Change In The Outsiders, By S. E. Hinton

In S.E. Hinton's book, The Outsiders, many things and people change, but the most noticeable change was in Johnny Cade. Johnny had always been the quiet one, sitting back and doing whatever the others told him, but by the end of the book, everything had changed for him: who he was, what his situation was, and the confidence he had grew to enormous heights. This was a key part of the book because without these drastic changes in Johnny, the book would have stopped on chapter two. At first, Johnny was quiet and never talked back to anyone in the gang. His parents always treated him terribly and the gang was the closest thing he had to family, “. . . Johnny Cade was least and last. If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and lost in a crowd of strangers, you’ll have Johnny” (11). That was who he was, until he stood up for Cherry Valance. In chapter 2, Ponyboy, Dally, and Johnny went to the movies. Dally harassed the two girls sitting in front of them until Johnny insists that Dally stops: “‘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’”(24). Johnny had finally stood up for something, and in doing so it changed the way

The Socs had always bothered the Greasers, and this was not the first time Johnny, or Ponyboy had run into trouble with them. Bob, the clear leader of the Socs, ordered David, one of the Socs, to hold Ponyboy underwater, “. . .‘Give the kid a bath David’. . .”(55). Just in time, Johnny pulls Ponyboy from the fountain, “ ‘I killed him,’ He said slowly, ‘I killed that boy.’ Bob the handsome Soc, was lying there in the moon-light, doubled up and still . . .” (55). Johnny took a risk to protect the people he cared about, and doing so, he saved Ponyboy’s