Comparing Johnny And Dally In The Novel 'The Outsiders'

Johnny vs Dally: Hard vs Soft

‘“So he finally broke,’ Two-Bit spoke everyone’s feelings, ‘So even Dally has a breaking point.” (152). In the book The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, there are two unique characters. Johnny and Dally are two characters that are unique and also the same. The two of them are opposites. Dally is hard, Johnny is gold. Johnny sees good in the world, Dally does not. Yet the two are also have similar lifestyles, both Johnny and Dally have abusive parents. The two share a similar bond, they both care about each other more than anything. Johnny was smart enough to realize the good in his world, unfortunately Dally could not.

Johnny and Dally have both had hard lives. Both of their parents were abusive and uncaring. At Johnny’s

Dally, on the other hand, felt he had lost everything and resorted to suicide. When Johnny died, he left a letter in his copy of Gone With The WInd by Margaret Mitchell. The letter asked Ponyboy (the main character and narrator of the book) to stay gold and to tell Dally “There’s still good in the world.” (179). Johnny was trying to look out for Dally and to try to convince him this fact he never believed. Johnny, however, believe it himself. Dally gave up on the world. He saw nothing that was good, Johnny was the last good thing in the world. Then Johnny died, Dally couldn’t take his life having nothing. Dally robbed a grocery store to get the cops attention, he called the Curtis brothers who had the gang there. They met at the lot, Dally stopped in the middle of it as the cops pulled into the lot. Dally pulled an empty gun out and pointed it at an officer. The officers shot and killed him. “He was dead before he hit the ground. But I know that was what he wanted.”(149) Dally saw nothing good in the world so he left it. It was all part of his plan. Johnny saw meaning in his life, but Dally

Johnny, after he had been beaten and killed socs, never turned hard. He got scarred for life, but he didn’t turn hard. Dally was a hard guy, he broke the law all the time. “He had been arrested, he got drunk, he rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, stole, rolled drunks, jumped small kids,”(11). Dally turned into a hard criminal who hated everyone but Johnny. Dally didn’t care about anyone. He learned not to the hard way. Johnny, on the other hand, had an open heart. Johnny cared about the innocent. He believed in what was right. Johnny and Pony went into a burning church to save little children the had never met. Dally didn’t care enough to go in. Later, the church collapsed in Johnny and he broke his back. Johnny stayed soft and realized what good it did for him to save those children. “I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth saving those kids.”(178). Johnny knew he had done the right thing. And after all he had gone through, he still could care after socs jumping him, and beatings from his parents. Johnny and Dally had different mindsets throughout their troubles. Johnny stayed soft, and Dally turned