The Obituary: Johnny Cade's Life

" All of Ponyboy's greaser pals--including his brothers--seem to understand that Pony is not like the rest of them. Ponyboy excels at school: He garners good grades, likes to write, and is a member of the track team. His friends all know that Pony has a chance to make it out of town, go to college and make something of himself. The other greasers have already given up on ever rising above their economic and social status: Soda has dropped out of school, Darry works two jobs, and Johnny has adapted to life on the streets; Two-Bit, Steve and Dally are already well on their way to becoming legitimate hoods.

In the book, The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis is part of the Greaser’s, a gang of boys who are in the lower class in 1965. Their arch rival, the Socs, are the more privileged, upper class boys from across town. Throughout the book, the two gang have many conflicts. Darry, Ponyboy’s oldest brother acts as a parent figure for him since both of his parents were killed in a car crash. Other member of the Greasers are Dally, Two-Bit, Steve, Sodapop, and Johnny. After getting in a fight with his brother, Ponyboy flees to the park where he runs into a group of Socs. The Socs attack Ponyboy and hold his head under the water in the fountain, trying to kill him. Ponyboy blacks out, and later wakes up to see on the Soc boys dead body next to him. Johnny then tells Ponyboy that he killed the boys because they were trying to kill Ponyboy. The boys are afraid, and desperately try to find Dally Winston, who gives them a gun and sends them to the abandoned church to hide. The two boys stay at the church for a while until they decide to go back into town. As they are leaving

Even in his own home, he doesn’t feel right. A quote about him from page twelve that shows this is, “His father is always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked up at something…” Both Johnny’s mother and father abuse him. His mother makes sure he knows that he isn’t wanted, and Johnny’s father likes to use him as a punching bag. He is also seen as an outsider in the Greasers. On page twelve, he is described as, “Johnny Cade was last and least...” and “He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes.” This means that out of all the Greasers, Johnny Cade is the smallest, most cautious, and most of all, afraid.

Been in a gang for Johnny gave him a person that would stick by him when something went wrong, when Johnny murdered Bob, Ponyboy stuck by him. Ponyboy knew the risks of sticking with Johnny but Johnny was a Greaser and Greaser’s stuck together. On the other hand, the Soc’s were disloyal and abandoned Bob when he was murdered which was something a Greaser would never do. A quote form the book is “Just buddies who stuck together.”

The first reason why Johnny Cade is guilty of murder is because he carried a switchblade with him to kill the next person who jumped him. Ponyboy says, “Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He’d use it, too, if he ever got jumped again . . . He would kill the next person who jumped him” (Hinton 34). This shows

Johnny Cade, the boy who saved a lot of kids from the burning church died in the year of 1965.  He was only 16 years old, and he was born March 1, 1949.  He saved at least four to five kids in the burning church.  He died because he tried to save all the kids from the burning church but he got burnt trying to save all the kids.  A piece of the roof caught on fire and fell on his back, his back was really burnt.

There are many members of the Greasers. There is “Dally” or Dallas Winston, the hot-headed, sharp looking, roughest member of the Greasers, who lived in New York City for three years. Sodapop Curtis, Ponyboy’s second oldest brother (sixteen years old), dropped out of high school, and now works in a gas station. Darrel or “Darry” Curtis is

Johnny was the one that needed his friends the most, with a dad that beat him, and a mom that ignored him, until she needed something to yell at, then she yelled at him so loud Ponyboy could hear it from down the street. Due to this abusive relationship with his parents, Johnny needed something, or someone to fall back on, this was the gang, including Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darry, Two-Bit, Dally, and Steve. Johnny often slept over at Ponyboy's when life at home was especially hard, and Ponyboy even claimed "He would have ran away a million times if we weren't there"

Johnny overcame many life problems that would have turned someone bitter or a coward. He was raised in a terrible home, with his physically abusive father and verbally abusive mother. Ponyboy claimed that, “If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are.” Johnny found

“‘I killed him,’ he said slowly. ‘I killed that boy’” (Hinton 56). In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, they talk about a boy named Johnny that killed a boy, and the growth of a child named Ponyboy. Johhnny Cade has many names. To live on the rundown section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the 1960’s you are not expected to be wealthy or to have an emotional attachment to things. That is what the Greaser’s were; they jumped, stole, and went to jail. People would never expect them to be educated or that somebody loves them. The Greasers were all there for each other, they loved one another like family. This boy, his family is the gang. From the backgrounds that Johnny grows up in, you can see why the names given to him. These titles are not just words. They explain who he is. Suspicious, damaged, and a hero are all labels to describe Johnny Cade.

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

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.

Question: How did Dally feel after Johnny died. Why? R: Dally felt really sad after Johnny died. He was in denial.

Ponyboy, Johnny, Sodapop, Darry are all a part of the unruly gang, the Greasers. S.E Hinton is writing these characters as rebellious young men, with a harsh background, who takes their anger and hardship out on gang fighting. These roles play an important part in this book because it shows that even though they nothing physically, they have a heart stronger than gold for each other and others mentally. Hinton use these characters to show prejudice leads to wrong conclusions, violence and oppression because these “poor” young men are getting beat up by the rich Socs who have never felt the feeling of being in poverty. “ You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you’re in a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make

Johnny Cade, from the book The Outsiders, is a small and meek boy. johnny is a part of the gang the Greasers. The greasers are enemies with the other gang “The Socs”. In the book, the main character Ponyboy, who