Johnny Cade Is A Hero Essay

Philip Zimbardo, a professor at Stanford University once stated, “One in five—20 percent—qualify as heroes”. Heroes are extraordinary and rare, communities can decide who a hero is based on their actions, because people’s opinions are different. It is often up for debate if someone is a hero or not. In The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, people take the side of the person they think is the hero. However, even through all the counterarguments, Johnny Cade is the only character in the novel who displays both the heroic traits of resilience and self-sacrifice. The hero of The Outsiders is Johnny Cade. A reason behind Johnny’s heroic action is his characteristic of resilience. In the article “The Problem with Being a Hero”, by Dahlia Lithwick,

Both opinions can be clearly seen; boldness is a common quality among heroes, some of Dally’s actions could be considered heroic without context. However, when his motives are revealed, it gives a new perspective on his actions. Dally does give Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis supplies and a place to go after Johnny kills Bob. Johnny and Ponyboy are part of the gang he spends a lot of his time with. Dally helping the two boys could be perceived either way: he is a hero because he helped them, but only because it was Johnny who killed Bob. in self-defense. Had it been anyone else, he would not have done anything. Whichever way it is thought of, it should also be considered that the only person Dally cares about is Johnny. Regardless of how Dally feels towards the people he was helping, it was a contributing factor. That doesn’t make Dally any less heroic, but it raises the question, would Dally do this for anyone else?. As Ponyboy observed in Chapter Ten, “Johnny was the only thing Dally loved,” (pg. 130). Most people would do more for people they love than those they hardly know. It is more likely Dally would only do this for Johnny and no one else. A true hero would take action for those they love, as well as those they hardly know. In another act of false heroics is when Johnny, Ponyboy, and the children are in the burning church Dally goes in to save

The article, “Characteristics of a True Hero,” written by Samuel Rodenhizer, describes heroism as doing something, “for the benefit of someone other than themselves.” Johnny shows selflessness from minor things to as important as saving human lives. Johnny puts his friendship with Dally in jeopardy when he stepped in when Dally was annoying Cherry and Marcia at the drive-in. Later in the story, Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dally are at Dairy Queen and Johnny, knowing that Ponyboy won’t have serious consequences from the death of Bob, says that he is willing to turn himself in. Johnny is willing to sacrifice his own future so that Ponyboy returns home to his family. The largest and most important decision of Johnny’s life, which ultimately brought him to his death, was to go into the burning church to save the lives of children that were trapped inside and would have died. He did not know the children, but knew he had to save their lives. He later wrote in his letter to Ponyboy, “Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for,” (pg. 152). In every stage of the story Johnny Cade shows that he is more concerned with the lives and success of those around him, than what happens to himself, which is a key point in the definition of heroism.