Johnny And Dally Character Analysis

Johnny and Dally: Same Beginnings, Different Endings

How can two friends grow up the same, with the same environment and type of parents, but one die as a criminal and the other as a hero? Dally and Johnny are the same when it comes to their parents and life in general. Although, completely different when it comes to how they died and their perspectives of Ponyboy in the novel “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton.

Johnny and Dally are very similar, for example, they both have abusive and neglectful parents that do not pay attention to them. Dally’s parents do not care where he is or what he is doing. Dally says to Johnny while relating to him “‘Shoot, my old man don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in a gutter”’(88). Dally says this to Johnny because he is

One difference is that Johnny dies a hero, while Dally dies a hoodlum. Dally always tries to break the law, he could never do things the legal way. Ponyboy narrates “Dally didn’t die a hero. He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he would die someday” (154). Before Dally died, he robbed a grocery store, the cops are chasing him when he pulled out an unloaded gun. On the other hand, Johnny died a hero. He died for a reason, for a purpose. Johnny died after putting his life at risk for innocent, young children. Johnny writes in a note to Ponyboy “Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine. They have more to live for” (178). When Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally are going back to the church to hide out, they see it is on fire. Heroically, Johnny runs into the church. Although Pony and Dallas follow him all those children would not be saved if Johnny was not there. He dies a brave young man and is okay with that because he saved all those children. At the end of their lives Johnny is a hero and Johnny is a juvenile