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book report on the outsiders
essays on the book the outsiders
book report on the outsiders
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Ernest Hemingway once said, “All things truly wicked start from innocence.” This quote is relevant to the story, The Outsiders, because sixteen year old Johnny Cade is considered innocent. Johnny is still considered innocent because he is not yet an adult. Another reason he might be believed innocent is because he is quiet, small for his age, and the pet of a group called ‘The Greasers’. However, his conceived innocence is soon diluted not by adulthood, but the truly wicked act of murder. He and Ponyboy Curtis were running away when some guys from another group called ‘The Socs’ stopped them and were going to beat them up. Johnny ended the impending fight quickly by stabbing Bob Sheldon, one of the Socs, in the back because he had told David to drown Ponyboy. During this paper our group proves our verdict, innocent.
As juror number one, I had to research why Johnny should, or should not be tried for the murder of Bob Sheldon, the Soc. I also had to research murder among teens and what happened during the killing of Bob Sheldon. During my research, I found that murder was considered a premeditated killing, and I also found that Johnny can only be tried for murder in Connecticut, New York, and North Carolina because of his age. Johnny was planning on saving, Ponyboy Curtis, who at the time was being drowned by David, the Soc Bob had told him to “give Ponyboy a bath.” In trying to save Ponyboy he pulled out his pocket knife and stabbed Bob Sheldon in the back therefore causing David to release Ponyboy and flee the scene. After finding that information I also found that Bob Sheldon and his group of friends had stopped their car on The Greasers side of town and got out to show them a lesson for taking out their girls. ...
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..., even by Ponyboy, who is the youngest of the group and two years younger than Johnny. Dally, the toughest and the meanest guy in The Greasers, is Johnny’s idol and seeing how he acts in situations probably influenced Johnny’s choice of action. Watching these bigger guys close in on him and Ponyboy being drowned, he was probably thinking, ‘what would Dally do what would Dally do?’ So he did what he thought Dally would do he pulled out the knife and stabbed Bob Sheldon so he would have extra hands helping him to fight off the rest of the guys, but that did not happen because they ran off in fear of Johnny.
Works Cited
http://www2.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/crc/webquest/OutsidersWebQuest/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/juvenile/stats/states.html
The Outsiders
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/ernest_hemingway.html
The Outsiders is a novel of conflicts---greaser against Socs, rich against poor, the desire for violence against the desire for peace. The character Dally and Johnny affect the novel’s conflicts as greaser and as friends of Ponyboy, however they have opposite personalities and approaches. Johnny and Dally are different because Johnny likes to stay out of trouble. Dally on the other hand doesn’t mind getting in trouble. He has gone to jail and has gotten beaten up for some of the things he does, but he still continues to do things that will get him into trouble. Some similarities between the two of them are that they both care for their friends. When someone is in getting into an unfair fight against the Socials, they all come down and help no matter what it was for.
Dally beats up kids, steals things, and cheats just in the hopes of picking a fight. Before the rumble is about to start, Dally comes running in. He says, “Don’t you know a rumble ain’t a rumble unless I’m in it?” (144). Dally breaks out of the hospital to go fight in the rumble, even with his injured arm. Dally undoubtedly enjoys beating up the Socs and especially watching them lose. Another instance in which Dally shows his lust for fighting is when he is in a dime store. Ponyboy says of Dally, “One time, . . . a guy told him to move over . . . Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose” (24). Even when it has no effect, Dally still likes to pick fights. More often than not, Dally has no reason for fighting, he just does it for fun. On the other hand, Johnny does not like fighting and has a very negative view on it. Throughout the novel, Johnny is always telling everyone how fighting won’t solve anything. For example, when Johnny is dying in the hospital, Dally comes in and tells him the greasers beat the Socs. To this, Johnny replies, “‘Useless . . . fighting’s no good’” (148). Even while Johnny can barely choke out words, he still feels he has to tell Dally and Pony this. Therefore, it is clear to see Johnny believes fighting is impractical. The discrepancy between Dally and Johnny’s views on fighting is an example of how these two
A juvenile delinquent, Dally was put in jail when he was only ten years old. This probably is the outcome of him having a lack of a guardian when he was a youth. In addition, while on Jay Mountain, Johnny asks Dally whether his parents wanted to know about him. Dally replies saying “‘... They didn’t. Blast it Johnny, what do they matter? 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. That don’t bother me none’”(88). This is the only time Dally mentions his father in the novel and his tone suggests his disdain. Dally’s insolent behavior has to be because of his inadequate parents. Likewise, Johnny is also a victim of bad parenting due to his abusive mother and father. In The Outsiders the narrator, Ponyboy, describes Johnny’s personality and family atmosphere in the exposition. Ponyboy states about Johnny: “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house”(12). Pony’s statement shows how Johnny Cade has a difficult life at him and so he relies on the Greasers for family. This evidence leads to the conclusion that Johnny and Dally both have neglectful parents causing them to rely on their gang for family
Greasers are expected to be bad people that are rude because of Greaser reputations. The Greasers are always being watched to see if they do anything wrong. Greasers are expected to do wrong by the the public. “On the front page of the second section was the headline: Juvenile Delinquents Turn Heroes.”(107). This shows that even though Ponyboy and Johnny saved those kids, they were expected to be Juvenile delinquents because they are Greasers, even though the only thing Johnny ever did to be a juvenile delinquent is kill Bob and that was in self defence.
In S. E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, all is well until the end of this section; the innocence of Ponyboy of Johnny lost to the murder of Bob.The loss of Johnny’s innocence is the heavier surprise. He has mainly been the victim of his problems with his situations, showing the innocence, before
...nny passed away a piece of each Greasers heart passed away as well. Ponyboy who usually aced his classes was lucky to get a C on assignments after Johnny deceased. He dazed off during classes and thought about the gang, mainly Johnny. While Dallas completely lost his mind when Johnny died. Dallas robbed a store to make sure the police followed him. He had made the bold decision to pull out his unloaded gun when he was surrounded by police officers. Dally new that once he pulled out his gun, his life was going to end. Dally had no reasons to stay alive since the only person he actually cared about passed away. Johnny spiritually gave Dally the courage and determination he needed to get through everyday when he was still alive. In other words, the loss and grief their group of Greasers underwent was what made all the boys make illogical decisions.
Dally did something to save one of his gang members too. It was Dally who pulled Johnny out from the burning church. Johnny would have died instantly if Dally did not get Johnny out of the church. When Dally was shot, Ponyboy remembered the things Dally had done for them.
Johnny Cade is a small boy that manages to keep the peace in this rough group. A young boy with a kind heart is the glue that sticks to everyone and keeps them all together. It is said, without Johnny, The Greasers would all fall apart. “But, Johnny was the gang’s pet, and Dally just couldn’t hit him.” Ponyboy had said after Johnny told Dallas off without consequence.
I understand that I am going to attempt to keep Johnny out of jail because what he had done in my perspective was self defense. This happened in The Outsiders book. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print. I feel that you may think that Johnny is guilty of homicide because he had killed Bob during the evening by the park. He had not attempted to kill him, he was using self defence, as the novel had stated in chapter 4, Johnny warns the socs that showed up that they were in a part of town that they were not supposed to be in but the socs ignored the warning and still provoked the fight. Later in chapter 4 it also informs us that the socs were starting to drown Ponyboy so Johnny had used his switchblade without really meaning to kill anyone. Johnny has informed me that he and Ponyboy Curtis were walking in the park in the evening and that a vehicle had shown up and some boys had gotten out and threatened them. These boys had pulled out a knife and threatened to use it against them. One of the boys then started to assault Johnny and another attacked Ponyboy. The one attacking Ponyboy then decided to move him to a fountain and tried to drown him. When Johnny realized what they were doing he had turned to them and pulled out a knife and flung at them without meaning to kill Bob. But keep in mind that Bob was drowning Ponyboy so this act was used in defense. I feel that Johnny is innocent because he was using self defense, but he should not have ran from the crime scene. Another thing in chapter 4 was that a little while later when Ponyboy came conscious again Johnny said, "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. “They might have killed you. And they had a blade... they were gonna beat me up...." I found this informat...
Literature allows the reader to experience a variety of conflicts and emotions of the characters in the plot or novel. In The Outsiders, Johnny faces various conflicts. Specifically, Johnny struggles with abusive, unloving parents, the fact that he never got a proper education, and that he was wanted for manslaughter. Thus, Johnny must learn that his life is precious.
Johnny Cade was born on the first of March in 1949 and died at the age of 16 in 1965 due to his injury on his back. He had parents that didn’t care for him at all and abused him verbally and physically. His mother was alcoholic and ignored him all the time, his father in the other hand, abused him which made Johnny feel a sense of affection from his dad, he felt as even if he’s hitting him it was still acknowledging his existence. Although Johnny was young he had already been in fights, one that had left Johnny traumatized. Since he was in such a big fight before that left severely damaged, he tries his best to stay away from fights. However, he declared if someone would fight him again, he’d kill them with his own hands. Johnny did end up
She felt that speaking to Ponyboy and Johnny caused her boyfriend to be angry. The assault would not have occurred if she had no chosen to sit and converse with them. Dally even said, “‘Hey, didn’t I tell you we got us a spy...She said she felt it was her fault.’” Thanks to Cherry, Johnny was charged with manslaughter and not murder. He was surprised that a soc would help the greasers. “Johnny gagged and I almost dropped my hot fudge sundae.” Cherry showed by helping the greasers that she did not care about stereotypes and did not let them define her
How can two people who are so different have so much in common? How can a kid who went to jail at the age of ten have anything in common with some kid that does not have a record with the police. However, in S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders there are two such characters. Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston are similar because there parents do not pay attention to them and the gang is their family. Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston are different because Dally likes fighting and Johnny does not. They are also different because Dally is the follows the laws the least and Johnny follows them the most. Therefore, Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston have similarities in their life but have a lot of differences.
The Outsiders is a novel by S.E Hinton, that follows a young boy named Ponyboy who grows up in a gang. Johnny, Sodapop and Darry help him find how he fits into the world and without them he would have a hard time finding his own identity. Without having a close group of friends he would have a tough way of life, especially with the Socs. Being in a group that you associate with, that have different values to yourself can lead you to disregard your own ethics and do things you wouldn’t normally do, but at the same time this can assist and reinforce your own values…
Johnny and Dally are both very contrasting characters in the book; however they do have their similarities. Also, they both look up to each other. In the novel, Johnny is the character that reflects sensitivity and weakness. Johnny is constantly beaten by his father and is ignored by his mother. He has lost many things in life that others may take for granted. A quote from the novel describes Johnny as a “dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers” on page fourteen. Johnny’s soft and delicate personality is evident in that statement, especially when he is referred to a “puppy”. The image of a puppy implies vulnerability, a reflection on Johnny’s personality. Whereas Johnny is the vulnerable spot in the Greasers, Dally is on the other hand, the exact opposite. Dally is cold-hearted and hard, and plays the character of the devil in the novel. A quote from the book describes Dally’s eyes as “blue, blazing ice, cold with the hatred of the whole world” on page fourteen. This quote describes Dally as a cold character, and refers to the fact that Dally has seen many more hardships in his life than happiness. You can see that Johnny and Dally are both very different. However...