The Theme Of Johnny In The Outsiders

In the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, the author uses a variety of motifs. Which is a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary

Heroes are all around you but you just need to find them. In the novel The Outsiders Johnny is a hero. S.E. Hinton uses Johnny Cade's vulnerable personality and broken home life in The Outsiders to suggest that heroes do not have to be perfect. Throughout the novel, Hinton characterizes Johnny as A skinny scared boy who has been kicked around to many times. The Outsiders is about Ponyboy Curtis and his brothers, Sodapop and Darry, belong to a group of poor teenage boys called greasers. Many of them have led hard lives already, and they are tough, angry and unforgiving. They often fight with the Socs, the group of wealthy, privileged boys who beat them up for fun. In the novel The Outsiders a hero is a person, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

“Heroes are forged not born.” This quote perfectly describes Johnny Cade a well mannered 16 year old boy in the Greasers gang. In the novel “The Outsiders” Johnny didn’t have the best environment to grow up in, he was beat and left alone for most his childhood but that didn't stop him. Johnny Cade is the greatest hero in the Outsiders because of the courage he showed by saving PonyBoy, he risked his own life to save the children in the burning church, and finally Johnny kept living a motivated life despite his upbringing. Johnny Cade is the greatest hero in the novel the Outsiders.

He realizes that there is more in life than just the Socs and greasers. Johnny shows that to pony when he says, “ I don’t mind dying now… It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more mine…” (pg.178) He also says that he shouldn’t “…be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want.” Johnny is refereeing to how Ponyboy has a bright future and he can make with his life whatever he pleases. Pony finally understood what Johnny meant when he said, “stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…” He is telling Pony to just enjoy life and to live life to the fullest. Johnny wants Pony to never stop dreaming about the future and to always be

“Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold,” are Johnny Cade’s final words to Ponyboy Curtis before he passes away. What did Johnny mean by this? Surely, he doesn’t literally mean stay gold. The Outsiders, written by S. E. Hinton has many themes, including this hidden one. Throughout the book, the readers will learn more about the deeper meaning of this quote and the reason why Johnny only told this to Ponyboy- he is an innocent youth and is very unique.

Johnny is a Christ-like figure for saving kids from a burning building. Evidence is shown in this quote—“Johnny yelled, ‘shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out!’” (Hinton, 92)—Johnny takes control of the situation and rushes into a burning building to save lives, not thinking about himself. After his heroic, selfless act he was rushed to the hospital and only to died a couple days later. Johnny didn’t have to save the kids, Ponyboy had went in first so he could have stayed

Love - an intense feeling of deep affection. Love is an emotion shown in many romantic or family relationships as well as friendships. Love is shown frequently throughout the entirety of the book The Outsiders. For example, Dally is an extremely aggressive and audacious person, but he also shows immense love towards Johnny. Sodapop is a fun-loving, carefree high-school dropout, but he is understanding and shows love to both of his brothers by seeing both sides of an argument. Darry has an extremely serious personality and loves Ponyboy with tough love. All three show love in different ways, but they still do love. Love is shown throughout all of the book The Outsiders in various ways, even though there is lots of violence.

“Greatness is birthed through hardship and testing. It arises choice by choice.” -John Paul Jackson. This quote means that success comes through hard work, trial, and many great and poor choices. Ponyboy encounters many hardships such as stereotyping and Johnny’s, Darry’s, and Ponyboy’s parent’s deaths. However, he makes the choice to still act happy and to not care what other people think. Everyone acquires hardships in life and it’s how you handle them that determines who you are as a person.

This shows how he gained back his self-confidence and his ability to stand up for himself. Johnny finally found his acceptance from Dally when Dally said, “We’re all so proud of you” (148). When Dally said that Ponyboy noticed Johnny’s eyes glowing, “Dally was proud of him...That was all he ever wanted” (148). In the letter he wrote to Ponyboy, “It’s worth saving those kids...He meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like grass...When you’re a kid, everything is new, dawn,” Johnny said,“It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day… Like the way you dig sunsets, that’s gold” (178). This shows how Johnny grasped the concept of life and how his life was fulfilled when he found his true reason to live; to save those children.

After Johnny had killed Bob, and they ran away, Johnny says something to Ponyboy in the church that surprises him. After Johnny left to get supplies, he says, “We’re gonna cut our hair, and your gonna bleach yours.” (71) Johnny saying this, shows that he is starting to take action after what had happened at the park. It shows that reality is hitting Johnny, and this actually makes him slightly tougher in a way. Johnny, being a shy person usually doesn’t take action to solve the problem at han, but by doing this, it shows he is less soft and more hardy than we thought. After that, Ponyboy finds himself in a situation that he personally can’t back out of. It’s the fire at the church. Ponyboy, starts running in to help save the children, but when he turns around, he sees Johnny. “Hey Ponyboy,” Johnny says. Johnny was following Ponyboy into the fire to help save the kids. These two words that Johnny speaks, says a lot about him. For one, it shows that Johnny, isn’t really “afraid of his own shadow” anymore, like he was in beginning because of everything he has been through in the past week, it has made him tougher, in a way more like Dally. This really shows how Johnny’s personality has

You mainly see this in his actions for when he is talking to his brothers. You can see this early on in the book when he is talking about Sodapop’s old horse and wanting to get it back, “I kept saving my money for a year, thinking that someday I could buy Mickey Mouse back for Soda,” (pg. 48). This shows how much he cares for his brother and that he wants him to be happy. He also shows how much he cares about Johnny, especially when they are hiding out in the church, “ ‘Johnny,’ I said tiredly, ‘you can’t wash your hair in this freezing weather. You’ll get a cold,’ ” (pg. 72). Even through this small comment, you can see Ponyboy’s concern for Johnny’s safety. He also shows his worriedness and protectiveness over Johnny on page 102, “Dally’ll be okay I thought. Dallas is always okay. He could take anything. It was Johnny I was worried about.” He knows how frightened and anxious Johnny is after being jumped and how he is not as tough as the rest of the Greasers. Especially without a loving family at home, Johnny only has the gang and is not able to take as much. Throughout the whole novel, Ponyboy expresses how much he cares for others both with Johnny, and his

pass, Johnny was horribly scared of violence. According to the saying of parents are the best teach-

The rivalry between the Socs and the Greasers seem to increase as days go by. Could this end in more violence and bloodshed?

When talents are discovered, it is easy for us to place all our worth and purpose in that one thing, despite the warning “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. However, this is exactly what Johnny did in the book Johnny Tremain. As a naturally talented silversmith, Johnny became prideful and foolish, placing all his value in his workmanship. But one day, all of his aspirations disappeared when he burnt his hand, leaving it crippled and useless. Johnny was compelled to leave his days of serving as an apprentice for a silversmith behind him and earnestly search for a new occupation.