“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself” This quote by author Joseph Campbell means that a hero is a person who is not necessarily strong, but they are selfless, and that they are devoted to something that is not only good for them, but for the good of a large amount of people . The largest hero in The Outsiders is Johnny. Throughout the book Johnny shows that he has a large amount of selflessness, devotion to a greater cause, and courage
Firstly, Johnny shows a large amount of selflessness throughout the book. Johnny went back inside of a burning building in order to save a group of children, and ended up saving his friend instead of himself. “We dropped the last of the kids out as the front of
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On his deathbed, Johnny wanted his friends to be safe and stop being violent and quit fighting. ‘“Useless… fighting’s no good…”’ (Hinton 148) Johnny wants his friends to stay safe, no matter what. In his last words Johnny said something important to his best friend, Ponyboy. “‘Stay gold Ponyboy. Stay gold…”’(148) Johnny died after he said that, and the message stuck with his best friend for a long time. Johnny believes that other people’s lives are more important than his own life.
Lastly, Johnny has a large amount of courage and he displays this throughout the book. When his friends are in danger Johnny shows large amounts of courage. ‘“ I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you.”’(Hinton Johnny would not kill or hurt someone under almost any circumstances. Johnny also showed courage when he was saving a child from a burning church. “‘Shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out”’( Johnny made sure that he would get this child out of the building no matter what. Without courage Johnny would not have been able to do anything heroic. Johnny has courage and is able to use it to help and save