Symbolism In The Outsiders

In S.E Hinton's novel, "The Outsiders," Johnny was a sixteen-year-old that acted in self-denial and wasn't guilty of murder. Before all of this happened, Johnny hanged out with Cherry, Marcia, and Ponyboy at the movies until they saw a blue Mustang coming straight through their way. In good order when the Socs got out of the Mustang, Johnny was breathing heavily that Johnny's face has been cut up by "someone wearing rings"(44). The reason being is that he got beaten up by the Socs when the last time they saw each other, and in Ponyboy's words, Johnny was "scared of his own shadow"(4). Afterward, he was crying when they found him half cautiously in the corner quite a little. As Johnny was saying, the Socs were looking for them and that he …show more content…
The Socs were drunk at that point and knew the Socs weren't going to back up anytime soon after realizing that they were surrounded by the Socs. Bob and Pony both exchanged words which cause one of the Socs to push Pony into the fountain and set his head on it after they suggested that Pony needed a bath. Here are some representatives that were being said to the two people: Bob insulted the greasers as "white trash with long hair" while on the other hand, Pony insults, right back at him by calling them "white trash with Mustangs and Madras”(55). At this point, everyone thought Ponyboy was going to fade out until he remained cautious. Johnny kills Bob afterward, but the inquiry is, why did he kill Bob? The reason being is that Johnny didn't have a choice at the time. For illustration, the Socs “gone too far”(56) according to Ponyboy while he was about to drown, and Johnny could’ve been beaten up again similar to the last time they encountered each other. In this instance, he picks the best decision out of the other possibilities he could have done. In conclusion, Johnny shouldn't take the blame for killing Bob because, without him, the perspective of this novel will be so much different than it