The Outsiders: Johnny vs. Dally The Outsiders is a book by S.E. Hinton. The teens are part of two rival gangs, the Greasers and Socs, who are split up by socio-economic status. Johnny and Dally are two of the main characters and are both East Side Greasers from the poor side of town. They are the two most contrasting characters but still adore and look up to each other. Johnny is a small, shy fourteen-year-old with dark hair, and Dally is a tough looking seventeen-year-old with blonde hair. If anyone ever needed an example of when opposites attract, Johnny and Dally would fit perfectly. Although Johnny and Dally have both had a rough upbringing, they differ in the way their experiences influence their actions, personalities, and perception of the world. Johnny, just as much as Dally, had a rough time growing up and they were brought together in the gang because of it. Johnny’s father was always beating him every chance that he got and neither of his parents cared to have him around.
He would sleep outside in the cold and not come home for days and they wouldn’t even notice (Hinton ch.1). Dally had a similar situation going on at home. In chapter six he explains that he doesn’t care about his parents and they don’t care about him (Hinton). Both young men have bad things going on at home and turned to the gang to find something that they have never had, a family. When it comes to life experiences, Johnny has not been through or seen as much as Dally has. Johnny has never left his small town and hardly ever leaves his neighborhood on the east side. As a result, he has never been exposed to any gangs other than the Greasers and the Socs. Though Johnny is a Greaser and lives on the rough side of town, he has never been arrested or gotten into any trouble with the law. His experiences on the east side have not led him to be wild and cause trouble, but instead quiet and nervous.
On the contrary, Dally is always in trouble with the police and was arrested for the first time when he was ten years old in New York. This is because, while in New York, he experienced a very different kind of gang activity than what Johnny has with Greasers and Socs. Dally was involved in organized crime gangs that were not split based on socio-economic status. This exposed him to a life of crime and violence very early in his life. The different experiences that each character had, shaped the personalities that are shown and described throughout the book. The personalities of these two characters are exact opposite of each other. First, there is Johnny who seems to be a very scared, nervous and introverted person.
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He is described to be like “a puppy who has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers” (Hinton ch.1). He never talked much and seems like someone who would be afraid of his own shadow, but he is a caring, sensitive individual who does show affection. Then there is the hoodlum, Dally. He is tough as nails, mean as can be, and as violent as they come. Unlike Johnny, he is very outgoing and has no problem making his thoughts heard by anyone and everyone. Dally also shows no care or affection for anyone or anything. He is as cold as can be. Another way Johnny and Dally are different are their perceptions of the world and the people around them.
For example, Johnny does not hate everything for the most part. His hate is aimed towards his situation because of the way he is neglected and abused by his family. Even with all the anger Johnny builds up from the way he is treated at home, he still manages to find positive things to think about. He believes that a person’s social class does not define who the person is. Johnny believes that not all Greasers are mean like Dally and not all Socs are bad people out to get Greasers. In contrast, Dally believes that Greasers are Greasers and Socs are Socs and that’s all there is to it. He hates everything and is always mad about something. He is described in the first chapter as “hardened to the point of not caring,” and never lets the reader doubt it (Hinton). Dally is someone who does not look deeper than the surface and will never find a purpose for life.
Even though they were so different, the East Side Greasers brought these two together and made them family. Dally had seen and experienced much more which made him wiser, but also wilder than Johnny. Johnny was sensitive which made him softer and more introverted than Dally. He also had a much more positive outlook on life as a whole than careless and angry Dally did. There are so many differences between the two of them but there is still one thing that ties them together and bonds them tighter than anything ever could. Neither of them has a family at home, so they turn to the gang and provide a sense of family for each other.
