Is Johnny Justified In The Outsiders

Ever since the beginning of time, people have been fighting whether it was the Greeks and the Romans or the allies and axis powers in WWII. It is no different for Johnny Cade and Bob Shelton. Johnny and Bob are from two different social groups from the 1960’s. They are the Socs’ and the Greasers. Johnny is not justified in what he did and is guilty because he fled the scene, admitted to the crime, and threatened to kill the next person who jumped him. Johnny has proven that he is guilty when he runs away from the murder scene. This is proven when Pony and Johnny say, “We gotta get outta here. Get somewhere. Run away. The police will be here soon” (Hinton 57). In most shown cases the guilty person runs from the scene. In this case, both Johnny and Pony are worried about the police showing up and catching them for what they have done. This shows that Johnny wouldn’t be running if he wasn’t guilty. Johnny proves the case that he is guilty when he admits it himself. This is proven during the aftermath discussion between Johnny and Pony. “‘You really killed him, huh, Johnny?’ ‘Yeah.’ His voice quavered slightly. ‘I had to. They were drowning you, Pony”’ (57). This Piece of evidence shows that Johnny had no intention of denying his deeds. He took full responsibility

This text is shown here when Pony says “And Johnny, who was the most law- abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a 6 inch switchblade. He’d use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had scared him that much. He would kill the next person who jumped him. Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body…” (34). In this piece of text Johnny is displayed as the most innocent of the group. However, it also shows that Johnny will be willing to do whatever it takes to not be afraid like he was ever again. Even if that means killing someone to do