Johnny In The Outsiders

He may at times be afraid to stand up for himself but he is very courageous. One way Johnny shows courage is “We pushed open the door to the back room and found four or five little kids, about eight years old or younger, huddled in the corner. One was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled, ‘’Shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out!” Page 92. This quote shows that Johnny is courageous because He went into a burning abandon church to save five or four kids that were about eight years old or younger. He risked his life to save those kids in the church. Another way how Johnny shows that he is a ‘’hero’’ is, “You really killed him, huh, Johnny?’’ ‘’Yeah.’’ His voice quavered slightly. “I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade . . . they were gonna beat me up. . . .” Page.57. This quote shows Johnny being a ‘’hero’’. Johnny defended his friend before the group wanted to drown Ponyboy. Johnny took out his switchblade and killed Bob. The last example is “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.” This quote relates to how Johnny is brave because Johnny is always afraid to stand up for himself but he was brave enough to fight back and stand up for Cherry because Dally kept annoying Cherry and she

Johnny was a hero too because before Pony and him stayed at the church. The socs came to Pony and Johnny about why were they walking their girlfriends home. Since the socs are very violent they got Ponyboy and tried to drown him in a fountain. Then Johnny killed one of the socs named Bob because if

The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, is a novel which tells the story of two rival gangs from Oklahoma in 1965. The rivalry is between Greasers who are much poorer than their counterparts from the west-side, the Socials. Ponyboy Curtis is the narrator of this story, and it is through his eyes that the events unfold. In this classic, there three characters who stood out from the rest: Darry Curtis, Dally Whinston and of course, Johnny Cade. But, are they heroes? To answer this question, one must first know what a hero is. In my opinion, a hero is a person who, in the face of danger, adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good.

In anger and in fear he stopped Bob from hurting Pony(56), that left him with a feeling that distressed him greatly. He says to Pony, “Shut up about last night! I killed a kid last night…. How’d you like to live with that”(74)? This eats away at Johnny and makes him cry- “it took alot to make Johnny cry”(4). When Pony and Johnny go on the run because Johnny killed Bob, they leave everything behind and only stay in touch with Johnny’s hero, Dally. It hurt Johnny even more when Dallas had told him his parents had not asked about him after he ran away(88). He decided to turn himself in and stop running when he saw that it did more harm than good. Johnnycake knew that it wasn’t fair for Pony to be away from his family. On their way back to the church they see that it had caught on fire. Pony and Johnny knew that they had probably started the fire and ran in the church to try and save the children stuck inside. They rushed to get the kids out of the church window as embers fell on them. Though they go through these hard times they end up being heroes when they save the children and learn quite a few things.

• Johnny’s parents hated him, beat and cursed at him, didn’t care where he was or what happened to him

In his ten years of living with her, he was abused, mentally and physically. He would get whipped, cut, beaten, shot, unfed, etc. then the children were not any better in the neighborhood. They would pick on him, insult him and his mother, beat him when he was alone. But there was one person who was there for him, that person was Officer Malley Jones. He was a well respected officer, and that went especially for Johnny, as one day when the other children were ganging up on Johnny, all

Johnny had an abusive relationship with his parents. According to Ponyboy he says: “He would have run away…” (12). Johnny hasn’t had an easy life, his parents do not pay much attention to him and are verbally and physically abusive to him. Also, because of him being a Greaser he got beaten very badly by the Socs. In Johnny’s case he was used to being abused by his parents but after the Socs got a hold of him he saw that abuse is bad, and after almost being beaten to death he lived in fear every day. Johnny never hurts other people but when he sees others being mistreated he steps in. “I killed him”, he said slowly, “I killed that boy” (49). In this quote, Ponyboy is telling what Johnny told him after he killed Bob. Because of the Socs drowning Ponyboy, Johnny feels angry for what they were doing so he lets anger take over and he kills Bob. Later in the book, Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally help save the kids from the church fire. Johnny gets hurt and has to go to the hospital. In this hospital Johnny mentions “It was worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for” ( ). Johnny realizes that the best thing he could have done was save those children, even if it meant losing his life. Because of the violence that he faced at home and with the Socs he was ok with dying because he saved the children’s

In the novel The Outsiders, many characters could be considered heroes. Some heroes in The Outsiders include Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally. A hero must be a person who is dedicated, motivated, inspirational, intelligent, and helpful. These traits in the gang bind them and make them as strong as steel.

He’s Ponyboy’s best friend, he withstands beatings all the time, he’s like the entire gang’s little brother, he runs into a burning building to rescue small children much like a superhero, and then breaks his back and dies, much unlike a superhero. While in the hospital, Johnny laments about the fact that he’s dying. “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 (Hinton, pg. 121).” Johnny’s gold was when he went into that fiery church to save the trapped schoolchildren, but it left him when a beam fell onto his back. After a while of being confined to the hospital, he finally learns to accept his death. When he does pass, Johnny leaves Ponyboy his copy of “Gone With the Wind”. Inside is a note, describing how he decides that if him dying saves the lives of the kids, it was all worth it in the end. Much like a

Johnny went from shy kid to a brave hero in The Outsiders. When the story was starting, Ponyboy says, “If you can picture a little dark puppy that had been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny" (Hinton 1). When S.E Hinton described him in those terms because of Johnny’s dark eyes and black hair and shyness. His dark eyes were filled with fear basically all the time. His parents abused and neglected him him whole life; the only people who cared about him are the greasers.

The best of hero’s are people that are able to rise above the worst of personal circumstances to prove that these things are not able to hold them back and they still can become someone who can contribute to society. The character of Johnny Cade is definitely not the archetype of a hero. Firstly, Johnny has a very bad home life in which he is subjected of verbal, physical, and emotional abuse by his own parents. “Living in those conditions might have turned someone else rebellious and bitter…” (Hinton, 33-34). This quote reveals that Johnny Cade grows up in a abusive home and he is neglected by his own parents. Living in this type of condition would make anyone feel unimportant and would lower their self-esteem. But Johnny doesn’t allow

Johnny is caring and loving towards his family [ sodapop, Darry etc..] he had a horrible relationship to his real family but has lived through it and it hasn’t

Johnny is a very kind guy. He brought Ponyboyś favorite book when they were in the church. Like when he was with Ponyboy and he killed Bob and pulled him out of the freezing water. Where he saved his butt from drowning in the cold, cold water. Heś so king from these amazing reasons.

This stamps him as an ill mannered, reckless person. However, this could not be farther from the truth. HInton reveals this by telling his story, and showing who he truly is through his actions and dialogue. Johnny's three main character traits are, timidness, quick thinking, and emotionally unstable. He is like this because

Johnny grew up in a poor family in Colorado. When he was eleven years old his mother died in a car crash. Johnny got motivated to do great things after his mother died. Johnny started living with his aunt and uncle because Johnny's dad was into drugs