Good people sometimes make bad decisions. They mess up and they let others down. But that doesn’t make them bad people. We all make mistakes.~Unknown
When Ponyboy Curtis thinks of Dallas Winston (Dally) from S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders he thinks of a hoodlum on the streets. He does not think of Dally as a good person because of his actions. But what if his actions have good intentions behind them? What if all the negative qualities that Ponyboy describes, Dally uses for good? Dallas Winston is not, by any means a hero but he is not necessarily a villain as well. Throughout the book, Dally has displayed 3 traits: aggressiveness, dedication, and helpfulness but most of them were not used in the way Ponyboy describes.
Aggressiveness is an obvious …show more content…
Ponyboy does not think of his trait as one of Dally’s positive traits as Ponyboy he believes that Dally’s dedication is selfish so he only cares about protecting himself. There have been a few situations where Dally’s dedication is shown. An example of a situation is when the children were trapped inside the burning church on chapter 6, pages 77 to 80. Dally stayed behind and advised Ponyboy and Johnny to do the same and when they did not listen, he ran after them but did not enter the church. On page 79 there is a quote that Dally said in which his fear for their lives was clear but overlooked by Ponyboy. “For Pete’s sake, get outta there! That roof gonna cave in any minute. Forget those blasted kids!” This quote shows how valuable Ponyboy and Johnny’s life are to Dally. He is willing to let little children die if it means that those two are safe. Ponyboy never considered the reason why Dally said this and therefore never truly knew about Dally’s true dedication. Overall, Ponyboy knew about Dally’s dedication but he always thought that it was purely selfish and never considered that perhaps Dally’s goal was to protect not only himself but his close friends as
When Ponyboy Curtis thinks of Dallas Winston (Dally) from S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders he thinks of a hoodlum on the streets. He does not think of Dally as a good person because of his actions. But what if his actions have good intentions behind them? What if all the negative qualities that Ponyboy describes, Dally uses for good? Dallas Winston is not, by any means a hero but he is not necessarily a villain as well. Throughout the book, Dally has displayed 3 traits: aggressiveness, dedication, and helpfulness but most of them were not used in the way Ponyboy describes.
Aggressiveness is an obvious …show more content…
Ponyboy does not think of his trait as one of Dally’s positive traits as Ponyboy he believes that Dally’s dedication is selfish so he only cares about protecting himself. There have been a few situations where Dally’s dedication is shown. An example of a situation is when the children were trapped inside the burning church on chapter 6, pages 77 to 80. Dally stayed behind and advised Ponyboy and Johnny to do the same and when they did not listen, he ran after them but did not enter the church. On page 79 there is a quote that Dally said in which his fear for their lives was clear but overlooked by Ponyboy. “For Pete’s sake, get outta there! That roof gonna cave in any minute. Forget those blasted kids!” This quote shows how valuable Ponyboy and Johnny’s life are to Dally. He is willing to let little children die if it means that those two are safe. Ponyboy never considered the reason why Dally said this and therefore never truly knew about Dally’s true dedication. Overall, Ponyboy knew about Dally’s dedication but he always thought that it was purely selfish and never considered that perhaps Dally’s goal was to protect not only himself but his close friends as