Johnny And Dally Analysis

Can two completely different characters also be very similar? This is the case with Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston from The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Though they are both at first glance, different, they are also very similar. One way that Johnny and Dally are similar is that they have abusive or neglectful parents. The second way they are similar is that they both care about each other. While the ways they are different is that Johnny is law-abiding while Dally is not, and Johnny is sensitive while Dally is mean and tough. Despite these plentiful differences, Dally and Johnny are tremendously similar. Johnny and Dally have a huge similarity, which is that they both have abusive or neglectful parents. Johnny’s parents do not care for him and never think about where he is or what he is doing. Along with that, Johnny states that he feels like he is being noticed when he gets hit and abused by his father. Normally, someone hates this type of attention. Johnny’s mother even goes to the hospital to …show more content…
Dally bothers Cherry and Marcia when they went out to watch a movie. When Cherry asks for Dally to stop, this happens, “Dally merely looked at her and kept his feet where they were. ‘Who’s gonna make me?’” (21). A few moments later, Dally even says, “‘I’m never nice.’” (22). He states it himself that he is not nice and does not listen to other people. Johnny, on the other hand, is much more sensitive and nice, unlike Dally. When he meets Cherry and Marcia, Ponyboy sees Johnny, “...manage a shy ‘hi’ to the girls and tried to watch the movie. He was nervous though” (24). From Ponyboy saying this, it shows that Johnny is not outgoing, unlike Dally and is pretty shy, not being able to talk to others easily. Even the time when he kills Bob, he does not want to, but he did it to protect himself. This shows that both Johnny and Dally are distinctly