually very law abiding. Johnny also wants to turn himself in, as he feels guilty. Dally on the other hand, loves to break the rules. He is always getting into some sort of trouble and does not care when he does. “‘Dallas has a record with the fuzz a mile long”’(95). Ponyboy, Johnny and Dally are in the hospital because of the fire in the church. Ponyboy is talking to a guy about the heroic event, and Ponyboy tells him how they are greasers and punks. He tells him about how Dally was in a gang in New York and is always in and out of jail. Dally and Johnny have complete opposite personalities, yet a very close friendship.

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