The character Johnny grows in major ways throughout The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Johnny was a greaser, His best friend was Ponyboy, the main character. Johnny was a dynamic character, he contributed a lot to the main theme. Johnny had bad parents and committed murder. Soon after his bad acts, he became a hero. He ultimately became a better person a the end of his life. Johnny is a Christ-like figure because he sacrificed himself to save children from a fire; Johnny also contributes to the a theme of the book: appearances aren’t everything; lastly he serves to teach Ponyboy about the world though his actions and words.
Johnny is a Christ-like figure for saving kids from a burning building. Evidence is shown in this quote—“Johnny yelled, ‘shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out!’” (Hinton, 92)—Johnny takes control of the situation and rushes into a burning building to save lives, not thinking about himself. After his heroic, selfless act he was rushed to the hospital and only to died a couple days later. Johnny didn’t have to save the kids, Ponyboy had went in first so he could have stayed
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Johnny shows Ponyboy that the world isn’t corrupt with mean people and that it is still full of good. Johnny stated in the note Ponyboy found in the book Gone With The Wild that it is was worth saving the kids even if it meant his life. He also stated that the poem in the book meant “He meant you’re gold when you’re a kid,like green… and don’t get bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world” (Hinton 178-9). This shows to Ponyboy that just because his best friend is dying doesn’t mean he shouldn’t stop living his life too. It also shows that he shouldn 't stop doing good deeds himself. Lastly it shows that just because he lost a friend don’t mean the world has turned rotten and mean on him, it is still the same world, with more love than