Outsiders Response Question
Q: Compare and contrast the characters who died; Bob, Johnny and
Dally
The narrator of the Outsiders, Ponyboy says that his friend Johnny had “it awful rough at home-it
took a lot to make him cry.” (p4) This tells the reader that Johnny his parents are hard and abusive toward
him. His gang is his real family and they help him to control his emotions because they show him support,
friendship and love. He was a “good man in a rumble … and [h]e stuck up for the gang …” (p.34) Johnny
has learned to be brave and loyal his peers. These moral values help him the right thing when something bad
situation occurs. When hiding in the church as runaways, Johnny and his friend Pony realize that their
hideout is on fire. They escape only to realize that there are children and trapped in the building. Johnny goes
back into the burning church and “a piece of timber caught him across the back” (p.95) and causes him to go
into a coma and eventually die from his injuries. Johnny is a Good Samaritan who is like a fireman. They
sacrifice themselves to save others for people in the same scary circumstances as the children were.
The narrator of the Outsiders, Ponyboy tells the reader that Bob the Soc beats up greasers all the
time. Bob is from a rich background and he drives an expensive sports car. The Socs think of themselves as
powerful figures who are “sophisticated” (p.38) and “aloof” (p. 38). Bob is cold and distant toward Socs and
looks at them like they are filth. He tells Ponyboy in a discriminating fashion that greasers are “white trash
with long hair.” (p.55) He obviously despises them and he tells Ponyboy “you could use a bath greaser.” Bob
is very violent and takes advantage of weaker individuals. He tries to drown Ponyboy in a fountain. Bob is
killed in this fight by Johnny with a six inch switchblade. Bob acts like a bully who hates others who are not
as privileged as him. Bob reminds me of my classmates who make fun of where I live in Lasalle and think it is
out of the way and in a crammed location unlike the perfect, developed of the West Island suburbia. They
think I am from a ghetto and that makes me frustrated the same way Ponyboy got angry at the Socs.
The narrator of the Outsiders, Ponyboy loses another member of his gang whose name is Dally. As a
result growing up in the tough streets of Manhattan, Dally is considered “hard as a rock and about as
Anthony Campanelli
1
English Mr. Wilds, 8-67
Outsiders Response Question
humane” (p. 42). He has the reputation of being the most dangerous member of the gang. He tries not to
show any emotion or compassion until he meets Johnny. After he meets Johnny, he finds someone that he
can relate to and trust completely. When Johnny dies, Dally loses control of his emotions: “his face
contracted in agony, and sweat streamed down his face” (p. 149). He then leaves the hospital in a hurry and
robs a grocery store. This is part of a suicidal plan to end his life because he lost the one member of his gang
that he cared for the most. He calls Ponyboy’s house telling the remaining members of the gang what he did
because he wants to escape. The police chase and follow him to the lot where they shoot him after he waves
an empty gun in the air. Ponyboy remarks that the police did not know he was “only bluffing” (154). In a
way, he chooses to end his own life by forcing the police to kill him. I think, considering how much he
missed Johnny, Dally almost had a good and decent reason to end it all. I wish he could have handled himself
psychologically as well as emotionally because then he would not have gone berserk and sadly let the police
take his life.
Anthony Campanelli
2
English Mr. Wilds, 8-67