Similiaries and Differences in Characters in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

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Can some people so different be so a like? Can some people so alike be so different? Dally and Johnny are those two who are so different, but yet they are similar. In the book S.E. Hinton writes The Outsiders, Johnny Cade and Dally Winston come from two completely different backgrounds, and have completely different scruples. Yet, at the same time they are alike. Dally and Johnny’s parents both repudiate them, making Johnny and Dally mentally tough, and the boys do not value their lives. At the same time though they are different, Dally is stronger than Johnny. Though, Johnny has a soft heart and Dally would not even pay any attention if someone is dying right next to him. Two people with two completely different characteristics have something alike. Both Dally and Johnny are mentally tough because of their parents. Johnny and Dally’s parents both do not care for them and could care less about them. For example, during Dally’s childhood he went to jail, been in a gang, and has been in many fights and his dad still would not care for him even if he won the lottery. Dally also talks about his dad's disgrace towards him in the car with Johnny and Ponyboy, “‘ Shoot, my dad don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in a gutter...’”(88). Dally could easily live without his dad and he does for the most part. Dally just hangs around with his friends and stays at their place. Similarly, Johnny's parents use him like a rag doll to blow off steam, “his father always beating him up”(14). The gang knows what happenes in Johnny’s house. Once Ponyboy was witnessing, “Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man”(33). Ponyboy talks about how loud and mean Johnny's mom is and,“you can... ... middle of paper ... ...inks he is more important than anything else and will not even think about going out of his way to do anything nice for anyone or anything. Both Johnny and Dally’s similarities and differences balance each other out. Johnny and Dally are both similar, yet at the same time they are different. In S.E Hinton's book The Outsiders, Dally and Johnny both do not value their lives and they both are mentally tough. Contraversly Dally is much stronger than Johnny, but Johnny has a softer heart than Dally. Johnny and Dally are like a ying yang, with all good there is some bad and with all bad there is some good. In this case with Johnny and Dally, with all similarities there are differences and with all differences there are similarities. But is it really possible for two different people with different surplus be alike, or are they just pretending they like each other.

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